By MORGAN ROE, In the Kitchen
Last week, I had the honor of making the wedding cake for Jonathan and Mandy Bottomlee. I have known Jonathan for a very long time, and he has been a great mentor to me. Jon is a very special person in my life and has always encouraged my baking passion, so I was thrilled when he and Mandy asked me to make their cake.
I was a bit nervous because I had never made a cake this large. It was also a lot of pressure because it was for a wedding.
For Mother’s Day, I made a practice cake and took it to my grandmother’s house. It was a big hit, so I knew I had the recipe down; I just needed to get the decorations right. For decorations, I ordered some seashell molds to put white chocolate in.
The wedding was beach-themed, so I knew I had to do something beautiful with seashells. As the seashells settled and I was able to take them out of the mold, I added some edible pearl/gold glitter. I also added some brown sugar across the top to mimic sand.
If you are planning to make such a large cake, you can plan on doubling or even tripling this recipe. I actually made the cakes the night before so I could just focus on decorating on the day of.
After the cakes were finished, I just wrapped them in some plastic wrap and stuck them in the fridge until the next day. I ended up tripling my buttercream recipe to cover the entire cake.
When I first began to frost the first tier, I quickly realized that I was going to need to do a crumb coat first. There’s nothing wrong with that, you can always make a little more frosting. This cake ended up being two tiers with two layers in each tier. It was light, moist, and wonderful. I was very happy with the results and I’m sure you will too.
Ingredients (for cake):
2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
2 cups of sugar
1 package of instant vanilla pudding
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup of butter, softened
4 large eggs
1 cup of buttermilk
2 tsp of real vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F
Grease and flour your pans.
Whisk together flour, pudding mix, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat in eggs one at a time.
Mix in vanilla.
Alternate adding in dry ingredients and buttermilk, starting with dry.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool completely before frosting.
Ingredients (for buttercream):
3 sticks of butter, room temp
1 tsp of real vanilla
1 Tbsp of whole milk
32 oz of powdered sugar
Directions:
Cream together butter, vanilla, and milk.
Very gradually, 3/4 cup at a time, add in the powdered sugar.
When it’s finished, go ahead and use it to frost the cake.
Serve and enjoy!
