Wedding Cake

[poliphilo]

The wedding is two days away. The cake is Ruth and Ailz's project but I find I'm getting drawn in.

Yesterday Ailz and I made a ton of white chocolate icing. You melt the chocolate down, add gelatine and leave it to stand for a day. White chocolate doesn't taste much like chocolate- more like condensed milk. Ruth is coming round this afternoon and the cake is going to be constructed- tier upon tier- and then the white chocolate gloop icing will be poured all over it. This will be the moment of truth. 

The final stage- this is the bride's idea and I think/hope she's going to see to it- is that the cake will be decorated with roses. Not pretend roses- real roses. I find this hard to visualise.

And I've had it intimated to me that I'm going to be expected to decorate the surface of the cake with pictures of cats outlined in chocolate buttons. There are three problems here. One: I can't draw cats. Two: How on earth do you draw anything with buttons? Three: Won't the pictures be hidden by the roses?  Bah- they can't be serious- can they?

Comments

[aellia.livejournal.com]

I hope there will be a picture of the cake!
I never knew about the gelatine thing.
And I'm sure there won't be cats,but if there is,good luck

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

There will almost certainly be a picture. I've been commissioned to make an informal photographic record of the wedding.

[shullie.livejournal.com]

ooOOooo can't wait to see pics...

I had real flowers on my cake... 'draped' and pined in place... but have to admit the florist did it for us... :)

(the cake was from M&S, already iced and just needed 'tiering')

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Pics on the way.....

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

they can't be serious- can they?

Of course I can't speak for these particular women, but I will give you a general rule of thumb as an insider tip - take all women entirely seriously in all matters pertaining to cake.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Now I'm getting anxious.....

[elegysostenuto.livejournal.com]

Oh that sounds just gorgeous!

Are they going with regular rose petals or are they candying (http://www.scenicnursery.com/archives/000032.html) them?

Maybe the 'cats outlined with buttons' will be like a connect the dots (http://grandmaskite.com/d2dfolder/alphacat.gif)?

I'm dying for pictures already!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I believe they're going to be real roses.

I've been practising cat faces. I think I've come up with something acceptable. I'm afraid it won't be anything like as sophisticated as that dot to dot.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

If the bride intends to use complete roses (rather than petals), do check them very very carefully for tiny wildlife.

At the end-of-term lunch a few weeks ago a collegue regaled us all with the story of how, at one family wedding, she ended up flicking hundreds of greenfly off the cake with a tiny brush. Hilarious in hindsight, but not so funny at the time as the deadline for the unveiling of the wonderful cake -- decorated with fresh roses supplied by a well-meaning uncle -- loomed ever nearer.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Oh dear...

I'll pass the warning on.

Lets hope she's buying from a florist.

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

Yes, I was going to mention that when helping a friend set UP a wedding cake there was another cake in the room - for a different wedding, of course. That one was decorated with Buttercream icing and REAL daisies. And a ton of ants. Real flowers are pretty, but there is that possiblity.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Ants? Oh no!

[oakmouse]

Well, at least ants taste like raisins. ;) I don't want to think about what aphids or greenfly would taste like.

what a gorgeous kitty!

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

Pardon the interruption, but since I"m not a friend I couldn't post to your journal. Is the kitty yours?

Re: what a gorgeous kitty!

[oakmouse]

Nope, unfortunately I'm terribly allergic and can't keep cats (although I used to when I was younger and less reactive). She belongs to good friends of mine. She really is gorgeous, isn't she? I love her to pieces.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

You've eaten ants?

[oakmouse]

Yep! When I was about six or so, some novelty candy manufacturer marketed boxes of chocolate-covered ants and a neighbor kid bought or was given one. We all gathered round to have a taste and were devastatingly disappointed to find out that they tasted just like chocolate-covered raisins. We really thought they'd be nasty and they were...well, pretty ordinary.

[mokie]

The florist is (hereabouts anyway) the worst place you can buy plants that are going to be used in any sort of edible setting, since their interest is in keeping things visually appealing, and they do that with chemicals.

Local grocers might be a better bet.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Ah....

Well, it's out of my hands. Nick, the bride, will already have made her arrangements.

I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

White chocolate isn´t really chocolate as there´s no cocoa in it but it makes a fine icing. I take it you were melting bars of white chocolate? Yes, do watch out for insects in the flowers. I once saw aphids on a wedding cake.

And yes, they´re serious.
:)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

We bought white chocolate from Lidl. I don't know how many bars of the stuff went into the pan.

But it melts really easily.

(They forgot about the cats until they'd gone past the stage where I could have applied them. Phew!)

[momof2girls.livejournal.com]

It sounds like it's going to be a hell of a cake. Why cats? I hope you post a picture of the finished product! (BTW, I loved the picture of the cake being iced. The lighting was perfect.)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The bride and groom have two kitties. The idea was they'd be on the bottom tier and not revealed until the cake was taken apart- but we abandoned it.

I've posted a couple more pix. I guess I'll be taking pictures of the completed cake- with flowers and all- on Saturday.