Cake for Later

I was so excited to take home the top layer of our wedding cake! It was different from the two flavors that were served at the wedding. This one is a marble cake with chocolate frosting. Here is it after the plane ride home, I think it held up pretty well (except the vegan "buttercream" roses on top).

So in following with tradition, I decided to freeze half the cake. Not that it's going to make it to our one year anniversary (I was thinking 1,3, and 6 months). I googled instructions on how to freeze wedding cake. First I cut the cake, one 1/4 cake slice and two 1/8 cake slices. Then I put these in the freezer in a tupperware for about four hours to allow the frosting to set.


Then I removed the slices from the freezer and double wrapped them in plastic wrap, put them back in the tupperware, and made some room in the freezer.


I actually just finished the last slice of non-frozen cake last night. It was a bit stale, but the frosting still rocked. Let us know if you want to come by for some wedding cake and we'll get it defrosting for you!

Wedding Food

Our caterer (from Celebrations Gourmet) came up to John and I during the reception and congratulated us for being one of the few couples she has seen actually sit down and eat dinner! I even went back for seconds, but unfortunately never got around to eating them that night. But how could we pass up all that yummy food? I was especially impressed that the waiters brought over hor d'oeuvres for us while we were taking pictures. I tasted the veggie sushi (my fave), samosas, and falafel but missed the spring rolls. The salad course was mixed greens with sauteed apples, dried cranberries, toasted pumpkin seeds, and a harvest vinaigrette. Here is the one picture I actually took during the reception, my dinner plate:



A piece of the Wild Mushroom Tart with shitake, crimini, and oyster mushrooms (many people liked this one)....



Roasted asparagus....



And roasted sweet potato wedges....



For dessert we had a fruit display (I missed out on this as well, too busy dancing I guess!)....



And of course cake! Funny, I know I had a piece of cake that night, but I honestly can't remember if it was the chocolate or pumpkin. Doesn't matter I guess, I loved them both!

There were plenty of leftovers at the end of the evening. Our caterer sent home lots of food with the Mariano's and packed us a lunch for the next day (which we ate on the plane ride home). Plus, we got to take home the top layer of our cake. More on what we did with that in another post!

Cutting the Cake

We were both a bit unsure of how to cut this huge cake! Luckily our photographer offered a few tips. We fed each other a bite of the chocolate cake with vanilla frosting and strawberries. I lovingly dabbed a bit of green frosting on John's nose. He didn't even get me back! What a sweetie. All through the ceremonial cake cutting, the song "Sugar Sugar' was playing from the iPod.... how appropriate I thought, cause there was a lot of sugar in this cake! What did yall think of the vegan wedding cake?

Let's Eat (Vegan) Wedding Cake

One of the first things I did when John and I started narrowing down dates to get married was to check and see if the Hippie Chick Bakery was available to make our wedding cake. Last week while in Boston, we drove up to Amesbury and met with the owner, Amy, to discuss the design of the cake and of course, do some tasting!! Sorry for my photos of half eaten cake, I was so excited about tasting, I forgot about pictures! Here is a run down of what we tried:

First up, a chocolate cake with vanilla "buttercream" frosting layered with fresh strawberries. Luckliy this was the biggest "test" cake in the box, I could have eaten an entire cake of this myself!


Next up a more sophisticated spice cake with ginger "buttercream" frosting. The ginger frosting was amazing.


And finally a carrot cake with vanilla "buttercream" frosting. I really didn't used to like carrot cake, but this was like a little slice of heaven.



Additionally, we also sampled a lemon cake and a marble cake with yummy chocolate frosting. We had wanted to taste a pumpkin cake, but since they aren't in season yet, we will have to do this by mail closer to the wedding date. The cakes were all unbelievably moist and tender, with thick, creamy, sugary frosting. Perfect. For the wedding we will have a three-tiered cake. The bottom will be the chocolate cake, the middle will be either the spice or pumpkin cake with ginger frosting, and the top is still being decided. We will be taking the top layer home to Houston, but probably not waiting till our first anniversary to eat it, that would just be torture! The design of the cake is not your typical white fondant topped wedding cake. I wanted something a little different but still classy, so we are using the wedding colors, two shades of green and orange for an accent. The cake will be similar in style to this one.


John was admittedly worried (as possibly many of you are that may be attending the wedding) that vegan cake wouldn't live up to non-vegan dessert counterparts (I don't know why since I bake him fabulous desserts all the time, all vegan!). Vegan baking is actually relatively easy. The most crucial piece is usually the egg replacer, something to bind the baked good. Check out this link on some trustworthy replacements. If you want to try it out for yourself, here's a really easy recipe for a super moist chocolate cake and a delicious coconut pecan frosting to top it off. You won't notice the difference, I promise!!

Not sure about you, but I can't wait to taste the cake on our wedding day! I just might have to have a piece of each flavor!