LETS MAKE A WEDDING CAKE

My grandson Luke and his wife were married last Spring instead of December as they planned, but we had to wait until now to have a reception. I wasn't aware that they didn't know I was going to make them a cake for the reception. My daughter helped me decorate it. Above is a rough sketch and some instructions which I changed a lot.
Making icing roses was a days work. It has been hot and decorator icing doesn't hold up well when it's too warm. I made fully opened roses, partly opened roses and tiny rose buds.
Just to be a poop, my oven decided to overheat, making our layers a deeper brown than I like for decorating, but lots of icing hid it well. LOL My range is over 20 years old, I think it's time for a new one.

Baking and decorating is really messy work. I have a dishwasher but most of the equipment has to be hand washed.
I don't have much counter space as you can see so there is a lot of moving and shifting things around. I have a big table and that helped a lot. I laughed when I saw the 1% milk and thought of all the sugar and fat that goes into a cake. I can't imagine that low fat milk made any difference at all!
Here is my youngest daughter Cyndi, icing one of the tiers for me. I taught a cake decorating class way back in the 80's and she was one of my students. When she lived in California she made many wedding cakes. I used to wish that she lived here so we could decorate together. Now she does live here, and only about 20 minutes from me. It's a dream come true and a prayer answered. Thank you Lord.
I am very thankful for her help.
Here it is, all iced. Now we have to wait for the icing to form a crust before we begin to decorate. This way, if we make mistakes it's easier to remove them.
Another tier drying.

Two down and one to go!!! I always begin to feel more relaxed when I have come this far. We have to be very careful not to get crumbs in the icing, so it keeps us on our toes.Cakes always have a hump in the center because the edges bake faster than the center does.

Wilton makes a saw for that purpose. It's really handy. I just saw the top off using the pan rim as a guide. You just have to be sure you put enough batter in the pan to bring it up to the top of the pan for this to work. There is also a frame you can use with the saw but I prefer to use the pan rim as a guide

In the above picture Cyndi has been tempted by the fragrance of hot cake.

The lower shell and the upper reverse shell have been added as well as the garland and roses. I always mark the front center with a toothpick.
Some leaves have been added in this picture. I did everything in white for a reason you will learn later in this post. (smile--giggle, I love surprises!)
Completed and ready for delivery and assembly. I have to admit, these next steps are the most nerve wracking of the entire procedure, and I won't be able to eat much until it's done because my tummy ties in knots.


Did I mention that Cake Decorating is really messy work?



I didn't take photos when we were loading the cake into my daughter's car. I was totally focused on what I was doing.



Thank God we made it to Luke's, where the reception was held, without any problems. As I mentioned in a previous post, he lives in the country on the Chance road. The setting was beautiful. The field was newly mowed so the fragrance of sweet dry hay filled the air. Two canopy's were set up on the lawn and several long tables for the food.

We had help carrying the cake and everything we needed down to the tables in the back yard where we set up and I did the final decorating and repaired broken stringwork.

Luke and his wife were surprised when they saw the cake and I got lots of hugs and thank you's but just seeing the look on their face made all the hard, messy work and back ache so worth it! I love thise kids.



All set up! Whoo-Hoo!!!!
The sun was in front of me when I took this picture so it doesn't show the decoration detail well but if you click to enlarge it you can see better..
However I do like how the sun plays with the grasses, field and trees in the background.

These little pink doves were on my wedding cake in 1955. I have used them on all of my children's wedding cakes and also the wedding cakes I have done for my grandchildren.
Here's the happy bride and groom with their cake. We had removed the canopy and turned the cake so the front was facing the sun so we could get some good pictures.
I am in the center and making an awful face because the Bride had just given me a BIG bite of wedding cake. Did I ever tell you that I HATE cake? Well, I do, and I didn't want to have my picture taken while I was chewing or spitting it out.

Oh-oh!!! I forgot to show you what the surprise was. I guess that will have to be my next post.

I don't know how to add a photo at the end of a completed post? is that possible?

|