wedding cake

photo on left, courtesy of edward john photography.  photo on the right, courtesy of tom.

one week ago today i celebrated one awesome year of marriage with my amazing husband.  this year has been quite a ride for us and i’m looking forward to many, many more years of wedded bliss! 🙂  to celebrate, i made a replica of our wedding cake topper.  when we ordered our cake, we opted not to save the top of our cake in the freezer (who really wants to eat year-old cake from the freezer?) and probably back when we ordered it, i decided to re-make our cake to celebrate our special day.

now, this year’s recipe will need some tweaking for next year.  i’m already on the lookout for new recipes, but i decided to publish these recipes as well.  first, let me introduce you to swiss meringue buttercream.  the frosting from our original cake wasn’t too sweet, was very fluffy and perfect in every way.   the recipe below is also not too sweet and very fluffy but has a TON of butter in it and reminds of me of something that i’d find in a paula deen cookbook.   the butter amount will be reduced next year!

*note: this recipe requires a lot of whipping.  use a stand mixer, if available.  i think this recipe spent about 15 min. in the mixer.  save your arm and get a stand mixer!

swiss meringue buttercream (smbc)

slightly adapted from smittenkitchen.com

• 2 c sugar
• 8 large egg whites
• 6 1/2 sticks of butter, at room temperature
• 2 tsp white imitation vanilla extract

1. whisk egg whites and sugar together in a big metal bowl over a pot of water on medium-high heat.  whisk until you can’t feel sugar granules when you rub the mixture between your fingers.
2. transfer mixture into the mixer and whip until it turns white and doubles in size.  (make sure to wipe condensation from the bottom of the bowl.  water in the egg whites does not bode well for meringue.)
3. add vanilla.
4. add butter one stick at a time and whip for at least 15 min.

white cake recipe

source: allrecipes.com

this recipe tasted good when it came out of the oven, but dried up very quickly.  i’m on the prowl for a new white cake recipe for next year. 🙂

• 1 1/2 c white sugar
• 3/4 c butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 c flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 c milk

1. preheat oven to 350°.  spray 2 6″ baking pans with pam for baking, it comes with flour already in it.
2. in a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.  beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.
3. combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well.
4. finally, stir in the milk until the batter is smooth.  pour batter into the prepared pans, about halfway up the pan.
5. bake for 30-40 min. in the preheated oven.  cake is done with when a toothpick comes out clean.
6. when cake is finished baking, allow pan to cool and turn cake onto cooling rack to finish cooling.

assembly instructions:

1. when cake has finished cooling, cut each cake in half using a large bread knife.  place the bottom layer on a wax paper lined dish or serving tray.  (whatever you want to serve your cake on.)
2. spread a layer of raspberry spreadable fruit on the cake and top with smbc.  (next year i’m planning on making a seedless raspberry puree from scratch, but this was good for the first year, when i was just worried about cake assembly.)  top with another layer of cake, raspberry filling and smbc.  when you get to the last layer, place the top layer of cake on upside down, so the “crust” of the cake is on top.  it will save you frosting headaches later, trust me! 🙂
3. begin to frost the outside using an icing spatula.  the link sends you to an awesome tutorial.  don’t be afraid to use too much.  also, don’t let the spatula touch the cake. just use it to spread frosting, you won’t get crumbs in your frosting this way.
4. when you’re finished with spreading, it’s time to decorate!  i used a #4 tip for the swirls and a star tip for the top and bottom border.  next year, i need to get a #57 tip so i can duplicate the original cake borders. when you finish decorating, remove the wax paper from underneath the cake. you’ll have a clean serving dish!

happy one year anniversary, babe! :-*

enjoy!