The Life of a Wedding Cake...

Making a Wedding Cake can be super simple if you follow 1 simple rule...Don't screw up! ;) I will admit that they do freak me out...but it's just enough stress to get me through! ;)

I figured I'd post the steps for a basic 3 tier cake, to show how it all comes together. The real key is to start way ahead of time so that you have time to fix those "suprises"...Like...a cake that falls cuz your kids don't listen and played leap frog through the kitchen...grrr! So - with that in mind, that's how the life of this Wedding cake began.

This particular cake will have Marshmellow Fondant with frosting dots and a simple irredescent ribbon. Sizes are 14", 10" & 6". Because I delivered another wedding cake last weekend, I had enough batter left over to also bake the 10" that I was going to need for THIS cake - YAY! The recipe that I use will make exactly enough batter for a 14" & 6" so it all works out perfectly!!

As I type this, my 10" is sitting comfortably frozen in my freezer! I wrapped it in several layers of plastic, because it would be there for a few days only. Any longer, and I'd have it in tin foil too.

Tonight, I had to bake the 14" and the 6". Because I'm delivering on Saturday Morning...I wont' have any time at all on Saturday to finish up...that means that the bulk of my work will happen on Friday night...and since I can't put Fondant in the fridge...I'll also be up bright and early on Saturday morning...up to my alligators in Fondant! (Groan!) All that means is that all baking MUST be done by tomorrow!

The 14" pan takes a ton of batter, and needs a baking cone (that's the funky thing in the middle). I'm not sure why my cake cracked...I think I need a new element! Anyway - this is the cooked 14"...the 6" is baking. As you can see - I'm also making great use of my even-bake strips! Have I mentioned how much I LOVE these things lately?

When it was done, I flipped it onto a cooling rack and sliced off the cracked top to level it out. I bought the Wilton cake saw last week and it sucked!! Seriously! The blade sloped upward and there was nothing level about the results it produced no matter how hard I pressed down with both hands - so for $34.99 - It went BACK!

A smart cake maker would have waited till it cooled to slice off the top...but I've never been considered smart so I grabbed my knife and had atter!! ;) Here she sits cooling...Don't let the crumby appearance fool you - it's level! And when it's all covered in yummy frosting...it will be beautiful!!

Once it's all cooled I'll tort it and move on...but I'll also post pics as I go.

So - till then...this is the life of a Wedding Cake!

The life of an electric guitar cake

A guy I work with commissioned me to make a cake and asked for an electric guitar! Cool!! I've never done a guitar cake before! Normally the idea of a different cake doesn't intimidate me much...just enough to get me through. This one, though, is kindof scaring the hell out of me! See...guy from work is really into music, and knows what the twisty bits on a guitar are called!! Once that notion kicked in - I was reeeeely kinda freakin! So much so that I actually dreamed, last night, that I didn't deliver it because I was away or something and my entire dream was my tear filled apology in an office that had been re-arranged and taken over by another offices employees...and his wife wouldnt' speak to me!! lol In any case, I'm due to deliver it tomorrow, so I had to start somewhere.

1st stop - Bulk Barn! He had provided this photo as an example - pointing out that the "fetter bar" (I think that's what the note says) looks like chocolate bars and the gold buttons resemble worthers. So - chocolate bars - check! Werthers - check! I also picked up a few other odds n' ends to help take care of the other hardware. For the strings, I'll dig into my jewellery making kit...but I'll get to that later.

By the time I got home from town, the cake was done. I didn't have a mold, so I had to improvise. I hand sketched the outline on the back of the e-mail that he had given me...cut that out and used it as a template to cut out the cake!

And that's where I'm at right now...patiently waiting for it to cool, so that I can tort it and start the process that ends with it looking like a frosting guitar!! lol

5:21pm...Ok - The cake has cooled and is now "torted" - meaning I sliced it into layers to fill with frosting! Yumm! then I had to build the arm and the end thingie. (Note to guy who wants the cake - I have no clue what the "end thingie" is called) Once I had all the pieces - it was time to assemble the guitar cake...when I was done, it looked like this!

One request that he had was that when you get reeeely close to it, it would look like wood-grain. Holy crap!! How do you do THAT with frosting??!! lol Well...I piped wood-grain onto it with frosting, then filled in around. I don't know if it looks like wood-grain or not, but it is definately starting to look more like a guitar! What didn't help is when hubby walked by and asked if it was supposed to have "streatch marks"! Thanks guy I married - you're a jerk!

So - Now, all that is left is to finish icing the end thingie, install the twisty bits (again - no clue what those are called) and add the strings! Then I have to figure out what to do with the sides...?? Anyhoo - I totally think it's lacking color...too bad I hadn't discussed color with him before hand. 6:40pm...Well...finishing this bad boy was interresting!! lol It wasn't the cake that kicked up the fuss but rather hubby who came unglued at the idea that I would use wire for the strings!! OMG! I think he visualized a gaggle of 2 year olds frollicking around the cake when all of the sudden 9-1-1 is called to extract a guitar string or twisty bits from the wee sprog! In any case - (sorry guy at work) I opted to compromise with the man I married as he whynes more then the guy at work! No strings - but I didn't budge on the twisty bits! Which brings us to our finished electric guitar cake!!

TAA-DAA!!!

So - Here she is in all her glory. I hope he's happy with her, afterall...looks aren't everything! lol It's what's inside that counts!!
And that...my friends is the life of an electric guitar cake!!

Worth their weight in gold!!

I recently took on the task of making another wedding cake. Whenever I take one on, I ise the income to invest in more supplies. This time around, I picked up a set of Wilton Bake-Even Strips! They're these fab-O inventions of heat resistant fabric strips! You wrappem around your pans and voila!! Perfectly even, non ant-hill resembling cakes!!

The key behind them is to soak them in cold water first. I crinkled them a little and rubbed the water into them to make sure they were good and soaked! (I had read on-line that they can charr after a half hour and was expecting the small of burning fabric...but...Mine rock!! I think the secret is to make sure they're thoroughly soaked because they naturally repel water. Once they're really wet, pickem up and run them between 2 fingers...just enough to get the excess water off and wrapem. Mine have worked beautifully and the result was AMAZING!!!

This is the cake that funded the purchase of these little gems (but sadly not much else...not cuz the strips were expensive...I brutally under-charged!) I LOVE her topper! She got them at AC Moore! Anyway - another cake success under my belt...as well as several inches of growth due to frosting consumtion! lol