This Wedding Cake will forever be closest to my heart, not only because it was for two persons who are very special to me and my family but also because to begin with, it was my 1st wedding cake.
In my thinking, a wedding cake is traditional and personal. If I recall my earlier memories, wedding cakes use to play a large role showcased as a centerpiece, symbolizing a couple in union. The celebration of the cake is proudly placed on display, the bride and groom comes together to cut the cake with 1 knife and share their 1st piece of cake together as husband and wife, a loving moment captured once in a lifetime! Due to these sentimental reasons, a wedding cake to me, essentially has to be perfect, handmade, created from the couple's favourite food, designed around the theme and delightfully delicious.
The wedding was in Hobart (I live in Malaysia) so our biggest challenge was to recruit friends of the Bride and Groom to help us out 1st with equipment. I was commissioned to work with full on chocolate (the couple's favourite food) so I went with both dark and white. The wedding itself was held at a private beach resort, the ceremony along a stretch of the most gorgeous beach in a beautiful town called Swansea, east of Hobart, Hence the design of shells, creatures and a pair of seahorses which I thought were most appropriate considering seahorses mate for life. I used demarara sugar for the softest feel of sea sand and a striking aqua blue ribbon band for a hint of seawater.
Apart from the creativity, the cake itself was pretty much easy, a wonderful combination of bittersweet chocolate with loads of sour cream, a luxury. It took me 2 days to complete this cake, yes, as you can see it didn't require any fondant, I went with a classic chocolate buttercream. The 1st night I had to stop early due to the hot weather and a threat of a storm that brought about those little flying termites even mosquito proofing couldn't keep away. That was the only drama we had. The 1st tier of the cake was left bare so on the morning of the wedding day, the bride had the pleasure of placing the chocolate shells just the way she envisaged them to be.
I must boast that it was indeed a very delicious cake, enough for 60 guests with some seconds and absolutely no leftovers...guests favors were also chocolates seashells made by the bride and groom themselves........
Lastly, the wedding cake photos were taken by my current favourite photographer, Vignes Balasingam. What an awesome photographer capturing the beauty, serenity and spirit of a cake! The wedding photos are the most beautiful wedding photos I've ever seen. I also wish I could show you the beautiful decor done by my daughter Nessa Twyla, one of which were 1,000 aqua blue origami cranes, suspended everywhere...the perfect wedding gift according to a Japanese Legend.
My heartfelt thanks to Sandra and Steve.
By the way, I also cooked both Lunch and Dinner...now that's another story for another time...twas a summer wedding...
