Pirouette Garden

The biggest challenge of my baking career came when we (my husband and I) decided that I should make our wedding cake. I thought about it long and hard and decided that since this would be a once in a lifetime opportunity, I'd do it.

Mark and I decided to have a small (50 person) family and friends occasion and was held at the Church of the Epiphany, Plymouth, MN. We were using the church hall as the reception hall so everyone pitched in to transform the 'Sunday School room' to a wedding reception hall. Since it was a small wedding, I basically planned everything from cards, to deco, to flowers, to outfits, and finally to the service sheet. Mark took care of everything else including the reception menu. To top it all off, 2 days before the wedding, I had to make the cake (if not for the support of family and friends, I would have crumbled).

So fast forward to the 17th of December 2009, the adrenaline is starting to pump through my veins. Thank God I had Aunty Anna, the sweetest lady in the world, to help me with the cake. We started by baking the 14 inch bottom tier and then the 10 inch top tier. We then left it to cool overnight and I went back to the church to finish up the table settings and the pew decorations.

Come morning the 18th, we meet with the photographer, finalize the service bulletin, set up the audio system and returned to Aunty Anna's at 6pm. We whipped up the chocolate cream, spread it over the bottom cake, stacked the top cake, covered it with whipped cream and allowed the cream to set. We then started lining up the pirouettes against the sides of the cake, all 6 tins of pirouettes :)

The finishing touches were to line the cake with green ribbons, pine leaves and top the cake off with white gumpaste flowers (made a week earlier). The last challenge was to transport the cake to the church in one piece, and we managed it with the help of two very close friends. Finally everything was ready for the 19th of December 2009, our wedding day.

It was a beautiful ceremony and although it was in the dead of winter, beautiful candle lights, a Pirouette Garden and smiles of all our guests made it an unforgettable night.