Cakery Chronicles

Time to assemble Shawn & Marlena's wedding cake!


900p: Arrive home. Cursory check of internet turns into 3h session.

1157p: Begin multitasking, taking laptop into kitchen.

1212a: Chocolate ganache filling cooling.

132a: Buttercream complete.

144a: Tiers are beginning to be filled and stacked.

153a: First tier layered and covered with buttercream.

207a: Second tier layered and covered with buttercream.

239a: Third tier layered and covered with buttercream.

242a: @&#^~@!!(&#*!!! 60% structural failure on Tier 1A (18-inch - bottom layer). Large portions completely crumbled. Other areas have large pieces still intact. Photographs document the damage. Wristwatch covered in raspberry filling. Cake crumbs *everywhere*.

250a: Salvage operation in progress.

258a: Chocolate frosting makes reasonably good mortar. Fondant will hide *multitude* of sins...

325a: Tier 1 (6-inch) covered in fondant. Fondant seems to be working a bit dry. Will work in some shortening when kneading next batch.

343a: Tier 2 (9-inch) covered in fondant. Fondant working extraordinarily well. Far better than temperamental chocolate of last year.

400a: Tier 3 (12-inch) covered in fondant. Rolling fondant more of an aerobic workout than expected.

412a: Taking break to clean up and wash dishes before tackling crumbled/patched/biggest layer for fondant.

425a: Floor still needs mopping, but will deal with that later. It's now or never on the big layer's fondant...

450a: Big tier covered in fondant. Phew. Doesn't look awful... but not perfect.

458a: More cleanup. All the layers are relatively even in height. This pleases me.

502a: Prettiest sides identified for front of cake. Will deal with royal icing and fondant swags tomorrow. Off to get a 1.5-h nap!

826a: Yeah, that was more like 45 min. Threw on whatever clothes were handy and drove into school for last exam. Very. Tired. Now. Must. Sleep.

204p: Begin final assembly and decoration. Fondant drapery work takes several tries before they are satisfactory. Sugar-paste flowers - ordered sight-unseen - look good, but awfully minty-green, compared to the color I have in my head for the bridesmaid dresses.

359p: Disaster narrowly averted as bottom two layers throw themselves off the kitchen table. Quick hands catch the cake, stuffing a thumb into the bottom layer. Will fix onsite! Damage report: One (new, natch) glass cake plate.

511p: More sugar flowers stuck into cake to cover thumb hole. All is well.

531p: Bridesmaids walk down aisle in dresses that are a perfect match to cake flowers.

654p: Reception gets underway; compliments fly.

840p: Cake is cut and quickly consumed. :)

This is two years in a row - remind me not to take on a wedding cake next year until *after* school is out. (I'm reasonably sure I said the same thing last year!) :)