Wedding Cake!!

[magpie]

A couple months ago, I posted asking advice about a wedding cake I had agreed to make for a friend. I had never done such an undertaking before and I was nervous. The original thread is here (http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=70138&highlight=wedding)

Anyway, I met with my friends for a cake tasting a month before the wedding and, unfortunately, the bride nixed my wilder ideas of marzipan figures, etc. She wanted something a bit more traditional. So I made a more traditional cake but with decorations taken directly from Indian mehndi (henna) designs.

The cake is a sour cream cardamom cake filled with lemon curd and strawberry buttercream. The frosting is white chocolate (Berenbaum's "Creme Ivoire" which is basically white chocolate warmed and thinned out with safflower oil. Man, that stuff was tricky to work with! But it gave me a fairly smooth canvas for piping.) The decoration was just royal icing, which looked beautiful but isn't as much fun to eat as buttercream.

Oh, yes! I finished it off with silver leaf scattered over the top.

I've posted pix below (this is my first time posting pictures so I hope I do this correctly). The top of the cake was taken before adding the silver leaf.

[magpie]

I don't see my images in the first post. Okay, how do you post pictures on this board??? :confused:

[valchemist]

you can't use the "attach file" box at the bottom of the posting page. instead, you have to upload your picture to a public website, like imagestation. in other words, you can't use a picture that is only on your computer. It has to be on a public website, first.

go to www.imagestation.com

set up an account. make an album. upload the picture from your computer into that album. then open up the full sized picture in the album. right click on it. select properties. highlight and copy the entire url. come back to the bb to make a post. click the IMG button and paste the url into the box that pops up.

[magpie]

Okay, here it goes:

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid161/p8a227791d9f7869b649d0611af6b0f75/f4cfcbcc.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid161/pd77cff4989c699df9ae5f4c6c5bbe657/f4cfcbce.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid161/p0476a0f6780318076943073fd4df0390/f4cfcbcf.jpg

[rhondac]

Wow! Gorgeous! Thanks, Val, for helping her post. What a great cake.

[valchemist]

wow is right!!!

great job. thanks for sharing.

[erinsue]

That is beautiful! Great job!

[Varaile]

Oh how lovely! When you said henna designs I couldn't wait to see what you had done! Colors are georgeous!

Beautiful!

:D :cool: :D

[SueK]

Holy cow - that's beautiful! I'm sure your friend is very grateful.

[jphilg]

Gorgeous! Beautiful work, and such a lovely gift!

[lhall]

That's absolutely beautiful! What a great friend you are.

Leigh

[TLee4]

That is absolutely beautiful! Good job!

Terri

[tperes]

Ditto what everyone said above!

Gorgeous!

[nowimcooking]

That is really impressive!

I was contracted to do a friend's wedding cake once, and it was totally stressing me out. I must've done 10+ cakes for taste testing, and was just about to do the complete trial wedding cake when sadly the wedding was called off. I have to admit that if someone asked me now I think I'd say no....it was so much pressure!

But you did a beautiful job!

[donleyk]

Oh my, you did a wonderful job!

[newcook]

Wow, what a beautiful cake. You are an artist! Have you posted the recipe anywhere?

Daniele

[Chefzhat]

Goodness, that's beautiful! You should be proud!

[SLFlyt]

OMG that is the most gorgeous cake I've ever seen! Will you be my best friend too? Pretty please?

[jellyben]

Wonderful job!

[MusicMom]

WOW! That's just beautiful- your designs are so intricate.

[RebeccaT]

Oh my gosh, that is absolutely beautiful! What painstaking work, a labor of love. Your friends must have been thrilled!

[emily]

gorgeous, magpie!

i'm making a wedding cake for some friends at the end of may, so i've got a few questions, if you don't mind... i'm curious about your cake recipe, sounds delicious! did you do assembly on site (i'm thinking about transportation dangers)? what were the demensions of your cake? how many people did it serve?

tia!

emily

[clairea]

That is gorgeous! Thanks for sharing.

Claire

[MikeC]

Magpie,

What a beautiful cake!

