Cake Fit for a Garden Wedding

To quote Eddie Izzard, “Cake or Death? That’s a pretty easy question. Anyone can answer that.” Well, far be it from me to argue with Mr. Izzard, but there was a point late last week where I would have accused him of posing a trick question.

The minute my sister Allison announced her wedding back in February, Mom and I volunteered to make the wedding cake. When Allison said she didn’t want icing flowers, impossibly smooth royal icing or fancy piping, I thought we were getting off easy. A bit of ribbon, an armload of  flowers from the garden, and voila! Wedding cake. To avoid decorating the cake at the last minute and provide my sister with the “fairy-like not wedding-y” look she wanted,  I decided to candy the flowers. How hard could that be? After all, the pansies I candied in April only took a morning and are still going strong.

But April wasn’t humid. And all my July attempts resulted in a soggy, sticky mess. And I’m not just talking about the flowers.

After the relentless humidity ruined not one but two batches of sugar-coated petals, I got a small truck load of silica gel I tried drying the blooms. But the delicate crisp petals that emerged from the gel rehydrated within a half hour. And so, admitting defeat, Mom and I braced ourselves to decorate the tower of buttercream on The Big Day. Immediately upon returning from the hair stylist’s, we raided our gardens and the neighbours for the best blooms. Then Mom, cousin Donna and I worked like billy-o to affix the flowers before the icing melted in the summer heat. See how blurred their hands are? When I said we worked quickly, we worked quickly.

And within 45 minutes, the cake was done.

We then stuffed it in my fridge and dashed off to dress for the pre-ceremony photo shoot.

Not wanting to tempt fate yet again, I asked the caterers to escort the cake to the cutting table after dinner. Having left the last-minute details to the pros, the cake arrived on time and in tact.

Half an hour later… Cake or death?

Seems everyone opted for cake.

For those who are curious. Here is a short slideshow of the wedding. Most of the photos are courtesy of Allison’s friend Carmen who flitted about the event snapping photos like benevolent paparazzi. Thanks, Carmen. Hope you got some of the cake.
[slideshow]