Day After Thanksgiving Wedding

This cake was for the day after Thanksgiving, traditionally not a wedding day, but perfect for my out of town bride and groom! I have a couple of funny (now... not then) stories to share in addition to the details of this cake.

The bride wanted this graphic to be incorporated into the cake... flowing from one tier to the next, which was a bit of a challenge considering its complexity and the curve of the image, but I was quite happy with the finished product.
This was a relatively small cake (5", 7" and 9"... for 60 guests) but with the proportions of a traditional wedding cake. The lovely silver cake stand under it added another 5 inches and really helped it have a sense of presence in the room.

In addition the all of the piping, we added occasional silver dragees. Because grey and black are difficult colors to make "wedding-y) I suggested adding a fondant ribbon band with the grey as a background color and the yellow in the foreground.

Lastly, after the cake was all assembled I sprayed it with a pearl glaze. I adore sparkles and even though I know it isn't right for every cake, I really do think the pearl really made this cake spectacular.

If you are wondering about the cake topper... the bride is in the Navy... so those are two interlocking anchors with frosted rope. A very nice touch... not what I'd expected, but lovely. This is another example of a surprise cake topper. It was surprisingly light, so it wasn't a problem, but since I had been anticipating florals on top of the cake I left a circular hole in fondant. Had I known there would be a topper I probably would have had a solid piece of fondant. That being said... it turned out just fine!

The cake flavors were pretty seasonal. The top and bottom were spice cake with two layers of cream cheese buttercream and one layer of sauteed apples. The middle was a lime butter cake with two layers of lemon sabayone with fresh strawberries and one layer of lime buttercream. (Can you say ZESTY!!!???)

So, here are the funny stories. As I was getting ready to pipe the middle tier, I sat down on my improvised stool (two milk crates stacked up) and some how, even now I'm not sure, I missed. The milk crates toppled and so did I... it really was one of those slow mo moments. The most important part... I SAVED THE CAKE! I was a little sore, but kept plugging away. I did notice yesterday that I have two HUGE bruises on my thighs (think the size of a man's palm!). Just call me grace!

Next, two weeks before every wedding the balance of the invoice is due, but at that time we also confirm the guest count and delivery time. I guess I'm going to have to confirm location too going forward. Yes, you guessed it, the worst happened. I went to deliver this cake up in Camino (about a 45-50 minute drive from my kitchen) and there was no one there! I'm sure you can imagine my panic! Apparently my darling couple never booked the location they gave me. (Of course at this point I started having heart palpitations and imagining that the reception was closer to Sac... which meant I would NEVER make it in time!) The gal at the "old" venue did have the couple's unsigned contract and offered to let me use the phone (THE DOLL!!!). I called and the auntie of the bride answered and passed off the phone to the father of the bride. What a surprise, but THANK GOD!!! Apparently they had moved to a venue right across the street from where I was... sigh... thank goodness! They were very apologetic, but boy was I happy it all worked out!

Of course these things tend to come in threes! Lastly, after I got the cake set up one of the servers (apparently the one who was designated to cut the cake) came up to me. She had never cut a cake before. YIKES!!! So I told her that this was a great size cake to learn on and proceeded to teach her the Chinese ring technique, where to find the hidden supports, how big the serving should be and what the flavors of each cake were. Sigh, once I headed home I was a wreck... thankfully the cake turned out very nicely and it was set up before the bride and groom arrived!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone... NEXT!