Practice Cake

Earlier this winter, DS1 and K2 set a wedding date for this coming May.  I was asked if I wanted to make the wedding cake. Since I always make birthday cakes and graduation open house cakes, a wedding cake seemed the logical thing to ask of me.  I of course said yes, I would love to make the wedding cake.

Then, in December, Mother-in-Law presented me with a box she had recently discovered in her attic. A box that contained DH's Grandmother's cake pans.  Most likely the selfsame pans that my own wedding cake was baked in, being as how DH's Grandmother made the cake for our wedding.

the pans!

wedding cake circa 1993

In January, K2 went to a wedding expo, where she sampled many different flavors of cake.  She came home with a couple of requests.  Could I make a strawberries and cream cake?  How about a cookies and cream cake? And maybe a white cake with fudge filling between the layers?

Me, being me, and believing anything is possible if I just do enough research and have enough practice, said of course I could make all of those things!

With the end of February looming, I decided it was time to start practicing those cakes!  For my first 'Practice Cake' project, I found a recipe for a strawberries and cream cake.  I'm more worried about getting the flavor and texture of this cake right than I am about decorating the outside of it for final presentation, so last week when I made my first attempt at the recipe (which I think will be "the" recipe, just adjusted for quantity rather than flavor) I didn't bother to make sure the layers were flat, the sides crumb-free, or even make any frosting for it.  I just took the whipped cream filling, divided it into thirds, and used the final third to top the cake with.

not beautiful, just edible and for practice

Now I have members of the household asking when I plan to make my next practice cake, and which of the two remaining requested flavors it is going to be.  :0)  And, they are wondering if I am going to make a final practice cake that is all three tiers, to be sure that I can stack three cakes on top of each other without squishing any of them.

I need to find and purchase some columns (as shown in picture of my wedding cake) before I can stack tiers.  DH's Grandmother's cake bases (white plastic disks to fit each size of pan) were in the box with the pans, but her columns seem to have disappeared sometime between 1993 and her death in 2008.