How to make a Wedding Cake Part I: The Planning

A lot goes into making a wedding cake. When I say a lot, I mean mostly butter, but there are a few other ingredients too. As I've gotten more experienced, I've found that the hardest part is the preparation and if I do a lot of that then the actual production day is a breeze. To give an inside look into how I create a wedding cake from design to delivery, I'm using a few of my favorites to break it down step by step. But before I even step foot in the kitchen, I've already been working for months on the planning process:

Step 1: The contact
Usually I get cake inquiries via email through a friend or someone who's seen my blog or eaten my cake at a wedding. I still get really excited every time. I'll exchange a few emails with the bride and groom or their wedding planner asking questions like when, where, and how many guests. My goal with this initial exchange is always just to get to know their wedding and their expectations. I believe that the cake is a focus point of a reception. I know that everyone is going to take pictures and the cake will most likely serve as a backdrop, so I want to make sure that it fits in with the wedding and looks good doing it. Generally this means matching the theme, season and formality of the event. By the time I've sent a few emails back and forth, I probably already have about ten different sketches in the works and have already started a pinterest board in your honor.

Michele and Dustin had their beach wedding last May, and Alia and John ordered a Bali inspired rehearsal dinner cake to match the location where they honeymooned last August.

Step 2: The Tasting
If I were a bride, I know the cake tasting would be my favorite part of planning the entire wedding (am I right?) so I like to do this up right. I let the couple select up to three cake and filling combinations that can be from my tasting menu or anything they can think up. If I think I have a really good idea for a flavor that they don't pick, I might also bring some additional cupcakes as a surprise! I make mini 4" cakes out of the flavors they chose and frost them with fluffy, Italian buttercream so they can get an idea of what the finished product will taste like. And then, I will personally deliver a box full 'o cake wherever you'd like so we can chat more about your cake:

Mark and Cassie 

Recently celebrated their first year anniversary of eating my lemon and lime inspired cake for their June wedding

 

Kevin and Susanne

Tasted five flavors in total: Vanilla on vanilla, gingerbread spice with cinnamon cream cheese frosting, dark chocolate cake with both bourbon caramel mousse filling and espresso buttercream filling, and confetti cake with champagne buttercream filling. 

 

Molly and Michael

Are brand newlyweds, and tasted three Spring inspired flavors with me last fall: Raspberry lemonade cake with citrus cream cheese filling, lemon lavender cake with raspberry mousse filling, and dark chocolate cake with raspberry mousse filling.

The best part of a tasting with me is that I don't charge a cent for it, provided that you end up booking your cake. It's a pretty sweet deal if you ask me.

Step 3: The Grocery List

I operate out of a home kitchen and don't have a high enough volume to quite reap all the benefits of buying in bulk on a regular basis. There aren't many ingredients I can save from one cake to the next because of shelf life, so usually I buy almost everything fresh for every cake the week of - even flour and sugar. Part of my prep tasks is sitting down with all of the recipes I"ll need, writing a grocery list and estimating how much of everything I'll need. The bigger the cake, the longer the list, and the more crazy looks I get hauling butter and eggs into my grocery cart. Here's a peek of what my list looked like for Molly's cake:

I don't mean to scare anyone but I ended up getting 13 pounds of butter...and used all but four sticks...However this cake fed over 200 people, minus the top tier that bride and groom kept for their first anniversary. Inevitably, I'll need more of something or have to re-do something and have to make an emergency grocery run on the day of production. With Molly's cake I paid special attention to the grocery list and planning ahead, and didn't need a single thing the day of. I also stayed within budget and didn't have much left over = winning all around for a small business like mine. 

Stay tuned for part II in the kitchen, plus a whole lotta cake coming down the pipeline soon. I start in Basic and Classical Cakes class at the CIA this week!

Here'a a link to Part II of this post for easy access: Baking and Decorating. 

Vegan Rehearsal Cupcakes

I am not vegan and I do not pretend to be. In fact, my diet is pretty much the opposite of vegan. But I do love a good challenge, and I am excited to expand the repertoire of Morgan Phillips Cakes to encompass all types of diets and food allergies. Last week I had the chance to do just that while brainstorming and preparing a Vegan Thanksgiving rehearsal dinner for a new family of 25 - complete with cupcakes for dessert.

I created a menu of vegan appetizers and desserts for the hostess to choose from with the theme of Thanksgiving and their dietary restrictions in mind. Together we decided on three appetizers and four desserts. I prepared them all on the day in advance, and then delivered to the site of the dinner where the hostess re-heated and served. They had two different types of cupcakes: one a [regular] pumpkin walnut cake with maple cream cheese frosting and the second a vegan banana gingerbread cake with a fresh squeezed orange glaze and candied ginger.

 Aside from cake, the appetizers for the event included quinoa, walnut and sage stuffed mushrooms, roasted red pepper and asparagus wraps with balsamic glaze, and chick pea and sweet potato sliders with vegan chipotle mayo. The other two desserts are crust-less apple pies served in hollowed apples and cranberry pecan brittle.

 

When I say I'm up for a challenge...I mean I'm really up for a challenge.

Bali Rehearsal Dinner Cake

These lucky newlyweds, Alia and John, are headed to Bali this week for their honeymoon, which provided the inspiration for their completely custom and completely edible rehearsal dinner cake. This cake showcases what I can do with sugar work and decorations while not sacrificing the taste and quality of product. Alia is actually not a big fan of cake (Usually, I just stare blankly at people when they say things like that), so I consider her stamp of approval on my frosting a major success! Their cake was rich dark chocolate chiffon with creamy peanut butter filling.

We started the cake planning process with their honeymoon location. A sheet cake suited their event the best, which naturally led us to use the shape of the island to set our scene:

I shaped two layers of chocolate cake by making a poster board cut out in the shape of Bali to "trace".

After filling, icing and decorations:

Handmade out of gumpaste and fondant figures for the bride and groom- sugar surfer girl and scuba dude.

Alia and John at their Rehearsal dinner with the cake

And then he bit off her head...

Congrats Alia and John!