I Have A Good Excuse, My Brother Ate My Homework

Hi friends! Sadly I had to skip this week's TWD recipe, but I have a really, really good excuse. This past week has been crazy, and it's all my brother Jeremy's fault:

First, let me tell you a little bit about my youngest brother. He & I are pretty much karaoke champions. We have been known to bring down the house with our rousing rendition of "Bohemian Rhapsody":


And he has impeccable taste in headgear:


He and my brother Ian love to curl my mom (and me, boo) for exercise:


Our heads make a "boop!" sound when banged together:


He's my partner in adventures large and small:


And, most importantly, he's been looking for love for a long time:

Well, this past year, Jeremy got engaged to a wonderful woman, and they decided to get married last weekend. What do you get your beloved youngest brother for his wedding?

How about a cake?

I volunteered to make their wedding cake as my gift to the couple. They wanted a light, spring-appropriate cake, with white chocolate and strawberries. I ended up making a light butter cake, filled with strawberries and whipped cream, and frosted with white chocolate buttercream.

I was fortunate in that I was able to use the kitchen at work to make the components, so I had access to a big mixer and big ovens. I've done large cakes at home before with my small mixer and single oven, and it's a much more difficult process! The wedding was a 6-hour drive away, so I transported the frozen rounds and buttercream up in my car, and assembled the cake at the location the night before and day of the wedding. It was much less stressful this way.

They went simple and classic with the design: ivory fondant, ivory ribbons, and fresh purple orchids. They expected about 250 people, so I did rounds of 16", 12", 9", and 6", with the top tier to be saved for their first anniversary. It's always a crapshoot as far as how many people actually show, and how much cake they actually eat, but this time the estimate was amazingly accurate. The cake flew off the serving table:

And was gone, baby. We probably had about a dozen slices to spare, total. (Not counting the few I mangled when I tried to cut it. I still have a lot to learn about serving wedding cake slices!) It was the perfect amount, and I couldn't have been more pleased.

The wedding and reception were lovely, and although you can't trust anyone because they'll invariably lie to you and tell you your food is good regardless of the truth, people seemed to really like the cake. I got a lot of compliments about how it wasn't a traditional wedding cake (ie, dry and super-sweet) and the strawberries and whipped cream combo seemed very popular. I was just so glad to be able to be a part of their wedding day and share my talents with so many of our loved ones.

So as you can see, I couldn't squeeze in any extra baking this weekend, but I have the best excuse possible, and, even better, I have a married brother, a new sister-in-law, and some wonderful memories. Congratulations, Jeremy & Camille!