wedding thursday: let them eat cake(s)

May 27, 2010

Trying to find a baker was a semi-long process. I think Hubby just wanted to try a lot of cake. We went to a few places that were definitely not right. Not good cake. Too expensive. We found one that I really liked but Hubby wanted to keep looking. I'm so glad we did because we found a very talented lady who made reasonably-priced yet impressive cakes.

My cake was perhaps the one part of the wedding that I didn't have a clear picture on at the outset of planning. I looked at tons of pictures and just didn't feel strongly about any of them. I knew I didn't want fondant since buttercream tastes so much better. But that was about it.

At some point along the way, I found the Goose Grease shop on etsy. I loved her wedding cake toppers but there were a little pricey and I know lots of crafty people. So I bought her "naked" wooden figures and The Brother's MIL painted them for us. They. Were. Awesome. And I guess since I wanted to feature them, I decided on a pretty simple cake.

I loved how the cake turned out. That's a fun part about the wedding. You rely on another artist to make your vision come to life. And then you just have to wait (like everyone else) to see it at the actual reception.

Our cake stands were also pieces of logs from Ike-fallen trees. We're so green. Another thing I wish I could go back and change? Tell the baker to make her bases of the cake (the things covered in silver) either as small as possible or wrapped in brown paper. I hated how they stood out. Oh, well.

Hmm, what's with the ice cream toppings? Well, down south, folks also have a groom's cake. Traditionally, it's either red velvet or chocolate. I think this is fantastic--people have a choice in cake and, um, it just means more cake. Usually men pick something more lighthearted, something that fits their personality. Some pay homage to their alma mater. Others depict a hobby. My groom had a really hard time figuring out what he wanted. At some point he got it in his head that is would be funny to have a cake shaped like a stack of pancakes. "Why?" I asked. It would just be funny. "But do pancakes have any special meaning?" Not really. His dad made them pancakes on the weekends growing up but really he just liked the play on words. Me? Less so.

I was driving back home from Louisiana one day after stopping for a drink at Sonic. It hit me. If he likes the play on words and we wanted to incorporate something about his personality, we should go with an "ice cream cake." I immediately called him and he was on board. He is a serious lover of ice cream. After consulting with our baker, this is what she came up with:

Yep, even the ice cream carton was cake. (And, yes, Blue Bell did have a flavor named Groom's Cake shortly before we got married.) Except for the ice cream scoop and the bowl that the "ice cream" was in, all edible. Here are my aunts not believing it. (I love that we have this picture.)

One funny aside--no one wanted to cut up the ice cream carton part. We ended up having the whole thing to take home. And we ate it all.