My second wedding was not as easy as the first unfortunately. Beginners luck? Maybe, but if they are all easy then when do you learn. I have a way of only learning when I make mistakes, and lets just say I learned a lot from this cake.
I loved the idea for this cake from the minute the bride sent me a a few photos of what she wanted. I live at the beach and love everything to do with it.
Then she asked to make seahorses. Me being the "I'll do anything for my bride" said "Sure I can make that happen." Then reality set in. I started thinking about how little I knew about sculpting. So the week before the wedding I even start looking online for seahorse toppers. I know they were nothing the bride would like so I sat down at my dining room table (aka my work station) and started sculpting. You can actaully see them in my last blog too.
To my suprise they actually looked pretty good for a first attempt. But that sounds like a good lesson, not all of them were. Above is an unfinished picture. I ended up adding little wings. Keep reading for a better picture. Eventually I was able to cut ridged fins and attached them to the body with floral wire...See even more uses for that wonderful invention.
Once the cakes were baked and cooled I started filling and stacking each layer. The chocolate went wonderfully, the vanilla with strawberry, not so well. Needless to say, I will NOT be using that recipe again. The filling started to seep out of the icing and no matter how hard I tried it would not stop. Lesson #1 of the day. I eventually got it to slow enough that I felt comfortable, then I added the chocolate layer for the middle. And the seeping started again.
I decided to just bite the bullet and add the top layer in hopes that it would stop seeping before I started decorating. Well I thought it was about done, but that's later in the story. Once the cake was stacked I started piping coral on the bottom layer and working up.
I loved the idea for this cake from the minute the bride sent me a a few photos of what she wanted. I live at the beach and love everything to do with it.
Then she asked to make seahorses. Me being the "I'll do anything for my bride" said "Sure I can make that happen." Then reality set in. I started thinking about how little I knew about sculpting. So the week before the wedding I even start looking online for seahorse toppers. I know they were nothing the bride would like so I sat down at my dining room table (aka my work station) and started sculpting. You can actaully see them in my last blog too.
To my suprise they actually looked pretty good for a first attempt. But that sounds like a good lesson, not all of them were. Above is an unfinished picture. I ended up adding little wings. Keep reading for a better picture. Eventually I was able to cut ridged fins and attached them to the body with floral wire...See even more uses for that wonderful invention.
Once the cakes were baked and cooled I started filling and stacking each layer. The chocolate went wonderfully, the vanilla with strawberry, not so well. Needless to say, I will NOT be using that recipe again. The filling started to seep out of the icing and no matter how hard I tried it would not stop. Lesson #1 of the day. I eventually got it to slow enough that I felt comfortable, then I added the chocolate layer for the middle. And the seeping started again.
I decided to just bite the bullet and add the top layer in hopes that it would stop seeping before I started decorating. Well I thought it was about done, but that's later in the story. Once the cake was stacked I started piping coral on the bottom layer and working up.
At this point my friend walked in the door and gasped. I was just glad it hadn't fallen. I was able to stay calm for most of the day, well really until we pulled up the reception and I saw the amount of cars in the yard. We'll skip the part of the story that involves a couple heart attacks by both my friend and myself. Lesson #2 I'm sure if I would stack the cakes before I put them in my car for a thirty minute drive. Lesson #3 I don't like delivering big heavy cakes to venues where there are already a lot of people!
Well there are a few of the big lessons I learned with this cake. And here's what you've really been reading for.
Now let's hope that it didn't fall when they moved it to the stand, that no one could tell me where it was. Anyways, until next time!
Happy Baking :)
