What I learned about wedding cakes

Okay, this is a mostly self-aggrandizing post to share an endeavor of several months which has recently come to completion:*



After my mom tasted a birthday cake made last fall for our older son, she became enthused at the prospect of my wife and I making my sister's wedding cake. We begged off the project for some time, but eventually were persuaded.

I was the primary baker, my wife the primary decorator; neither of us had a great deal of experience in our chosen field.

All told, though, it was a very enjoyable and rewarding process. The cake recipe I had narrowed down to two, the yellow cake from the King Arthur book and a white cake from Rose Levy Beranbaum's Cake Bible. I practiced a bit with both, and oddly, the yellow (which we chose) got worse over time and the white got better. Both were still good at the end, though it took more practice to get Rose's cakes to an acceptable level.

For the frosting (and numerous other miscellaneous questions) I owe a heavy debt to MAG, who has a terrific buttercream recipe and a great deal of valuable and reassuring expertise.

We were given pretty free reign as far as flavors, decorations, etc., but with one (what seemed to me) major obstacle: no citrus. My read on this was that my sister didn't want the cloying flavor that can be found in bad lemon bars. My wife (quite reasonably) demanded that we take it quite literally. No raspberry-lemon. No Grand Marnier syrup.

We wanted something fun, something interesting, and something delicious. Our (read: my wife's) breakthrough idea: a Kir Royale-inspired cake. We ended up loosely on this theme, and I'd still love to find a way to make it work. We tested champagne buttercream and a champagne syrup for the cakes, but ultimately, it didn't improve the flavor. For a filling, we spread a layer of pureed black currant jam and creme de cassis-flavored buttercream. The outer frosting was a simple vanilla buttercream.

Ultimately, the cake was a hit. It's a bit like the thread about making dinner...for me, the cake was a let-down. Pretty good, but you spend so much time it's hard to be pleased.

Some other notes, though...

It was a great project for my wife and me. Enough of a collaboration to feel like you're doing something together, but enough separate tasks that we weren't stepping on each other's toes.

If you're thinking of doing it on your own to save money....good luck. Between equipment, supplies, and the sheer number of cakes and buttercreams we made during the practice phase...not even counting time...I won't put a number on it, but it's not "worth it" in that sense. For us, it was both wedding gift and sort of like taking a class...and it that sense, it was a good deal.

You could save some money by not doing a bunch of practice runs, and you wouldn't be as bad off as you'd think. I found that, for the initial practice run, I was very careful, we paid so much attention to what we were doing. So much so, that we probably could have used our practice run. It can make you slightly more careless later.

It's sure helpful to have someone who's done this before to lean on for advice (thanks again, MAG!) when your insecurities pop up.

I strongly recommend against taking on this task while pregnant. It nearly wiped Kate out.

It's certainly worthwhile to have a laid back and easy-to-impress bride and groom who will appreciate your work and not get too stressed out.

*Picture doesn't show the colors great, and unfortunately highlights some creases that were less visible in real life. None of the inside shots turned out too well. Han Solo and Princess Leia were placed atop the cake shortly before serving, at the bride's request and to the groom's everlasting delight.

Congrats - I think the cake looks great! Wedding cakes are probably the hardest cake to make since they are heavy and have to look good for hours before they are eaten. It has to be dense enough to stand up to the multiple layers, yet still light enough to be enjoyed by the guests. Even bakeries dedicated to making wedding cakes don't get it right!

Aaron,

Beautiful and, I'm sure, delicious.

Nice job to both you and Kate.

Enjoy,
Gary

Looking through some old photos last night, I realized I hadn't posted this yet:



Not the best pic, but not too bad. A second sister got married last summer, and we were again commissioned with cake duties. As with the birth of our second child, having done it once, we were perhaps a little overconfident and underprepared the second time around, but it still turned out pretty well. This time, we used the Rose Levy Beranbaum white wedding cake recipe, and it turned out quite well.

I have a really hard time, though, remembering not to use Magic Cake strips on a 6-inch round.

Despite the slightly shrunken top tier, this recipe seemed to yield a bit more verticality, though the flowers contribute to that impression to some degree (and the ribbons on the other, to a perception of lower height).

A huge bucket of blackberries for something like $6, found at the market last summer, gave inspiration to the filling, which was created by modifying the Cordon Rose raspberry filling recipe for the blackberries. I don't recall how much we used on its own, mixed with buttercream, etc. I really ought to keep better notes.

The buttercream, again, was with MAG's terrific recipe.

The decoration plan originally involved fuller hydrangeas, but the remaining flowers after assembly of the bouquets were in sorry shape, so we (meaning my wife) had to improvise considerably. To quite good effect, in my estimation, though I guess not quite what she'd had in mind.

A sister is getting married this October, for the third consecutive year, and while for the first time it will be in town for us, she has assured us we won't be pressed into cake duty again. While it's rather enjoyable, it makes it a little harder to enjoy all the wedding-related festivities of your loved ones. Nonetheless, I expect a twinge of regret when we see the actual cake in place, and perhaps a little pride as well, knowing we've done it before.

thanks for the picture, aaron. you two did a great job. wedding cakes are difficult. i think fresh flowers and simple icing make the most beautiful wedding cakes. they also taste better than ones buried under decorative icing. justjoan

That's just stunning, Aaron. I knew you baked, but I had no idea you were such a wizard with cake!

Beautiful job, Aaron!

I've done only a couple wedding cakes and they are VERY difficult if it's not something you're doing on a really regular basis. I agree with justjoan, though. . .I'd rather taste cake, than bury it under a TON of frosting. And fresh (and sometimes even silk) can look absolutely stunning.

Here are a couple pics of the most recent one I attempted for a VERY SMALL, second wedding. The one thing I do want to learn/practice (when I get the time!) is making the gumpaste flowers. . .just to at least say I was able to DO it.