Let them eat cake!

Last week, as many of you know, was creme-filled...er, I mean fun-filled! Rachel and I made a cake for our friends' wedding, which took place on Saturday.

Beginning Wednesday, I baked cake. Four cakes, really. Which doesn't sound like a lot, but think of the one cake you eat on your birthday that takes forever to get rid of...now multiply that by four. It was...a lot. I decided to go for a denser spice cake on the bottom so it would hold the weight of the top layer better. On the top layer, I did a layer of chocolate cake and a layer of white cake with strawberry jam filling. I will fess up here: I had some cake mixes in my cupboard that I had planned on using, and I remembered incorrectly when I purchased the additional ones needed. I thought I'd do spice on the bottom and chocolate on the top...and I had one of each of these in my cupboard. So I thought. Nope, turns out the chocolate one was actually a white one. Hence, the mixed layers. Eh, who cares, right?

Thursday night was dedicated to creating the frosting and the fondant. Laura, my sister, had emailed me a marshmallow fondant recipe that she thought looked like fun. Hmmm...I figured it would be a lot cheaper than buying fondant (seriously, almost $10/lb.), so I got to play in melted marshmallows and powdered sugar. After I got past the initial disgust at my hands being sticky and gooey, it actually was kind of fun! And if you've ever tasted real fondant and know how disgusting it is, you should try this marshmallow stuff. It's actually quite delicious.

Also on Thursday night, I had to clear out enough space in my freezer so I could store the cake layers and have them be easier to work with. Ben was kind enough to offer his freezer for this purpose, so I took two grocery sacks full of frozen food over and filled it up. This left the entire bottom shelf in my freezer free for layers.

Friday, Rachel came down and began work on stacking the layers. Man, we make a good team because when I was getting burned out with the stuff I could do really well (making the components), she stepped in and took over with the stuff she did well (the decoration). Neither of us had worked with fondant before, so new adventure for us! Ben came over after we all went to that movie together, and he even helped...took some of these pictures, too.

Saturday morning was finishing touches. I attached the ribbon, and Rachel did the designs in the chocolate frosting. Isn't she freakin' amazing?! I think so...

I took it to go set up at the reception, which took place in Kamas. For those of you unfamiliar with Kamas' location, it's up past Heber City, but before you hit Park City. Kind of out of the way...and down many a winding road. I was alone in the car, trying to keep the top layer from sliding off the board I had it on, trying to keep my car cool so the cake doesn't melt everywhere. A fiasco, indeed. I made it up there mostly unscathed (both the cake and myself!) and got it put together pretty quickly. Turned out great for an amateur cake, methinks.

All in all, it was sort of an exhausting task, but it was fun at times. I learned new things and got to see a pretty awesome finished product.