I have to echo some of the responses of a few other folks here: could we have the cake recipe??? Sour cream cardamom sounds delicious!

[lonetree1353]

Another WOW here. Magpie you did a gorgeous job. Your friend is very lucky and you must be very proud of your accomplishment. Great Job!

[sab1976]

That is one of the most beautiful wedding cakes I've seen! GREAT JOB! You are very talented!!

[SHERRY]

Wow! I can't belive this is a new thing for you. It is just incredible. As a fellow cake decorator, I think you need to go into the business. The details are incredible and the colors perfect. Can you provide the recipe and your instructions for covering the cake in the chocolate. You really were successful in getting it smooth. Congratulations. I bet they were honored!

[madpots]

I saw a program last week on PBS "Beautiful Cakes". It showed the entries in an exhibit in Tulsa. There were some fantastac cakes entered. Your would have been right up there with the winner.

[lmenichel]

WOW!! I'm speechless! It is absolutely stunning!! And you made it sound like it was so easy!! It sounds delicious as well! Now, I'm craving cake!!

[Chelle D]

It is gorgeous! Great job.

[colleency]

Wow! That's beautiful!

[Wendy w]

Great job! Very impressive! :)

[kermit]

Wow that is just gorgeous! And it sounds like it was delicious - mmmm....cardamom :D

[kristalsnow7]

It's absolutely breathtaking!! I'm getting married in a few months and would love to have a cake like that! You did an amazing job. Congratulations!

[swquilts]

STUNNING!!

[magpie]

Okay, now I'm blushing! I just peeked at the board and saw all these generous posts. Thank you so much!

Yes, I have to admit, I've been bitten by the bug-- I'm looking for another opportunity to make a fancy cake. Couldn't do it professionally, though. I get way too anxious. All I could see in this cake were the flaws and I kept apologizing to the bride and groom until a little voice in my head told me to shut up already! (Or maybe that was my husband) :rolleyes:


Originally posted by emily
gorgeous, magpie!

i'm making a wedding cake for some friends at the end of may, so i've got a few questions, if you don't mind... i'm curious about your cake recipe, sounds delicious! did you do assembly on site (i'm thinking about transportation dangers)? what were the demensions of your cake? how many people did it serve?

tia!

emily

Emily- Luckily I didn't need to make a huge cake. The groom told me they just wanted a modest size cake for the wedding party that would be decorative and they would have sheet cake to feed the masses. (Of course, then he calls me four days before the wedding asking how many I thought the cake would feed. I said I thought maybe 50 and he asked if I could add another tier. As if!! I just started laughing.)

The cake consisted of double layers of 10 inch and 6 inch. Really not a huge cake but the double layers made it tall. I torted the layers with fresh lemon curd and filled between the layers with the strawberry buttercream. I assembled the cake at home halfway through decorating (I had to have it assembled to finish the decorating) and transported it in a box on my dad's lap driving veeeeerrrrrry carefully over the pothole-ridden DC roads. Fun!

The sad part of the story is that the caterers really mangled it when they served it. They didn't know enough to remove the ribbon around the base (I caught them trying to cut through it and had to take it off for them) plus they cut it in a grid and then divided each square again between layers so people who got interior pieces from the bottom layer didn't get any frosting. Honestly, the cake was dense enough that they should have been able to slice it properly with the correct knife. I had to just let it go and walk away or I would have imploded (quietly, of course, so as not to make a scene).

Anyway, here is the recipe for the cake for anyone who is interested. I got the original from a website but can't remember which one. Maybe Allrecipes? I made my own changes, mainly adding the lemon which I think gives a nice lift to the cardamom. The cake is intended to be served like a coffee cake with a pistachio topping.

SOUR CREAM CAKE WITH CARDAMOM AND PISTACHIOS

2 c. flour
1 1/8 t gorund cardamom
3/4 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/8 t ground cinnamon
1 c. plus 2 t sugar
6 T unsalted butter, room temp
4 large eggs
1 t vanilla
1/2 t lemon extract
1 t lemon zest
1 c. sour cream
1/2 c coarsely chopped roasted unsalted pistachios

Preheat oven to 350. Butter 8-inch cake pan. Dust with flour, tap out excess.

