Homemade wedding cake was a sweet gift

I had been kicking around the idea of baking my own wedding cake someday because I love to bake cakes and wanted to give my friends and family that personal touch.

Then the perfect opportunity arose about a year ago when two friends I'd known since high school decided to tie the knot. They announced that they wanted a very "do-it-yourself" feel to their wedding, including some of the cooking.

"Did that include dessert?" I asked. The task was mine.

The next 12 months were a journey in practice cakes, cupcakes and icing, culminating in a three-day process to bake, decorate, transport and serve the wedding cakes and cupcakes.

Midway through the process, I got engaged and realized I had stumbled onto the perfect solution: I would get to bake a wedding cake, but it wouldn't be my own.

Early on I realized that the biggest issue we faced was building a cake. Traditional layered wedding cakes have all kinds of support built in to keep the massive layers from tumbling, crumbling and crushing themselves. That seemed to be outside my area of expertise.

So we devised a plan that we called a "deconstructed layer cake," which basically involved three (two-layer) cakes in different diameters: 6 inches, 8 inches and 10 inches. In other words, a traditional cake with all the tiers flat on the table.

Immediately, a few things became clear: Cakes rarely turn out from their pans cleanly, and a nice, clean, stable chocolate frosting is hard to come by.

By July, we had our game plan mapped out: the 6- and 8-inch layer cakes would be chocolate with raspberry filling, while the 10-inch would be a yellow cake with orange buttercream.

All of the cakes would be brushed with a reduction of their respective fruits before being filled. In addition, there would be lots and lots of cupcakes to round out the servings, a mix of yellow-cake/orange and chocolate/raspberry. (Since we weren't entirely certain how many servings we would get from each cake, the cupcakes would assure sufficient dessert.)

In all, I went through about 10 rounds of cake baking, practicing at least once a month. Each time I focused on one aspect: the frosting, getting the cakes out cleanly, the filling, the cake itself.

Internet research played a huge role in guiding me through the process. I watched videos of pastry chefs whipping up buttercream and painstakingly applying it to cakes with a beautifully smooth finish.

The real thing

On the Thursday before the Saturday wedding, I set up camp in my parents' kitchen at 9 a.m. Because cake recipes can't be doubled or tripled, I would have to make at least five batches of the chocolate cake batter and five batches of the vanilla. Just in case, I had bought enough supplies for six repetitions of each.

By noon, I was finished with the chocolate layers and cupcakes, and took a lunch break before switching to the yellow cake. Yikes! I'd forgotten to defrost the butter for the batter, so my lunch break was extended.

Day Two was for decorating. I was thankful to have two stand mixers at my disposal for all of the buttercream frosting. One was my main buttercream mixer. The other was used to mix the fruit fillings. This way I could keep the plain buttercream very, very clean.

The cakes got a thick layer of their fruit filling, then a 10-minute visit to the freezer. The next layer was placed atop the firm filling. With a clean spatula, I gave the cake a thin crumb coating. Once again the cake landed in the freezer for 30 minutes before being stored in the refrigerator until the day of the wedding.

A gift from the heart

In the end, I'm so glad I was able to bake for my friends, whom I have known for so long. When they first announced their engagement and asked me to stand up for them, I wondered what I could possibly give them as a wedding gift that would be a big enough gesture for what I felt for them.

I think the cake served well.