Wedding Cake, Revisited

Several people have asked how the wedding cake was, so I'll cut straight to the chase with the final verdict: it was pretty GOOD! I was honestly expecting to take one bite and toss the rest. But here's the whole story...

Both my and my husband's parents were in town last weekend. We thought it would be fun to defrost the wedding cake while they were all here, so they could partake in the tasting fun as well! Especially since Nate's parents didn't actually get any cake on our wedding day due to their unexpected ER visit.

We had a nice fondue dinner planned with meat, cheese and dessert fondue, with the wedding cake to top it off. We defrosted the cake slowly in the refrigerator by taking it out of the freezer a day prior to when we wanted to eat it. The cake itself was quadruple wrapped in plastic wrap, placed in a Ziploc bag and then put into a box, which had been in our freezer for the past year.

Peering into the box, it looked pretty good. But I wasn't getting my hopes up. I was thinking, "At least we're having some amazing fondue that will make up for crappy cake." Finally the time came to unwrap and cut the cake. Here's a shot after we had cut off several pieces.



Overall it looks decent, right? Well, it WAS! My only complaints were that the top layer was a little drier than the bottom layer, which makes sense since it was on the top and more exposed. Also, because of the thawing, the bottom of the bottom layer got a little soggy. But the buttercream icing was still very tasty and not overly sugary after the year in the freezer. You can see a little more of the texture in this close up shot.



While we were re-living the wedding, we broke out our last bottle of wine left over from the wedding and had that with our meal and dessert as well. I had to get a shot of our wedding remnants, displayed below. (Thanks Mom for holding the flowers in the background!).



So, definitely a successful cake tasting in my opinion. I enjoyed it so much I actually saved a few pieces so I could devour a little more this week. Nate doesn't eat cake at all, so it was left to me! It was kind of sad to throw half of it away, but I certainly don't need to eat all that cake myself.

I'm not sure if it was the technique used to wrap and store the cake that made it editable or the fact that my lady who baked the cake had a trick for making it extra moist, but I was surprised. Year old white wedding cake with buttercream frosting? YUM!!

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Thought of the Day...Cake!

I was doing a little cake browsing tonight (planning on talking to a bakery or two next month), and I found a picture of almost exactly what I had in mind. I would want square layers instead of the hexagons, the brown ribbon, flat white icing (or maybe ivory...do you match your icing to your dress?!), and orange flowers of some sort. The lilies are nice.

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JC Bridal Show

The Jefferson City Bridal Show on Sunday was a fun time! This was actually their smaller one--there were only 40 vendors--and they have a much larger one in January. My mom, my childhood best friend Lindsey, and I made the most of it, however, browsing around and talking to someone at most every booth. One of my girlfriends mentioned that I should print off mailing labels with my name, address, and contact information on them, and I'm so glad I listened to her! Most every booth had some sort of giveaway drawing, so all we had to do was pull off a sticky label and attach it ...instead of writing my name a gazillion times! As far as ideas, the bridal show definitely got me thinking about things such as bridesmaid dresses, wedding cakes, and photographers. I'm certain now that I'm striving for a square wedding cake...I absolutely LOVE the modern look the squares bring. I took a snapshot of one that I saw...


We also flipped through portfolios of several photographers. Most weren't terribly impressive, but there was one that was absolutely fabulous...for $4500!! What I liked about that particular photographer's style was that he brought the photo journalistic approach to his pictures--the more candid, artsy sort of look. What I would love to find is someone who can do both the traditional group shots and incorporate some of the artsy shots in as well. And, of course, being able to afford them would also help! I know there are tons of options out there and I'm confident I will find someone who is affordable and qualified when I start looking. The reception facility is on the top of my priority list right now!

Another discovery we made is that Alfred Angelo has a burnt orange color available for bridesmaid dresses as well. Alfred Angelo and Bill Levkoff can be starting points for bridesmaid dress shopping. One vendor had mannequins setup with chocolate brown dresses next to a black tux, which also looked quite sharp. The dark brown would be my second choice if we can't get the orange to work out...

Of course now since the show, the wheels in my head are turning even more. How fun!

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