The Making of a Cake... part 2

I left the last post on Friday night...

Above: Kim sifting endless cups of powdered sugar on Friday afternoon and the mixer whipping up a batch of the vanilla buttercream frosting.

Below: My Mom rented an extra refrigerator just so I would have enough room for my cakes. Isn't she just the greatest? This is how it looked after all the cakes were baked, the lemon curd and ganache were made and just before the frosting was made and put on the cakes.

I guess I actually assembled and frosted the banana cake on Friday night, not Thursday night, but that is a minor detail...


Saturday was the day of the wedding and I woke up at 6am to complete the cakes. By this time, all the cakes had a crumb coat except the large 12"x12" cake for the base of the tier. I started the morning by cutting the 12"x16" sheets to a square, placing them on their special board, putting the berry filling in the middle and giving the cake a crumb coat of frosting so it could chill while I finished frosting the other cakes.

I had to make another one and three quarters batches of frosting... I was so wishing Kim was at the house to help me with the powdered sugar again! I managed though...

All I really remember was that the morning flew by... Before I knew it, it was 9am, then 11am, then 1pm, then 2:30pm... By this time I had finished all the frosting and decorations and was putting the cakes on the stands, Mike arrived with the cake toppers, I had my father cutting and sanding dowels to make the tiers... all I know was that I was in my own little world. I was completely focused on these cakes and heard people around me giving encouragement and commenting on the process, but I really felt like I was in a bubble. I'm not sure if I even smiled when I was working. Mike and Ally's wedding was supposed to start at 3:33pm... needless to say, I was working until about 3:45pm, but that is okay, because neither Mike or Ally were ready on time. Ally and I put our dresses on in my Mom's closet and I quickly splashed my face with some water and threw on some makeup.

I was happy with the way the cakes looked - although I broke through both of my pastry bags and ended up using a ziploc bag to finish decorating - and had a great time at the wedding. The cakes got rave reviews, and I tasted all but one cake (top tier: chocolate with pb filling) and can say that they were yummy.

This was an amazing experience. I pretty much did everything by myself because I was quite adamant that if others were heavily involved, then this wouldn't truly be my gift to Mike and Ally. I really loved being in the kitchen, organizing my materials and mixing the ingredients. I loved watching the cakes twirl on the lazy susan as I frosted them. There was this energy inside of me and it felt good!

So thanks Mike and Ally for getting married and letting me be involved. It was so so so much fun!