Besides the fact that groom’s cakes aren’t the thing here in the UK, I think I’m lucky that Richard didn’t spot this before our wedding – and considering my own wedding cake making experience, I can appreciate the work that went into this one! It even moved!
Well done to Pretzel Bender at Cake and Empire!
Categories: Crafts 'n' Crochet · Food
Ok – if you want to know more about the wedding, you’re going to have to talk about it somewhere else – I’m here to brag about the cake!
Seriously, yesterday was one of the nicest weddings I’ve been to – and Richard and I have been to quite a few ceremonies in our time in the choir! Jo and Drew had an amazing day – it was personal to them, and filled with laughter – although I’m not sure how Drew is going to live down some of the comments in his speech – referring to Jo’s ‘boring name’ and the ’string of pointless boyfriends’ before him caused much hilarity… But the surprise rendition of Johnny Cash’s ‘Rose of My Heart‘ by Drew to Jo during the speeches was lovely and touching – including when he forgot the words of the third verse and was making things up to fill in the space… And Claire and I used many tissues between us on the vows. We were sat in a very good spot during the ceremony, due to the fact that Richard is hobbling around with an infected foot and wanted to get there early to get a seat quickly. As a result, we were sat where we could see Jo and Drew from the front(ish) and got some lovely shots during the ceremony – this being one of my favourite…
But, of course what you’ve all been waiting for is the final rendition of the cake… Everything went to plan in the week, and despite exhaustion and a heavy teaching load I did get the cake done on Thursday as planned. What remained was getting it to the Bingham Hotel intact… Richard couldn’t drive because of his foot, so we took my car, and I drove down. It’s not actually that far from here – about 24 miles – but you do have to pass the Twickenham rugby grounds to get to Richmond, and of course there was a game yesterday afternoon… So, it was plain sailing as far as Twickenham, but then we slowed considerably as the traffic halted. But we had left in lots of time, and we actually arrived about the time that I had planned with the wedding coordinator. Helen was lovely, and as I was parked on a double yellow line with my flashers going in front of the hotel, she helped me get the cakes out of the car and into the restaurant. I had brought a runner with me that was white with a black print on one side and black on the other, thinking that there would be a white cloth on the table and I would use the black side underneath the cakes, but there was a black cloth on the table already, so I put the white side down, and put the cakes on that. I have to say that with the cake table against a black wall with an enormous mirror on it, it all looked rather stunning:
Later on, Jo put her bouquet between the cakes, which looked even better. And despite waking up at 6 am with the sudden, sure panic that the chocolate one would be raw in the middle, all was fine. They served the cake in thin slices, lemon and chocolate, to each person with the coffee. After a delicious meal of beef with carameised onions, honey-glazed chicken, pumpin risotto, broccoli, roasted potatoes, tiramisu, strawberry crumble and chocolate petit-fours, it was very nice. (If I do say so myself…) And I can’t tell you what a successful wedding cake and a few G&Ts does for your nerves… I haven’t slept so well in weeks!
So now, back to the real world of exams, marking (blech…), and the upcoming end of the year – but it was a lovely day, and I wish Jo and Drew much happiness – which, if yesterday was anything to go by, they have in spades. Be happy, you two…
Categories: Food · Friends and Family
… at least that’s what it feels like. I’ve been experimenting with fondant icing on cakes recently, as my friend Jo has asked me to make her wedding cake for this coming Saturday. About a month ago, I made this cake for a neighbouring church, as they were welcoming a new priest to their team ministry:
It was the first time I had used fondant icing, and I wasn’t very pleased with the result – the main problem being that I had bought ready-rolled icing, and you could see where I had to join the two pieces together. Other than that, I was very pleased with the decoration – simple, but elegant, I thought, although the edges are always tricky. I have also had reports that it tasted nice, too, which is always a bonus…
I made this one for an event yesterday at our church – the hand bell ringers held a ringing day at which was held to riase money for our Conservation Fund. I agreed to make it as a fundraiser for the fund as well – the money went to the fund instead of to me…
What’s not very clear from the photo is that it’s twice as large as the previous cake. While the Welcome cake was two layers from a 9×13 cake pan, this one was 4 layers from the same pan – 2x side by side. I then found a picture of a hand bell on the internet to use as a template, and cut out the shapes from white and black icing, stuck them on with edible glue, and painted on the edible gold dust mixed with a little gin (it evaporated, so it’s not alcoholic!!). The gold balls took forever – you have to dab on some icing, and then stick them into it. The small bell shapes are from a 1 inch cookie cutter – I cut out about 15 shapes, and then used them for accent – mostly to cover up the holes in the icing on the corners! The real problem with this one was covering the cake with the fondant icing in the first place. When it was rolled out, it was about 20×24 inches – the cake itself is 12×18. I didn’t have a rolling pin long enough to roll it over, so I folded it – and then couldn’t get the fold marks out… I think I’ve now found a solution to that – I’ve got a postal tube that’s about 30 inches long, which I’ll use for the icing on Jo’s cakes. I am worried about time, though – this cake took me 4 hours to decorate – from the crumb coat to finished look. I don’t have that much time or energy this week!
So now, this week I have to make two 12 inch heart cakes covered in white icing with black hearts as accents. I’ve learned several lessons from this bell cake, and hopefully I can make them smoother and flatter on top – I think I have to make thicker layers of the cake itself so I can trim them flat. So, lots of baking and decorating (and not much marking!) is going to get done this week! Any advice/encouragement/tips/do & don’ts gratefully received!
What am I going to do come the 11th? No wedding cake, year 9 will be done their SATs, year 11 will be on study leave, year 12 will have gone – I’ll be stress free! Yeah right… 
Categories: Food
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