Saturday, June 5, 2010

Wedding Cake Triumph















Making my own wedding cake, or rather, convincing Rachel to make a wedding cake to my specifications, seemed like a brilliant idea six months ago. Rachel is a talented baker, and we are both capable, determined and creative people. How hard could it be? When I discovered that pansies were a little hard to sugar, being way too big for their own good, I was mildly shaken. When I first started playing around with paint on the fondant I was a little unsure of my ability to turn gloppy gel coloring and melty fondant in something pretty. But the worst was the fondant. Turns out that fondant can be hard. Literally and figuratively. After spending an afternoon standing on a chair and pushing on a glob of green sugar with all of my might, all the while not seeing it move at all, I was downright worried.

Then came a the miracle of hydrogenated vegetable oil. Yes, crisco might give you cancer, but none the less, my grandmother was on to something. It makes fondant soft and pliable. So Rachel made a delicious cake and covered it with perfectly smooth white fondant. We also figured out how to attach candied flowers to the cake and I practiced my painting technique. The final cake will be two tiers that each have some components of the practice cake, and now I am happily sure that the wedding cake will be tasty and beautiful.


4 comments: