I'm not arrogant enough in my novice wedding cake standing to assume I know all the ins and outs, but I will share a few knowledge nuggets to hopefully make your first wedding cake a smashing success.
Lesson #1: However much time you think you will need, tack on an extra day if at all possible. Life has this way of throwing you spectacularly-timed curve balls that will stress you out immensely if you let them interfere with your plan.
Lesson #2: If you're making home made marshmallow fondant like I did, dust your surface with cornstarch instead of icing/confectioner's sugar, as sugar makes your fondant a little too dry. That means when you cover your cake, the edges will crack slightly and not look as great as you'd like.
Lesson #3: If you're deciding to use a recipe that is unfamiliar to you, do a test bake WELL in advance. That will give you time to taste it to ensure that the recipe yields the taste, texture, colour, etc. that you were aiming for.
Lesson #4: Document, document, document! Take photos along the way, and make notes in your recipe books for things that you learn while baking, or adjustments that you make to the recipe. Trust me, you'll want this info later.
Lesson #5: Italian Meringue Buttercream is a real pain in the patoot, but it's SOOO worth the aggravation of learning how to do it correctly. You may think it has flopped, but if you keep throwing butter into it, it will come together and me the most amazing buttercream you've ever had. Personally, I have found that carton egg whites do not work for this recipe, so I only use fresh cracked whites, but others have claimed to use carton whites with success. All I know is, I have wasted dozens of eggs and several pounds of butter trying to master this IMBC, and will never use carton eggs for IMBC again.
Lesson #6: Be diligent about getting your stuff back! Even if your cake drum/pillars/stand/etc. are labeled, the kitchen is a bustling organism geared toward efficiency and will throw out things that aren't claimed by the end of the night.
Now for the cake!
A friend of the bride--a librarian by trade and thus a huge owl lover--gifted her a custom wedding cake topper from Etsy. It's made of Cloud Clay and weighs practically nothing, and was an amazingly cute topper for a whimsical yet elegant design.
