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!

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Wedding Cake Fever

People. People. I have been so busy. Apparently mid-March brings not only spring fever, but wedding fever as well. Here's a glimpse at what I've been up to lately:

This was a cake we did at work. The bride was allergic to corn syrup, so instead of fondant and gumpaste we used chocolate plastic to cover the cake, and royal icing for some of the embellishments.

Most of this cake was actually styrofoam. The top tier was real, and a small chunk of the bottom tier was real (so the bride & groom could cut it for the photos.) The rest was fake. We did do two sheet cakes for them as well, to feed the guests. It was a chiffon cake with vanilla pastry cream and vanilla-poached pears.

The H's were cut out of chocolate plastic and painted gold with luster dust.


This is a wedding cake I did at home. The bride and groom met through their cats, so they wanted to incorporate their cats into the cake.

The paw prints actually go all the way around and climb down the back of the cake.

Each paw and claw, individually cut and molded from fondant, with love.

This is how the finished cake looked. The florist added the flowers at the location. The cake itself was a lemon cake with lemon cream and fresh strawberries.

I also did the favors for this wedding. Each guest got two truffles (milk and semi-sweet chocolate) decorated with the heart and the couple's monogrammed initials.

Stay tuned, because this week we're working on a Smart Car cake that promises to be awesome. Hopefully I will be back on the regular blog-posting train soon. Life is still crazy busy, so I can't guarantee anything. In the words of Homer Simpson, "I can't promise that I will, and I can't promise that I'll try. But I promise that I'll try to try."

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Take Your Blog to Work Day

I've been a little quiet lately because work has been hectic. This past weekend we had a 100-person wedding (tiered cake, groom's cake cupcakes, and mini cookie wedding favors) and a 300-person dessert catering event, in addition to our usual daily orders. And have I mentioned that we are currently a two-woman operation? Fortunately, we are more like two superwomen, so everything turned out well. But to apologize for the lack of posts, I have some pictures from work to tempt your taste buds.

The catering event was for a clothing company, hosted at an upscale department store. We did three mini desserts: chocolate-raspberry verrines, chocolate cupcake cones, and strawberry shortcakes. The verrines were layers of cream cheese mousse, chocolate mousse, and raspberry jam, served in a glass the size of a shot glass, and topped with a bit of champagne-pop rocks chocolate. (Yes, really. And yes, it's as gross as it sounds, and no, it was not our choice.)


Plated and ready to be passed:Sure, they look adorable, until you realize that to serve 300 people, you have to make approximately a bajillion verinnes composed of a kablillion fiddly little layers, each layer carefully applied so that it's even and smooth, and each application requiring an extensive chilling period before the next layer could be added. I think I am done with verrines for a long, long time.
The cupcake cones were probably the most popular item. Miniature ice cream cones were filled with chocolate cake and topped with buttercream and sprinkles to resemble ice cream cones. They were a perfect two-bite dessert, and really appealed to both adults and children.
We had special trays constructed for passing, since they wouldn't balance on regular trays. The best part is, they can double as ping-pong paddles after the event!
This server graciously agreed to model for me to show the scale of the cones. He pretended reluctance, but he's probably an aspiring actor so I suspect he was secretly pleased. Also, notice the clothing racks in the back? That's because we were set up in, like, the alterations room of the store. You may be asking, is an alterations room equipped for catering? NO, no it is not. But who needs counters and running water and space when catering? Not us!Strawberry shortcakes. Kind of awkward to pass, but it's what the client wanted. Homey desserts are big, and who can argue with fresh strawberries and cream?

This was the wedding cake. My boss actually made it, and while I would love to take credit for it, and under most circumstances I would, she might be reading this, so...hi boss! You do good work! *innocent whistling* This was taken before fresh flowers and other finishing touches were added.
Each layer was a different flavor. The bottom was vanilla sponge with vanilla buttercream and four types of fresh berries. The middle was chocolate cake with oreos, and the top was chocolate cake with caramel sauce and chopped Twix bars. It kind of makes me want to get married again, just for the cake!
These are the wedding favors. Each guest got a package of two miniature black and white cookies. I am beginning to suspect black and white cookies might be the next red velvet cupcakes. Mark my words: in a year we'll be surrounded by black and white cookie specialty shops, and all the cupcakeries will be out of business.

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