I admit I spent a lot of time stressing over this cake, it had to be perfect. I had a chocolate cake recipe but I started to realise that every time I used it the cake came out differently. So I tried a different cake. The first time I did this I gave it to a friend as a birthday cake and it came out really well. The second and third times I tried it it just flopped. So I went back to the original recipe and decided to try out different variations until it was right. A week before the wedding I tried out three different variations and found the perfect one. Phew was all I could think!
We had done a tasting session a couple of months beforehand and had decided on chocolate fudge icing. This was the easy part. Getting it the right colour wasn't so easy. I decided to add some brown food colouring paste to get it a slightly darker colour. This didn't change the taste so was happy.
The other part was the topper. We had spoken about what my friend would like and it left things open for me. She wanted a seashell theme but we didn't really know what to do after that. While I was on holiday in Brixham I visited the seashell shop and managed to buy a good selection of shells and coral with just the idea of seeing what I could do with it. I was happy with the result, just wish I'd been able to stick the coral down better. But it's all a learning curve.
The chocolate sea shells were a request from the bride.
I had never used dowels or tiered a cake before so I had looked into it for about 2 months before having to actually do it but it didn't stop me from being terrified and not sleeping very well the night before the wedding. The good news though is that it didn't collapse or tilt in any way.
Here is the cake in it's full glory. I was happy with it but more importantly the bride and groom were happy with it. I'm hoping it'll be the first of many to come :)
A comment from my friend on this cake:
ReplyDelete" This was a gift from one of my very best friends ......... and it was a beautiful gift - one that I shall remember for ever.
Roxy, I know I wasn't very prescriptive in some of my design ideas, but you more than did it justice - it looked really beautiful and natural all at the same time (hopefully like my wedding!?).
I just want to say if you are thinking of taking up this lady on a wedding cake offer, please do, she will listen and interpret, and without you knowing it will provide you with the most wonderful surprise.
The coral was the perfect finishing touch - which is something I wouldn't have thought of and I am really glad that I let you suprise me with this as you got it spot on. I knew you would.
I know I have said this already but, thank you for making my cake, I adored it - shame it had to be eaten! x"