I owe my success to a free, Stork Margarine Cookery Book, which was given away as part of an advertising campaign when the product was first launched. The recipe never fails, and only needs doubling or trebling to accommodate the required size and shape of cake tin.
So, just three weeks before the wedding, there were the cakes (slightly wonky) ready for the marzipan. No ready made, shop bought stuff, but proper, home made almond paste. Yummy.
I was so inexperienced, I didn't know any of the tricks of the trade - like allowing plenty of time for the paste to dry out and harden to support the weight of the tiers above. Nor, when it came to the Royal Icing, did I know that fresh egg whites will stop it ever beating to a stiff enough consistency to pipe! I have learned by my mistakes!
The result of my lack of knowledge was, that when I tried to pipe a design around the sides of the cakes, the icing slid slowly but relentlessly in the direction of down wards... I finally got round the problem by buying several yards of silver lace to wrap around them, instead! The end result was quite pretty though, don't you think?
And one of my very young, exceeding slim bridesmaids sidled up to me during the evening party, and asked if she could have another piece of cake. My "Of course! Help yourself!" brought back the rejoinder "Thanks - I've had three already - this will be my fourth!"
Ours was purchased and much worse than yours. In our case it was more the sizing of the layers that was off. We had a dummy layer meant for the bottom which was smaller than the layer meant to be up form it -- or vice versa.
ReplyDeleteA lovely photograph and an impressive cake. Your husband isn't distracted, though. He appears to only have eyes for his bride. Quite right too!
ReplyDeletejinksy - excellent story - you made your own cake and ate it too!!! steven
ReplyDeleteJinksy, what a lovely bride...your cake was lovely too. Another talent you have. Baking!!! I have never made marzipan, but once made 4 gallons of royal icing for our library's Ginger Bread House project. I loved how you improvised with the ribbon for the sliding icing! So creative and smart!
ReplyDeleteI think I've seen that Stork cookbook amongst my mum's recipe books. I loved all those cookbooks. They are very very good and simple to use. I had to smile about the wonky cakes and your comments about the almond paste and the icing. All so true and experienced by yours truly as well. Lovely to see you both on your wedding day. You both look so happy and natural.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Star
It's a lovely cake, and you were a lovely bride!
ReplyDeleteAhh, your cake is fantastic because you did and got to eat it. Our cake was purchased, and I barely got two small bites since the Mrs. had us personally greeting each attendee at their dining table. By the time we were done, the food had all disappeared.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful bride and handsome groom and jinsky your cake is lovely. I had never heard of making cakes so far ahead of the event but my sister does it all the time and she is a beautiful cook.....must be a European thing.....:-)Hugs
ReplyDeleteI love the sleeves of your wedding dress. Your handsome husband looks very happy to be married to you; he couldn't care less about the royal icing being on the cake or not ;-)
ReplyDeleteSo, you're saying that fresh egg whites can't be beaten up to bowl-upside-down-over-head consistency? Or did I misunderstand? Please enlighten me ;-)
I did not have a cake, but it looks like I've eaten quite a few. I learned cake decorating asw a course while a Navy wife and got quite good at it but it and the scales were at odds with each other so I gave up the skill and sold the tools of the trade to mhy Best Friend who can still turn out a beautiful creation of art.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely couple. He's looking at you so proud. The cake looks really great.
ReplyDeleteTwo of our daughters had home made cakes. The one daughter made one for her sister and herself for their weddings. They also made all of their bridal bouquets and for the bride maids. One even prepared her own food for the reception, she loved cooking and planning. Perhaps she should have been a wedding planner. Abe and I went off and got married, then went home and told the family. Sure saved a lot of money. LOL
i think you did a marvelous job...and what a nice picture of you as well..we hired someone you would not want a cake made by me...smiles.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
ReplyDeleteThis is heartwarming. I feel much better now. I am very impressed with the cake. The lace was a stroke of genius.
Christine
I'm impressed.. of course I always am when I drop by here. You sure were a lovely bride and you had a very creative solution to the lack of piping.
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice story Penny, and told in a typical English way! I enjoyed it! - Dave
ReplyDeleteWhat a charming photo! :)
ReplyDeleteI love it that you made your own wedding cake.
So glad to hear of a happier interval of the day. Beautiful sleeves on your dress and a clever idea to use lace on the cake. I went to some cake decorating classes and we used powdered albumen for the icing but I would have thought real whites ought to work?
ReplyDeleteBeautiful cake, beautiful bride, beautiful photo.
ReplyDeleteLooks like your groom thought you were worth 3 buttonholes! It's just a LOVELY picture.
ReplyDeleteDear Pen,
ReplyDeletesuch a beautiful photograph of a radiant couple -
and an impressive wedding-cake!
You did your job well as a novice in baking! I am sure it was delicious.
So enjoyed this--particularly the ingenious silver lace fix!
ReplyDeleteOh my, you were such a beautiful bride. I am astonished that you made your own wedding cake. You are so full of talent. Your wedding dress is so pretty.
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed by your solution to the sliding frosting. I'm a cake show junkie on the Food Network here and I've seen some interesting saves but NEVER wrapping up the frosting in fabric. Bravo!!
ReplyDelete