Tasting the Wedding Day

I fussed, stressed, and tinkered around the house until the doorbell rang. Everything was ready, even the two cakes I'd assembled for their tasting. What started out as a simple taste this/taste that get-together became my full dry run for their wedding day this summer. The cakes performed beautifully, despite my anxieties and the heat, and I was glad to have run through a small-scale version of what will happen in just a few weeks.

I did learn a few things during this dry run:

• 3 hours seemed like enough time to let frozen-solid cakes defrost. In fact, it was only 60 degrees outside and 3 hours nearly melted the cakes completely. I need to think about longer-term refrigeration options, especially because it will take a few hours to get the cakes over to Bainbridge.
• As the cakes warmed, the buttercream got saltier and saltier, even though there was very little salt in it. It also got really greasy and nearly translucent, showing through all the imperfections beneath the surface of the cake.
• The buttercream was a lot richer than we expected - and it was too sweet for the cake. I'm going to test a few more frostings and icings, even though we'll keep the strawberry buttercream in the middle.
• I also layered the inside with strawberry jam, the same jam I'd used to flavor the buttercream. It has a great flavor but when combined with the buttercream and simple syrup I'd used to moisten the cake, it was way too sweet. If it were a little more tangy I'd keep it, but the strawberry jam may have to go, even though it provides a great visual line.
• I tested both egg yolk and egg white-based cakes, and there was a clear winner in our test. The yolk-based cakes were moist and rich, but they were almost too moist to stand up to the heat and buttercream. They got soggy in ways the white-based cake didn't, and they didn't hold their layers as well as the white cake.
• In our original discussions I'd asked about decorations, and we decided flowers were the way to go. In a last-minute grab at the store, I picked up strawberries to accent the flowers on the cake, and this was a very good idea. I knew it would give guests a visual indicator of what was in the cake, plus it would allow me some contrasting colors and flavors to the richness of the buttercream. The brides agreed, the strawberries stay in.
• Their numbers are 100 people, not 150. Yay!
• Since we first talked about the cakes, they picked colors - orange and turquoise. I can handle the orange well with flowers and accent with strawberries, but the turquoise was a little bit of a curveball. I headed down to Packaging Specialties and grabbed some accent ribbon that I'll use to tie the flowers - and that may be the nod to turquoise.
• Must remember to deliver simple syrup via straws to get all the way into the cake.

Don't they look excited and happy?

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