Spring Wedding Cupcakes

Once upon a time, in church halls across the country, punchbowls brimmed with champagne punch,
jordan almonds preened in tulle and dessert tables beheld
the newlywed's first sweet taste of married bliss. 

Here's a modern interpretation for the classic cake and punch reception: a lovely tower of cupcakes
as the centerpiece of the dessert table. The bride and groom had requested their friends and family
bring a sweet ending to help celebrate their new beginning at their luncheon reception. With a cupcake
 tower, the couple can still pose for that iconic wedding photo of 'cutting the cake' while keeping with their casual spirit.  

This glimmering sliver stand allows for a single cupcake to rise to the top, 

here with a pair of lemon yellow love birds. 

Cupcakes are princess white sour cream cake filled with red raspberry jam and finished with a 

generous swirl of wedding-white buttercream.  Pale yellow, grass green, soft pink and

 white gumpaste daisies glow from hand painted silver luster dust and small pearls.  

Couture Inspired Cakes

The world of design is full of inspiration, borrowing and expanding on ideas that cross the genres of graphic, textile, visual, architectural and natural forms. On wedding dresses, I love the row of tiny little pearl buttons that often grace the back of the bodice and sometimes trail down the skirt. And rouched bodices! Oh how I wish there were more occasions to wear formal dresses. 

Thankfully, I can have my taste of formal design (and eat it too) with couture inspired cake design.  I think that this would be an amazing small wedding cake, or incorporated into a larger tiered design.  The cake itself is wedding worthy: a bridal white cake with raspberry filling  and Italian meringue buttercream (recipe follows)

Italian Meringue Buttercream (IMBC)

1 1/4 cups sugar

• 5 large egg whites
• Pinch of cream of tartar
• 1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter chilled, but not hard
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

How to: 

1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring sugar and 1/2 cup water to a boil. Continue boiling until syrup reaches 240 degrees on a candy thermometer which is about the soft ball stage.
2. Meanwhile, place egg whites in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and beat on low speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar, and beat on medium-high speed until stiff but not dry; do not overbeat.
3. With mixer running, add syrup to whites in a stream, beating on high speed until bowl feels cool to the palms when touched, about 5 minutes. Switch to the paddle and continue beating and add butter by the tablespoon, waiting for it to be incorporated before adding the next chunk. Watch in horror as the mixture becomes a curdled mess.  Continue beating. The buttercream will come back together and become smooth and fluffy. If the temperature in your house is over 75, I suggest putting some soft ice packs around the bottom of the bowl to keep the buttercream cool. You know the buttercream is ready when it makes a 'slapping' sound in the mixer. 
   
   
   Use the buttercream immediately, or allow to firm up a bit in the fridge if it is too limp.  This buttercream freezes beautifully and with a slow defrost and a quick re-whip in the mixer, it is ready to go. 
   
   
   
   

Congratulation in Four Tiers, to Hootie and Nicholas

I had the honor of helping friends Hootie and Nicholas Povio, celebrate their wedding vows this past weekend by making their wedding cake.  It was such a joy to create this time honored symbol of matrimony...and a creative jackpot as the (ultra-cool) bride gave me her color palette and a few pictures of cakes she liked and told me to surprise her and her husband! 

The cake was a 12", 10", 8", and 6" covered in fondant. I used a combination of Satin Ice and Fondarific (I originally wanted to use all Fondarific because of how well it performs in dry climates, but the color was too light for my design).  

Two tiers of the cake were Mexican Hot Chocolate with a New Mexico Red Chile Whipped Chocolate Ganache filling. The remaining two tiers were Dark Chocolate Cake with a layer of Salted Caramel and Whipped Chocolate Caramel Ganache. 

Hootie choose to use this delicate cake topper which was a family heirloom.  The top tier was covered in small blossoms that I hand cut, formed, then dusted with edible pearl dust. They are adhered to the cake with a dot of melted chocolate. 

Making the flowers was a multi-day process as they required drying time before being dusted with pearl.

The second tier was created with irregular strips of fondant and the third was an organic, waving rope of fondant thanks to the Makin Clay Extruder. Such a fabulous tool for working with fondant and getting uniform results. These two layers represented the masculine, grounded nature of Nicholas and the free flowing energy of Hootie. The bottom layer came to be with a little help from Hooties' friends as I asked them about what some of her favorite song and lyrics were.  Because music is such a big part of Hootie's passion for life, it was hard to choose from so many songs that have played in the soundtrack of their romance. 

Because the world can not live on chocolate alone, the bride also requested some cupcakes for those who prefer lighter flavors. I did three dozen White Almond Sour Cream cupcakes with All American Almond Buttercream frosting. They were baked in the most elegant parchment cups. I LOVE these cupcake wrappers! With just one pull of the corners the wrapper is fully opened and the little cake can be enjoyed with a fork, or fingers. 

Of course transporting a wedding cake four hours through Southern Arizona was something to give any caker a nervous breakdown. After a lot of research, I decided upon using Bakery Craft's Single Plate Separator system for staking. It consists of a plate with four 4" legs pushed into the top of each cake layer that will be supporting a layer on top of it. There is a small peg that fits into the cardboard cake round on stacked layer. 

The only real trick to this is that your cakes really need to be 4" to 4 1/8" maximum so that the legs can fully support the weight. With the fondant, my layers were closer to 4.25" and therefore there was a little bit of a tilt when the cakes were stacked. They say that you can drive with a fully stacked cake, but I'm glad I played it safe and took them separate. Cutting was a breeze, though I'm glad I was there because I was able to show the cake cutter how to just pull out the plates (plus I got to take the plates home!) 

Thank you so much Hootie and Nicholas for giving me a chance to share my love of baking with your guests on this special day.  The wedding was just amazing--set upon a magnificent swath of green grass with the red rocks of Sedona blazing in the background. It was a beautiful night full of love and laughter. A perfect way to start your married journey together.