The Wedding Cake

So my friend Candace was asked to make a wedding cake for her brother-in-law's reception & Heidi & I helped out. It was so much fun to learn how a wedding cake is made! So here are a few key elements that I learned on how a wedding cake is made:

• Cake Release: a concoction that is made with butter and flour. It costs $3.95 a bottle, has about a billion calories per tablespoon and when you turn that cake pan over - it really does release!
• The Cake: To make a wedding cake it takes 3 to 4 days. The cake is made on the first day, cooled & cut. Sits over night and is then moistened with any flavor of basting you choose (Candance I think did an orange-honey one? BTW: Basting isn't the technical term, but you get the idea of what you do with it). You put in the filling (Raspberry mousse for this one), you stick dowels in and stack it. Frost with buttercream and await the fondant.
• Fondant: It's the stuff that looks like frosting that is really, really smooth. Classic fondant is made with powdered sugar and crisco, but Candace made this one with powdered sugar and marshmellow!!! Soooo yummy. You knead in any colors you want & roll it out thin - Candace told me that I have an excellent talent at fondant rolling! Then place it on the cake and mold it around to fit.
• Tools: Being the thrifty mormon women that we are the fondant smoother was the bottom of a measuring cup, instead of a pastry cutter we used a pizza cutter and sissors & instead of a pastry brush to brush off the powdered sugar we used a cleaned makeup brush.
• Powdered Sugar: You need ooober amounts of it! It is everywhere! What you think is flour in the pictures is actually powdered sugar it was everywhere & we smelled like Jessica Simpson for the week!
• Decorating: That is on the final day! It was soooo much fun. Rolling out the chocolate fondant and Heidi cut out the picket fence posts & Candace arranged the flowers!

It was so much fun & I would loooove to do it again! Ace of Cakes here we come!

A New Year!

We were able to ring in the new year with my family (Caldiero) and our friends the Johnsons this year. It was fun! Good food and games galore. Our vacation with our families, both of them, were awesome!! We really had alot of fun in Utah and got to see alot of friends as well (not everyone sadly!!) We miss having our nieces and nephews being around, all of the food and all of the many activities: movies, games, Beatles Monopoly, late nights, Cafe Rio, ice cream at Leatherby's, family pictures, food, Rock Band, food, and more food, sleeping in, snow, icing cookies, holding a niece, playing with a nephew.... so many good times and memories by the end of it we were just pooped (and we weren't the only ones)! Thankfully Candace brought down my camera so I was able to take a few shots of my nieces and nephews. Between the Merry Christmas post and this New Years you will be able to see how all of them have grown! Bryson - 8 years, Abbey- 5 years, Parker - 2 years, Tiffany - 1 year (and a few months), Caiden - 11 months & Katrina - 6 months. We are truly blessed! We look forward to the new year with hope and optimism. We hope that all of you have a great 2009!
P.S. Sorry that the pictures are so dark in the widget. I'm still learning about our camera and such. Click on the thumbnails on the side to enlarge the picture & and click the down arrow to see more thumbnails. Enjoy!