A few weeks ago, when my girlfriend Courtney was planning her last minute backyard wedding, I volunteered to make the cake and cupcakes. Initially, it seemed like no big deal. I even made testers of both the cake & cupcakes, just to double check the recipes and the "process".
Cue: Morning of the Wedding.
The cake layers & 75 cupcakes were baked and ready for icing. What do I do - change the icing recipe. Seriously, what was I thinking?! Who does that? Its a wedding cake! Of someone I really like, not a friend I'm trying to divorce!
Well, this is what happens... Yup, a sweet (hehe) freakin' disaster. I turned my back on that cake for 2 minutes and it begins looking like the Leaning Tower of Wedding Cakes. I begin screaming for Jody! Out come spatulas and flippers as we disassemble and begin de-icing the cake.
It then looks like this:
I am sure the wedding is going to be cancel and Courtney will never talk to me again. Jody tells me to get a grip and take a breathe. I wonder out loud where I can get a wedding cake on short notice... maybe IQA? Have they started catering weddings?! Should I go check?! After I make the original icing, still hysterical, Jody kicks me out of the kitchen. I'm freaking both of us out.
When I was allowed back in the kitchen, this is what the cake looked like:
Honestly, where did I get this guy!?!
The cake & cupcakes looked amazing and no one would have ever guessed the disaster of a morning Jody and I had. The sheer panic of it sent us running to the Cold Beer&Wine store inappropriately early. Drink anyone?!
Snickerdoodle goodness.
Although volunteering to make a wedding cake and a trillon cupcakes might not have been the smartest move on my part (or so Jody tells me), it did achieve one of my goals of living my life boldly for others. I equate my gusto in volunteering to a desire to show Courtney what her friendship means to me in doing something large & helpful for her. It may have been naive to believe it would all go smoothly; in reality, it was hectic, semi-insane, and hysterical all at the same time. But I would do it all again.
[Pssss. Don't tell Jody I wrote that.]
The cake was Martha Stewart's Red Velvet Cake and the cupcakes were her Snickerdoodle Cupcakes. Both are absolutely to die for and are in my permanent recipe collection now.
The icing for them all was Bonnie Stern's Vanilla Icing:
(I couldn't find it on-line)
1 cup butter, room temperature
6 cups icing sugar
1/3 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
For icing, in a large bowl, beat butter until light. Gradually beat in about 4 cups icing sugar. Beat in milk & vanilla. Gradually add remaining icing sugar. Cover icing tightly with plastic wrap if you are not using it right away (it gets stiff fast).
WOW! What a beautiful cake and cupcakes. Although your situation was slightly terrifying (hello wedding cake), it's good to know I'm not the only one who has had an icing disaster on their hands!
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