have your cake and ...

i frequently talk of how time has flown and i am not ready to grow older.  it is also hard to believe how much time has passed-it has been nearly 7 years since we closed our bakery and moved on to other employment.

when we had our bakery, we had several teenagers who worked for us as they went through high school and college.  in the last 7 years, they have all graduated from college and are hard at work on their chosen careers.  but way back when, as they watched me make wedding cakes, i heard them mention how i would be the only one who they would ask to make their wedding cake.  as a mom, i have learned not to listen to idle chatter of teenage girls-you simply cannot keep up with the conversation as it morphs along.

one of the girls came to us as a prep/sandwich cook and moved on to be a baker.  after we closed the shop, she moved on to las vegas and attended culinary school and is now working hard on building a career as a pastry chef.  she also kept her promise-she asked me to make her wedding cake.  it is an honor to be asked-i mean, if it were me, i'd want somebody who can actually bake something tasty to make the cake...just kidding!  it will be plenty tasty.  for this task, i pulled out my binder of recipes from when i wrote my first book, sky high.  in that book is a chapter which includes wedding cakes and i chose the lavender rose cake for this occasion.  there will be a few minor changes-it will not be filled with the jam and the layers are square rather than round.

organized chaos on the counter.  my work space is limited and it is one of the reasons that i do not sell wedding cakes from the house.  there is also the herd to contend with-if there isn't the risk of cat hair in the vicinity of the cake, then i am trying to keep the buggers from eating the cake-yes cats like cake too.

 i did not have all of the pans needed so i decided to use sheet cake pans and cut the layers to size.  since this is a recipe from sky high, that means triple layer cakes and three of each size cake were needed.

 my kitchen aid mixer; it's a trooper and i have had it for more than 20 years.  okay, so first gear is gone but it still gets the job done.  and like any other baker, it can be a little messy.  i wrap it in plastic so the flour doesn't fly too far.

 the first of three batches of batter.  it worked out well and went a bit faster than i expected.  all in all, in three hours i had baked 3(12"x18") cakes and 3(8") square cakes and had even managed to get the place cleaned up.

the cakes cooling on my table.  i was lucky-the cats didn't seem to notice the cakes this time!  tune in tomorrow to see the process of decorating the cake.