The Baking Of

A couple of weeks ago, I had two wedding cake orders for the exact same day. Being unable to decline the opportunity to make some amazing cakes, and being slightly insane, I took on a 150 guest wedding, along with a 200 guest wedding. With just a regular home kitchen, I had to organize myself down to the tiniest detail to be able to pull this off. Regardless, the weeks leading up to that weekend were as chaotic as possible. What fun would it be if it wasn't!?

Let's start at the beginning. Three weeks to deadline, I drew out my sketches, and made myself a schedule, with a detailed to do list for each day. And I plastered it all over my walls. Yes, I was thorough.

The first of the two weddings was fairly simple, an intricate lace on alternating tiers. The lace was detail work I wouldn't have to worry about until the end. The second wedding had a whole lot of elements to incorporate into the design. The central cake was to be hand piped with a delicate design based on their wedding invites. The other two cakes were based around the baroque bar they were bringing in for the reception. 

Here's the sketch for that wedding.

I was also asked to include white peonies, which I made a few weeks in advance as well.

And then, two weeks to deadline, I started making all the frostings. Four different kinds. Working with just one mixer was not going to work. So, my wonderful sis-in-law lent me hers as well. 

LOTS of butter and egg whites ready for buttercreaming :)

Mama mixer and baby mixer working hard!

Ten whole batches later, I was finally ready for the last week. It involved a whole lot of baking, a great deal of messes, and lots of drama. Knowing this week was going to be crazy intense, my now fiancé (!) decided to propose to me at the beginning of the week. That, along with his amazing support was probably the only thing that got me through the insanity. After a bit of celebrating, back to baking!

Red velvet and chocolate cakes freshly baked

Makeshift shelves from the veggie drawers

Luckily, I have a really wonderful friend with a fondant sheeter. SO much easier to cover cakes in fondant when I don't have to struggle to roll out the fondant! So all my masked cakes were loaded up in the car (not an easy feat) and driven to the west island, where I covered all these cakes in a fraction of the time it would have taken me at home. And then? Well, she left for a dentist appointment, I started loading up the fondant covered cakes into the trunk, threw the keys into the trunk, closed the trunk, and went to open the back doors to load up the rest of the cakes. Uhm... wait... yup! I was locked out of my car, with a dark cloud threatening to soak my cakes. Thank goodness for my dad, who drove all the way out to the west island, right before it came down like a tropical downpour! I was soaked to the bone, but my cakes were safe and sound.

Back home, I fixed up the little bobos and stacked my precious tiers. This is what a blank canvas looks like to me:

Stay tuned for pictures of the cakes once decorated! :)