Wedding Cake: Practice #1

As mentioned in a previous post, my dear friend, Delani, is getting married in a few months.  Since semi-successfully attempting a Go, Diego, Go Rescue pack for my 3 year old's birthday last March, I've dabbled a bit in celebration cakes.  Delani and her fiance, Christian, asked me to make their wedding cake, which is quite an honor.  A couple months ago, she sent me a photo of the cake she'd like to have.  My first thought was, 'Wow...I'm gonna have to practice.'  It's a beautiful cake and I want her and her new husband to have exactly what they want.  My confidence level, however, wasn't exactly where I'd want it to be. 

Today was her Christian's birthday.  I thought 'great opportunity to practice their cake!'  Ordinarily, I wouldn't make a dude a filigree black and white cake with a ribbon around it. 

Yesterday, I made three sour cream 9 inch chocolate cakes, wrapped them well and froze them.

Today was the rest.  First, I decided to try out a raspberry cream for the filling.  It's basically sweetened raspberry puree folded into whipped cream.

Next, came the frosting.  I chose a cream cheese frosting that I've made before.  As I was putting it together, I recalled not liking this frosting recipe for some reason.  Why I made it again anyway is beyond me. 

The reason I didn't like it is because it was difficult to work with for a couple of reasons.  I'll spare you, but next time, I won't use this recipe again...unless I forget why I don't like it.  A note in the cookbook might be a novel idea don't you suppose?

My first attempt at fondant was last summer for my nieces first birthday.  My neighbor gave me a neat marshmallow fondant recipe.  It worked like a charm over the cream cheese layer.  The next step was to secure a black ribbon around the bottom edge with a couple pins.

Next up...the piping.  It was 7 degrees outside yesterday so I combined my outings so I didn't have to leave the house more than once.  I'd planned to purchase some meringue powder to make some royal icing in the hopes that the piping would go more smoothly that it has in the past.  The store didn't carry meringue power.  I certainly wasn't going to go somewhere else, so I asked the young fella at the bakery.  He said they did have it, but he didn't know how to sell it to me because it was in bulk...then he asked me to come back another time.  I'm sure I blinked a couple times before responding kindly that I didn't want to come back because for one, I needed it and for another, it's cold outside.  He blinked back at me and said he'd make a call and see what he could find out.  Ten minutes later, he handed me a small tub of what I needed with a price tag for $0.10.  At first, I felt bad that he had to spend the time for a measly dime.  That is, until I remembered how many thousands upon thousands of dollars we've spent at that store over the years. 

All this to finally tell you that I didn't even use the meringue powder.  Turns out, I didn't buy enough.  Maybe I should have splurged and spent two dimes. 

Instead, I found a butter cream recipe that worked just fine.  The piping was freehand.  I'm glad I'll have the opportunity to work on it and make it look smoother and more uniform.  However, for a first try I am pleased with the result. 

It sounds like everyone liked the final product.  Whew!!!