Sift flour, cardamom, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together. Beat butter and 1 cup sugar together in mixer until well blended. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in extracts and zest. Fold in dry ingredients alternately with sour cream until blended. Pour batter into cake pan and sprinkle with pistachios and remaining 2 teaspoons sugar.

Bake cake until top begins to crack and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool in pan for 30 minutes before turning out onto rack to finish cooling. Cut in wedges to serve.

[ReneeV]

WOW!!! What a beautiful and unusual cake. I decorate cakes, so I know what a labor of love this must have been. Beautiful stingwork!

Renée

[cinnamon_queen]

I agree with everyone else...just beautiful! I used to work for a lady that made wedding cakes from her house. She was excellent, and it wasn't unusual to have 3-5 weddings a weekend! I know how tough everything could get and how time consuming it all can be...so GREAT job to you!!

[Kingwell]

Thanks for sharing the recipe. I hadn't asked yet, but sour cream cardamom sounded wonderful.

How many times did you double the recipe to make the wedding cake version? Did you make a trial version with just a double-layer. Do you think basic seven-minute frosting would be good on it, or is that just too far from your white chocolate masterpiece to be tasty? :)

[momqat]

WOW! What a gorgeous work of art! And the recipe looks great, too. Thanks so much for sharing :)

[tperes]

I went to copy and save this recipe, and I already had it! It is from Bon Appétit
February 1999, Flavors of the World, in case anyone is interested. Now, I am going to have to really try it!

Thanks again for sharing your pictures. The cake is fabulous!

[magpie]

Originally posted by Kingwell
How many times did you double the recipe to make the wedding cake version? Did you make a trial version with just a double-layer. Do you think basic seven-minute frosting would be good on it, or is that just too far from your white chocolate masterpiece to be tasty? :)

You know, I'm one of those people who only wrote one rough draft before the final paper. I made the cake once, liked it and presented it to the bride and groom for approval. Then I just made the cake itself for the wedding (and froze it for a couple weeks). I only own one set of pans so I had to make each layer individually. I used a half recipe for the 6 inch and a full recipe for the 10 inch. The cake crowns quite a bit, even when wrapped with a damp towel, so I had to trim.

I think this cake is good without any frosting, actually. It is very moist and flavorful. But, you know, you can't do that for a wedding! ;)

-magpie

[Gracie]

Can you please post the frosting recipe too? Thanks!

Loren

[newtricks]

Magpie-

I thought about you and your beautiful cake the other night. I was watching "Food Network Caters Your Wedding" and your cake is so much nicer than the cake they featured. So much nicer!

If you haven't seen it, the cake was by "Colette's Cakes" and was just really overdone (IMO). And they had made a sculpture of the bride and groom which was just fugly.

But my point isn't really how bad that cake was (because obviously people love her cakes) but how lovely yours is.:)

[magpie]

Thanks, Loren! Here's the frosting recipe:

CREME IVOIRE

1 lb white chocolate
scant 1/2 c. flavorless oil such as mineral or safflower (I used safflower)

Break chocolate into pieces and place in top of double boiler with oil. Heat gently until melted, stirring with a whisk.

Okay, this is the tricky part: you have to cool it slightly while whisking constantly until it attains a frosting consistancy. However, if it gets too cool, it becomes too stiff to spread. Also, if it cools too quickly, it "seeds" (forms small lumps) and you will have to melt it and start over.

Prepare a bowl of ice water and keep it next to the stove. Move the bowl of chocolate to the ice water to whisk until set up but be prepared to move it back to the double boiler if necessary to bring the temperature back up. Frost the cake quickly once the consistancy is right.

After the cake is frosted, you can go back and smooth it with the edge of a spatula.

Barbara- I caught some of the Food Network wedding shows, also. I saw the one by that woman who does the semi-homemade show. Her wedding cake was from a box and the frosting was from a can with champagne extract (never heard of it?) to spiff it up. I have to say, I wasn't impressed.

Thank you so much for the compliment!

-magpie