My baby brother got married!!!
I made this cake cross-country, and it was a labor of love, but the result was well worth it!
Because of the timeline, I started making petals for the gum paste sunflowers in March. It took a TON of petals for all of the flowers I made. Here's the timeline:
March-Started petals and make a few sample flowers, until I got what I wanted
May-Ordered supplies online, and had them shipped to my brother's house. Mom broke her leg, and had surgery, so I took what I had and worked on more in Maryland, leaving all the flowers there until the wedding.
June-Flew to Maryland two weeks early, to start baking the cake. Baked and assembled everything at my parents' house, stacking the cake in two parts; top two tiers, and bottom two tiers. Drove to Southern Maryland, and left the cake in an air conditioned boat house at the wedding site. Assembled and drove the cake up the hill just before the ceremony. Left it in the building next to the reception site during the ceremony, then my husband and cousin lifted the whole thing and carried it right outside, just before the reception.
BEAUTIFUL venue overlooking the St. Mary's River in MD
I ended up making two trips to Maryland (unplanned), so I was able to take some of the flowers with me a month or so ahead of time, and I also took my supplies, to make more and leave them there until the time of the wedding.
All three of us kids had the same flavor wedding cake: white chocolate and milk chocolate pound cake with white chocolate buttercream frosting. Because this was an outdoor wedding, however, I covered the cake with fondant, to make it more stable. It ended up being a fortuitous choice, as the top two tiers tipped over in the car during transport, and all that happened was a dent, that I was able to push back in to place. A couple of the flowers broke as well, but I had replacements.
Some of the hundreds of petals, a finished flower, and the finished cake
During the reception, one of the flowers kept drooping, so the caterer helped me get some toothpicks, and prop it back up.
The cake display. The hall in the background is an auditorium on the campus. That's where the cake sat during the ceremony. I didn't get a picture of the boat house.
I love it when the photographer makes my cakes look even better. This photographer was Corrine Kensington. She is based in Maryland, so for all of you MD friends, keep her in mind!
You can see a couple of broken petals in this one, from the mishap during delivery; but I think it looks just fine. Imperfections are a part of nature, too.
