First Wedding Cake

Happy Anniversary, Beth and Egon!

I can’t believe that it was nine years ago that my sister and almost brother-in-law came to Baltimore to talk wedding cake. I had pulled a bunch of pictures I thought they’d like to give us a starting point for deciding on a design. Their reply was something along the lines of “We like where you’re going with this and will leave it up to you.” Oh, the pressure.

I remember the panic setting in after they left. Creating an actual wedding cake for a couple hundred people?! What was I thinking?  I had only ever baked for my family.

To distract myself, I turned on the TV. Believe it or not, there was the fabulous Martha Stewart, showing her viewers how simple it was to create a tiered wedding cake. I took this as a sign from the almighty pastry gods that everything would be okay.

I stocked up on tropical fruits
to use as models and started
shaping the marzipan.

Many ideas and sketches and recipe tests later, I decided to make a lemon sponge cake with raspberry filling and vanilla frosting.  As for the design, I had to keep in mind that this cake needed to travel well.  (I was going to assemble the cake in Ocean Pines, MD and set it up in Dewey Beach, DE.)  My inspiration came from another Martha Stewart episode where she shaped marzipan into various fruit shapes.  I decided to go tropical.

After the marzipan dried,
I started layering colors
to create star fruit, papaya,
pineapple, mango, etc.

The day before the wedding, I assembled the cake layers in the kitchen and my brother-in-law’s cousin created corsages and bouquets a few feet away in the living room.  The next morning, my brother-in-law, his dad, and I headed to the site of the reception to set up the cake and centerpieces.  Seeing his well over 6-foot tall FBI agent dad help me arrange fluffy, white layers of cake just so must have been quite the sight. We did a good job, though. Everyone seemed to enjoy my very first wedding cake.

Lemon Sponge Cake adapted from Cakes & Cake Decorating

1 c. flour

1 t baking powder
½ c butter, softened
½ c sugar
2 eggs
zest of 2 lemons

Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour 8-inch round cake pan.

Into a large bowl, sift flour and baking powder.  Add butter, sugar, eggs, and lemon zest.

Mix ingredients by hand for 2 to 3 minutes.  Mixture should be slightly glossy.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 20 to 30 minutes.  The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool completely on a wire rack. This recipe can easily be doubled (tripled or quadrupled).