The Homemade Wedding Cake Adventure

So, a few months ago my friends Matt & Val asked me to make the cake for their wedding. Why would they do this? This isn't an ordinary request. It requires fearless courage, a critical eye and perfect chemistry. They asked me because they know I'm crazy. And I never turn down a domestic challenge.

Matt & Val initially said they wanted a wedding cheesecake. "A cheesecake, hmm..." I said, thinking desperately of ways to make cheesecake pretty and wedding-y. "What about...a custard cake?" So we had a cake tasting party to make sure the cake was right for two people who normally don't like cake. This is what it looked like:

White sponge cake with fudge filling

A pastry cream filled white cake

Raspberry-cream filled white sponge cake

There was also a baked-custard cake with raspberry jam, but for some reason I didn't take a picture.

Half the cakes were frosted with buttercream and the other with rolled fondant. The consensus was that the sponge cake was preferable, and all the fillings also preferable. This is what we decided on:

The top tier would be for Matt & Val's 1st anniversary.

Originally a Norwegian recipe, the spongecake I used was much denser than normal white cake, but it converted to refined cake flour and sugar so well that it made a very moist, dense (thanks to the butter) white cake which tasted light but richer than regular white cake.

Here's the recipe for my "wedding" spongecake. You can easily convert it to regular sponge cake (bunt pans are good) by using regular flour and granulated sugar (honey or maple syrup).

1 cup cake flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 cup confectioner's sugar

1 cup butter (room temperature, salted)

1/2 cup milk

2 beaten egg whites (whole eggs are ok for regular cake)

1 tsp vanilla (clear, if wedding cake)

For the highly curious, the fillings went like this:

Pastry Cream (good for lots of occasions other than filling cakes, such as vanilla pudding or banana cream pie)

2 cups milk

1/4 cup sugar

2 large egg yolks (beaten)

1 whole egg

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/3 sugar

2 tbsp butter

1 tsp vanilla

This is a bit of a chemistry trick. Carefully sift and whisk all the cornstarch into 1/2 cup of reserved milk. Heat the rest of the milk on the stove with the first 1/4 cup sugar until boiling. Then very carefully drizzle and whisk eggs at a very low boil, then cornstarch dissolved in milk. Once smooth, bring the whole mixture to a boil for several minutes, until thick and falls off the spoon in globs. Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla. Chill in a bowl covered with cling wrap (touching the custard so a skin does not form).

Raspberry cream:

2 cups whipping cream

2 tbsp sugar

1 pint crushed raspberries

8 oz cream cheese

Whip the cream with sugar until forming soft peaks, add raspberries gently and room temperature cream cheese.

Fudge Frosting:

2 cups confectioner's sugar

2 bricks unsweetened chocolate

1/4 cup butter

Melt the chocolate in the butter and pour, when lukewarm, into sugar while beating. Add more confectioner's sugar until desired consistency.

So I baked (12 cake batches) and froze and trimmed and leveled and frosted the oversized cakes into submission, then built it into a tier. Ironically, the actual decorating part (which happened in between morning-of preparations) only took 15 minutes.

don't you love Val's Willow Creek wedding topper?

The highlight was being asked by two ladies with professional cake experience what my recipes were. Someone else mistook the frosting for fondant because I had smoothed the buttercream to appear like fondant. Hurray for my new best friend, the warmed pastry knife!

(perfect buttercream frosting:

5 cups confectioner's sugar

3 sticks butter - room temperature ONLY

1 tsp vanilla)

Overall, it was too much fun. Mommy saved me (as always) by making a delicious Texas sheet cake for the groom's cake. Thanks to Matt & Val for giving me fodder for the mojo.