The Wedding Cake That Almost Didn't Make It

This is the happy couple, Mike and Kelsie. They were actually married three weekends ago out in the Midwest where her family is from, but Mike's folks, our friends Steve and Chrissy, wanted to put on a second reception to celebrate with the many friends and relatives that couldn't make it to the wedding. It was a casual affair, and the happy couple only requested the flavor of the cake, so I was all jazzed about being able to take some artistic license with the way it looked.

Due to weather concerns (possible humidity), I nixed the fondant idea, and opted to stick with what was most familiar to me...good old buttercream frosting.

My plan: to get a good leafy green frosting on the cakes, and pipe white squiggles over it, pipe a band of white at the base of each cake where I would then pipe small clusters of grapes and vines around it (in keeping with the grapevine theme). The idea in my head was a good one, but I ran into a little glitch when I was mixing the green food coloring paste into the test batch of icing. Leaf green is a garish spring green. Almost neon. And the more I toyed with my food color pastes trying to achieve a pastel version of forest green, the more grainy and non-pastel the batch got. It was a lost cause.

As I was helping set up and decorate the tables early this morning, I wished I'd gone ahead and brought the cakes with me then, as it was already promising to be a scorcher of a day at 9:30 in the morning.

My trip home was made in miserable 107 degree heat. I spent that time kicking myself that I'd not gone ahead and made the fondant as the cakes would have probably fared much better, but now that was out of the question for lack of time. With iffy weather, the decision simply couldn't be helped.

Did I mention that it was 107 degrees outside? Or that we transported the cake in our tiny hatchback (that finally passed smog)? Even with the A.C. on full blast, the sun through the windows softened the cakes, the top layer of which Jericho was holding in the back, and the large bottom layer that I held on my lap the entire way because--well, because I've yet to find a foolproof 'safe' way of transporting that bad boy. The rest were nestled in protective boxes on the carefully leveled hatchback storage area.

10 cake mixes worth of cakes. Five, 2-layer cakes of varying sizes (including two 8 inch back up rounds)

12 pounds of frosting (made largely from shortening and powdered sugar with a little milk and flavorings mixed in).

107 degree heat

25 minute ride.

When I say the cakes were softened in the sun...I mean that in spite of the fact they'd been frosted partially frozen and refrigerated to firm overnight, they were sliding all over on their platters by the time we got to the church at 2:00. The middle layer of the cake had to be strategically arranged on the rack because the backside got pretty messed up in transport.

Though I'd rebooted my day by showering and starting over after the fellowship hall decorating this morning, I was sweating like a farm animal by the time we arrived, and had spent the last 10 minutes of the drive tilting the cake back and forth to 'slide' the gooey mess back to the center of the serving platter where it was supposed to be.

The top layer didn't fare as well. Jericho was holding that one, and informed me that it was 'like a waterfall'. Not to mention that Judah was grabbing at it from his carseat nearly the entire way there.

I didn't even want to think about what had happened in the back to the rest of the cake layers.

That had to be the longest 25 minutes of my life.

After frantic repair work at the church, I began decorating with the swirl pattern to disguise 'thin' spots in the icing.

I finished about 2 minutes before the reception was to begin.

I hope folks don't think I was rude, keeping my back to most of them as they were filtering in, but I had to get that cake done, and it had taken way longer than I'd anticipated.

To not finish it it time would ruin my streak!

:: ::

On sort of a whim, Kelsie's folks surprised everyone and flew out to be at the reception. During their layover they were able to get an even sooner than scheduled second leg of the flight out, which got them to the reception in the nick of time. It was the cutest thing to see Mike and Kelsie's expressions when they looked up to see her folks walk in the door. If only I'd had the video cam handy! It was the perfect crowning touch to a perfect evening.

:: ::

Chrissy and Steve, you guys know how to put on a party! Good job!