Gourmet's research chief learned the hard way that baking a friend's wedding cake is no piece of cake.
Are you insane?" asked Gina, the Gourmet test kitchen's resident pastry wizard. "I'd never do it," chimed in her colleague Paul, an erstwhile protégé of Simone Beck. "And she's letting you?" Gina demanded.
"Actually, um… she asked me to." The cooks were aghast. "She asked you to?" Gina's voice rose half an octave. "Really?" Make that a full octave.
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread, and novice bakers blithely agree to make their friends' wedding cakes. "What's the big deal?" I asked nonchalantly.
I'd find out soon enough.
Related: Read about one couple who decided to cater their own wedding.
All cooking is art, and all cooking is science; but only baking lies precisely at the nexis between the two, with no room for false moves. The natural-born pastry chef has a sense of precision akin to an opera singer's perfect pitch-the ability to hit things just so. Her mise en place is immaculate. She separates yolk from white smoothly. She never, ever over-mixes. Butter, sugar, and flour respond to her the way even the most recalcitrant dog gentles in the presence of a veterinarian: They know they've met their master.
Anyone who has spent five minutes in the chaos of my kitchen knows I'm not a natural-born pastry chef.
But I also can't resist a challenge. So when my friend Kristin asked me if I'd be interested in making her wedding cake, I said yes like a girl whose sailor just came home on shore leave-and the warnings of the experts fell on deaf ears.
Making a wedding cake is a slippery slope: The first step, deciding on the flavor, is gloriously seductive. Once we'd selected two candidates-lemon-blackberry with cream cheese frosting and chocolate with orange buttercream-it was time for the first official tasting. The lemon cake was pleasingly dense, and the cream cheese frosting, with its hint of sourness, complemented the bright berry filling perfectly. The chocolate was light and velvety without being cloying. "I love them both," Kristin said, helplessly. "I can't choose." (You see? Gloriously seductive!) We quickly called in the troops-in a city where people book up weeks in advance, the entire bridal party was, strangely enough, immediately available for an emergency sampling-and the verdict was unanimous: The lemon-blackberry was the seasonal choice, its fresh flavors the perfect antidote to a humid New York summer day.
Finicky couples, missing cakes…chefs explain why catering a wedding is often more stressful than any job in a restaurant kitchen.Continue reading: Find out how the final cake turned out on the big day.
Want to make your own wedding cake? Here are a few tips:
• Know your budget. Depending on where you live, making a wedding cake will cost between $400 and $600, including groceries, equipment, and transportation. Clipping coupons and buying in bulk will cut down costs significantly, but whatever you do, don't skimp on the ingredients themselves. Farm-fresh, high quality eggs and butter, while expensive, are a must.• Don't forget to budget your own time. Plan on at least 12 hours from the moment you crack the first egg into the mixer to the final scattering of flower petals atop the cake.
• Plan ahead. Most frosting can be made up to a month in advance and frozen (just remember to allow ample time for it to defrost). Considering decorating the cake with edible flowers from your local farmers market? Talk to various vendors a week or two ahead of time to see what's available, and ask them to set aside a few choice blooms for you.
• Ask for help. Having a few friends on call for emergency grocery store runs will save you precious time-and nerves. And don't hesitate to borrow everything you can, especially when it comes to specialized equipment (12-inch serrated knife, 6-inch-round cake pans) you aren't likely to need again.
• Consider assembling the cake on-site. Professional bakeries have all sorts of easy tricks (rubber trivets, double-sided tape) that you, too, can use to ensure that your pre-assembled cake arrives at the wedding unscathed. But if the prospect of subjecting your baby to a car ride is still too frightening, simply coordinate with the wedding site to have an air-conditioned corner of the kitchen available for you, and finish assembling it there.
• Accept imperfection. Your cake won't be perfect; for that matter, if you look closely, you'll see that not even the most exquisite professional cake is without flaw. But smooth frosting and a scattering of flower petals are sure to make it a thing of beauty. And while practice may not make perfect, it will help ensure you create a final product that tastes-and looks-fantastic. Best of all? You made it yourself.
More tips for building a tired cake.
By Marisa Robertson-Textor
Photograph by Stephanie Foley
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