My youngest sister got married in early January. About six months before the wedding she asked if I would like to make the wedding cakes. Yes, that’s right, the wedding cakes. Instead of having one cake, they had a smaller cake on each table which served as pudding as well as the centrepiece on each table.
I said yes, kind of tentatively, not sure where I would find the time and not at all confident that what I would create would be very good. I did some recipe testing and a little bit of practising – but not really enough to make sure that my cakes would be perfect. I also wasn’t sure how I would bake twelve wedding cakes so that they would be fresh and also, be able to transport them from Auckland to Christchurch. I am fortunate that I have two ovens, so could get three cakes baking at a time, but I wasn’t sure about carrying 12 cakes down on the plane. We were also going to Christchurch for Christmas, two weeks before the date of the wedding, so freezing my cake recipe was also part of the testing.
In the end, I came up with a plan. I would make six cakes the night before we flew to Christchurch. I was sure that I would be able to manage six cakes, a nappy bag, handbag and an almost two year old on the plane with the help of my husband. I would then make the other six cakes at Mum and Dad’s, perhaps three on the day before Christmas and three on boxing day. I would then wrap the cakes and freeze them in another sister’s freezer, take them out the day before the wedding early in the morning, and then decorate them at my sister’s friend’s house which was close to the wedding venue.
My plan worked. The only real hiccup was when we were flying to Christchurch on the afternoon of December 23, we were about to start flying over the south island, when the captain came across the loud speaker regretting to inform us that there had been another major earthquake in Christchurch. At that point safe transport of the cakes was the last thing on my mind. But thankfully after a five hour diversion in Wellington airport, the earthquake, while huge, wasn’t as deadly as the 4 September and 22 February ones and we did make it to Christchurch that evening. The cakes made it too. All in one piece.
The cakes were chocolate cake – a fabulous recipe which freezes well and stays incredibly moist. Even though every wedding cake had been frozen, defrosted the day before the wedding, three days after the wedding the leftover cake was still moist. The icing was cream cheese icing. The combination served with whipped cream and fresh berries was stunning.
And lastly, a photo of Harry giving the bride a horseshoe
11 comments:
Glad to hear the cakes survived the journey - I think we would have been hanging out at Wellington airport at the same time, but instead of cakes I had Christmas pudding, homemade ice-cream and creme anglais (mine survived too).
Your son is adorable handing over the horseshoe! :-D
Oh wow! How did you pipe the roses like that? I would love to learn
Hi Gemma. It's really easy. You do a reverse swirl with a star tip - you start from the centre rather than the outside (if that makes sense) Tammy :-)
They look fantastic Tammy. I love this design. I did it for a cake I made for night shift one night and they all thought I had spent hours on the decorating when in fact it was so easy. What chocolate cake recipe did you use? I have made 2 wedding cakes now and to say it is a wee bit stressfull would be an understatement so good on you for coordinating such a mammoth task.
I am so happy youre back blogging Tammy! I came to find a recipe that I had remembered from your blog for metro choc chip cookies and was just delighted to find youre back writing again. Your are such a baking inspiration =) Your blog is like a online recipe book that I use frequently. Tamsin
They had been frozen?? They were delicious and looked great!!
Claire R
Hi Tammy
Cakes look fabulous! Could you please post the recipe as I like the idea of freezing the cake and it still being moist.
Katrina
That is quite the feat - I get nervous over a tray of cupcakes, let alone multiple wedding cakes! I bow to you.
What Tamsin said!! I just came here to look up the recipe you use when you bake shortbread to decorate and I was delighted to find you blogging again. A belated welcome back!
And, for Tasmin, I thoroughly recommend the Metro Choc Chip cookies recipe. It's one of my favourites :-)
Wow that cakes frosting looks lickable!! I bet it was hard for guests to resist such decadence before them! YUM
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