Weddingbee boards

I'm on day 1 of my second cake trial. I can't wait to tweak all the things that I didn't do as well last time - starting with spreading out the project over two days, haha. 

Anyway, this one is R's birthday cake (per his request) so the bottom tier will be red velvet with white chocolate cream cheese filling and the top tier will be chocolate with a chocolate ganache filling. Buttercream outside. 

The first cake is baking now! 

I really can't wait until more fresh fruits are in season so I can start making fruit fillings.

Yep! I know it's crazy, but it's the one thing that I could really take pride in DIY-wise. I hate most bakery cakes, and I tend to be really hard on them. So I'm making one moderately sized traditional cake for the wedding, and then about four or five regular layer cakes and we're going to have a cake buffet. 

Luckily you can freeze the cake layers and even buttercream beforehand. So I'll be able to do most of the work (besides assembly) a few days before the wedding. 

@kiddosc - it definitely takes a lot of time and patience. For my first trial, I thought I could get everything done in one day. It took me about 8 hours, and I ended up doing things halfway presentation-wise (I didn't use my cake splitter to even out the layers, etc.) so this time I am baking the cakes today, and doing frostings and fillings, doweling, etc tomorrow. 

@TealaB - make sure you post pictures of yours as well! Can't wait to see them. 

I was pleasantly surprised by the buttercream on my first cake trial. I had heard so many horror stories of how hard it is to work with, and it didn't seem bad to me. 

@jduck - thanks! Probably no pictures until tomorrow, but I'll definitely update my blog (and start a thread here) ASAP. 

@honeybear - haha, I'm terrible, aren't I? I really shouldn't be starting this early, but at least with things like this it's helping me to become a better baker. (well, really the construction is where I need work.) 

I'm still hoping the 2012 boards come up soon! I think the idea got a fair amount of votes. 

Quick update: 

all the cakes are baked. They turned out lovely, although the red velvet cakes aren't super red because I used vegetable extract red coloring and more cocoa than some red velvet recipes. But it's about taste, right? :P

Tomorrow I'll be assembling and decorating at the FILs' house. So we're transporting the layers. Good practice all around!

@MissAsB - haha, when you put it that way I'm glad it's not bright red!

Update: 

It's finished! And it turned out well, but pictures will have to wait til tomorrow because the cord to connect my camera to the computer is at my FIL's house. Whoops! 

Funny story - so FMIL gave up chocolate for Lent. Her birthday falls on March 15th, so when I asked her if she wanted a cake, she gave some crabby reply about no because she couldn't have chocolate. So when I made this cake for R, we agreed that it should be partially "her" birthday cake as well. 

She somehow took that to mean it was only her cake! She saw it and was asking me all about it and saying "oh, but what about R? His birthday is Monday, are you going to bake him a cake, too?" and then she goes, "open it up! I want to see a piece. But I can't have one 'til midnight." 

So cute. Pictures tomorrow! 

Before this cake trial, I was set on assembling and decorating day of. Now I'm thinking that if I can get proper storage, I'd like to do it the day before. It's such a huge time commitment. I learned a lot from my first trial about using dowels (I actually used straws in their place) and how to properly frost a tiered cake, but because I had a list of things to do better this time, it took an additional 4 hours or so. I think my total time breakdown was baking the cakes yesterday = 3 hours, today, leveling, doweling, making the ganache, buttercream, etc and assembling = 6 hours. Some of that was freezing it for 15 or 20 minutes to make it easier to work with, but it was fairly intensive. 

I'm going for a more rustic buttercream look rather than fondant style. I really wish I had the pictures I took right now, because it turned out fairly close to how I envisioned. 

Have you made a tiered cake before? If not, I'd suggest the experience whether or not you end up making your own cake. It is so rewarding to see that work of art when you're all done. Plus, it makes layer cakes seem like Easy Bake oven confections. ;)

Ta da!

I posted a few more pictures (and a more detailed explanation) on my blog, which is listed on my WB profile if anyone is curious. 

@Teala - thanks! the top was two 6" layers, and the bottom was two 10x3" layers. 

How did your trial go? Did you post pictures yet?