Tuesday 31 August 2010

Let them eat cake....

I'm returning to the wedding theme JUST ONE MORE TIME! On Saturday night, my son and his new wife held an 'event' for all the friends and family who weren't with them in Vegas (namely US!!!!) It was held at Spinnaker Tower, Gunwharf in Portsmouth. As you can see below, the views are spectacular and luckily, the rain stopped, the sun shone and it was a fabulous view of the Solent, Isle of Wight and surrounding areas as the sun went down.







A few weeks ago, they asked me if I would organise a cake for the night - I readily agreed and then started thinking about how I was going to produce a cake suitable for a wedding in the AGA! As I have told you before, the AGA is brilliant for lots of things but I haven't had a lot of success with cakes. There are two ovens - one permanently at 220 - 250 degrees and the other 120 - 150 (not good when you need 180 for a good cake outcome!) This project has caused me one or two sleepless nights and quite a few fretful hours recently...after a few trial runs (and much consumption of chocolate mud cake by whoever would agree to be a tester) I finally found one I was happy with. I wasn't game enough to take a chance on the cupcakes though - the temperature in the AGA varies depending on how much it's being used; therefore, the first batch may cook perfectly and by the time you get to the 4th or 5th, they may not as the heat will have dropped....! Not ideal when you need nearly 100 cupcakes, all perfectly the same size and height!
I found a place in south London called Crumbs and Doilies and they came to my rescue with dozens of beautifully decorated indulgent cakes (two sizes - diet and don't care..) On Saturday morning, we set off early for London, complete with topcake, ribbons etc., collected the cupcakes and zipped down the A3 to Petersfield to the Real Flower Company to collect some of their magnificent scented garden roses to decorate the finished cake. We were lucky enough to find they had some 'chocolate' coloured roses in stock - hard to see from the photo, they are a burnished pinky chocolate colour. Off we went, now laden with buckets of roses, be-ribboned boxes of cakes, bags of ribbon and a fragile iced topcake. The tower doesn't close to the public until 6.00 p.m. and it was about 6.20 p.m before we managed to get everything into the fast lift which whisks you to the top - 30 minutes before the guests were arriving & a seven tier confection to assemble! It was finished with literally moments to spare and I slipped on my high heels as the first drinks were being poured! Talk about stress! This is the end result - I think they liked it - there wasn't a crumb left at the end of the night so I'm presuming they did! I'm crossing Wedding Cake Supplier off my list of potential business ventures as I type this......






Happy week.........s

10 comments:

  1. That's some showpiece! I have the Aga Cake Book, which works very well, but it certainly focuses on things like traybakes rather than cupcakes. Anyhow, you won't want to look at a cake again for ages!

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  2. oh my........that looks so good!!

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  3. Maybe add artist instead?... breathtaking.

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  4. Wow Susie
    Fabulous cake.. reminds me of the greek wedding cake.. croquembouche [although that does not sound very greek to me!! hahaha]

    So your son isn't living in US??? just popped over for the wedding???.. You must be glad to have him home to celebrate with you and family!!!

    Thanks for your great comment.. I couldn't help myself.. it was just begging to be said.. hahaha.. Have a great week xxx Julie

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  5. Oh Susie this is so amazing - they are my most FAV. cupcake company EVER... Love them... and for Darling Daughter's 18th I got a selection from them beautifully iced in black and white icing (for a Chanel theme!!) she LOVED them... Your weddingcupcakes look wonderful - so pretty and what a great idea to get them from there...xx

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  6. By the way Susie, its me (Sarah S) commenting under my name and not Semi Expat as I am signed in under a different account on the computer!! xx

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  7. Susie,
    How did they like Vegas?
    Congrats.
    The cake is awesome and very clever. That is a great view if the town.

    yvonne

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  8. Dear Susie,
    Your cake is a triumph....and what a wonderful venue. I saw a programme about it a while ago....fantastic views. I'm so pleased that you had such a wonderful celebration. You can talk weddings for as long as you like....our son got married two years ago and we are still talking about it !!!! XXXX

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  9. Susie...what a spectacular cake! You put so much thought into it and I can just imagine what it must have looked like up close. My heart was racing at the thought of 10 minutes to go before the lifts closed. I hope you had a stiff drink once everything was settled. How beautiful and special for you all!

    Jeanne :)

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  10. Susie, the cake is (was!) awesome. The AGA sounds as complicated as a relationship with a bloke, what a star you are mastering it!
    Millie ^_^

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