Wednesday 21 March 2012

Tiff & John

I had the pleasure of making the wedding cake for my cousin Tiffany and John's wedding last Saturday. The happy couple was very easy-going, and they fearlessly allowed me to design the entire cake by myself. Probably the most fun I'll ever have making a cake! I did lots of research, drew lots of sketches, experimented with colour schemes, and changed my mind endless times but in the end, I designed THE cake that I fell in love with (and the couple later did too). It was going to be grand, bold, with a little touch of couture :) Oh, and did I mention that the wedding was in Toronto?! (For my new readers, I'm in Montreal). Lots and lots of planning went into this cake, as I had to work on it around school, and in such a way that it would still be fresh and moist for the wedding. Having been my second Toronto wedding cake, I had a general idea of how to organize myself but it was never the less a little challenging. I started baking the cakes a week before the wedding and froze them until I was ready to assemble the cake. In one afternoon, with all my mise en place, I was able to assemble and crumb-coat all 5 tiers. Next was to cover them in fondant and start building my cake. My plan was initially to bring the cakes in 3 parts, but with my final sketch, I had to assemble them in 2 parts. Turns out the cakes were heavy enough that they did not budge during the entire 6 hour car ride (phew!). I brought the rest of my supplies and finished assembling the cake on site at Piper Heath Golf Course in Milton, ON. With all the right planning, and a bit of good luck, everything went off without a hitch! The bride and groom were very pleased with the cake :) I received lots of compliments on the appearance of the cake as well as the cake itself. Even after having been frozen for a couple of days, the cakes were still very moist and tasty. Some people even commented on how fluffy the buttercream was (that made me very happy- I get super excited when my buttercream turns out super "light"!). Here are a few pictures of the process and the big day :)

All assembled, looking pretty straight :)

Adding borders

Giving the floating tier a royal icing finish

Fresh orchids atop the cake- so beautiful. The monogram is a hybrid of
their two names, also used on the invitations.

The finished cake!

The glowing couple on a beautiful March afternoon

Tiff & John posing with their cake

John getting mad at Tiff for shoving cake in his face- priceless! 

Classic :)

A closer look at the cake. 3 tiers of vanilla bean cake with maple Italian buttercream and
2 tiers of dark chocolate cake with caramel fleur de sel Italian buttercream.

Fun facts:

# of hours to complete cake ~25
lbs of butter in the buttercream- 7
estimated weight of the cake ~60 lbs

Wishing nothing but the very best to my cousin Tiffany and my new cousin-in-law John! May you have a happy and healthy life together :) I am so happy to have been a part of your special day. You know who to call for anniversary cakes... ;)

2 comments:

  1. What a beautiful cake!!! I'm sad I didn't stick around long enough to try a piece :(

    You did such a professional job! congrats!

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  2. Thank you Kelly! It was great seeing you guys, and meeting Lily! She's so precious :)

    ReplyDelete