Sewn Together: Cakie!

I loved just about everything regarding our lovely four-tiered and whip-cream covered cake. It's scrumptious layers of strawberry shortcake, mango passionfruit, red velvet and chocolate ganache made with light and fluffy spongecake.

The intricate op-amp diagram piped onto the corners just like Sak had designed.

The way our little power poles spiraled up the cake to the top.

Keroro and Tamama sitting together on a red heart under a lone LED streetlamp.

I loved everything.

Kristy, our amazing cake coordinator from Satura Cakes, dropped off Sak's "baby" to the venue, along with three sheet cakes of Mango Passionfruit, tiramisu and strawberry shortcake. We planned on 120 servings for 100 guests.

Our guests were really fascinated with our light-up cake. Even to the point of making Sak come to the microphone to "explain the significance".

He did his best to not turn our reception into a lecture on circuitry.

...After class was over, it was time to cut the cake.

That's good and all, except after we cut it, I only saw a plate nearby, and no fork or spoon with which to serve my husband.

(Photo by family) "Hmmm. What to do?"

So I fed him with the knife.

(Photo by family)

My family, no doubt ashamed of my behavior, say I look like the poster child for "bridezilla". Is this how my future grandchildren are to remember me? Oh well.

Sak, for some reason, decided to make me look extra evil. He walked around until he found a spoon, fed me, and then dabbed at my face with a napkin.

(photo by family)

Well, I guess he wanted to make it clear that he is a gentlemen and not a crude, knife pointing maniac.(I was told later we were supposed to have fed each other with our fingers. My bad.)

An awkward silence fell for a little bit after that exchange. I think people fully expected us to do some cake smashing next, what with the knife and all. I guess we're not the smashing type.

At the end of the night, all the sheet cakes were eaten, but our fabulous cake stood whole and uncut. I had failed to account for the large number of diabetics in attendence, and should have had a sugar-free alternative available. In any case, a friend walked up, confused. He didn't know about the sheet cakes, and was wondering what the heck he was eating, if not our big cake tower. After explaining the sheet cakes, he exclaimed that our cake "was a lie". Hardy har har.

During cleanup, we cut up the cake and started passing out huge chunks of cake to anyone still dancing around. There was a literal fight over the red velvet, I tell you. Most of it went home to family, my brother took some to share with the homeless, and all the out of town guests had enough cake to last them the rest of the trip.

We took our top tier of strawberry shortcake back to the hotel too. But once we got there, and found some cold-cut sandwiches and poke in the fridge from that morning; it suddenly sounded tastier than cake.
And thus, the story of how we failed to eat more than one bite of our wedding cake, which I was so-very-much looking forward to eating.

Luckily, there's a Satura Cake's here in Palo Alto, so maybe we'll get to eat our strawberry shortcake on our anniversary or something.

In summary -
1) Don't feed your new husband with a knife.
2) TRY to eat some of your cake on your wedding!

(Unless otherwise noted, all images by Terra Photography)

Our wedding week in review:

• We took care of some last minute DIY details, and officialized everything.
• We vacationed with our out-of-towners, and threw a yummy welcome beach brunch.
• Sak saluted an angry dragon during our wedding rehearsal, and we sniffed at our dinner.
• Wal-Mart crashed my bachelorette.
• The women magically transformed, and Sak tied me into our dress.
• There was a windy photoshoot on the beach, and then we hung out at the chapel in flat shoes.
• We marched to the altar and got married.
• Everyone was camera-happy.
• Reception time! A bustle for our first dance, and then it was time to eat.
• I wore a kimono, and then fed some lions.
• We tried a bouquet pull

Cakie! - The Deal

Sak and I met with a couple of bakeries before deciding on who would create our cake. But when we walked into Satura Cakes, I knew right away it was the one.

Why? They use sponge cake. SPONGE CAKE.

(source) Your average sponge cake.

Sponge cake is amazing. Light, fluffy, and not too sweet - you can literally eat the whole cake without "feeling it". Suffice to say, if you want a cake with a guarantee that people will like - sponge is your man.

And although the sponginess alone was enough to seal the deal with me, there were several other factors that certainly sweetened the proposal.

First - our consultant, Kristy, was amazingly organized. She gave me a folder with all the details, and even a guide on how to properly cut the wedding cake.

Me: "Really? You really need a tutorial on how to cut a cake?!"

She told me it was mostly for the groom, since in her experience she's seen some mishaps - like the groom cutting the cake and feeding himself - or the couple cutting the Styrofoam dummy tier. Now I'd like to think that Sak is above all that, but I appreciated her sage advice.

Secondly, remember how I talked about all the different kinds of frosting you could have on cakes these days? Well, Satura Cakes one-upped me, and offered something I didn't even research. Fresh cream. Cool whip on my cake?! SOLD.

(source) Pronounced "HWIP".

Now what did we get, exactly?

A four tier, square cakie - approximately 4" high and 10" wide at the base. It's on the smaller side, since light and fluffy sponge cake can only take so much weight. The pyramid will serve about 67 people. In addition to the main cake, we'll be supplementing with sheet cakes in various flavors.

Flavors, you ask?

I liked ALL of them. ALL OF THEM. So we'll be getting one of each flavor. No joke. Four different flavored tiers, and different flavored sheet cakes as well! For "our tier" though, Sak decided he wanted the strawberry shortcake. He'll have to fight me for it, since I'm pretty sure I could down a 4 x 4" cube of fluffy whip cream strawberry goodness in a matter of seconds.
And finally, the design. Since this is a fresh cream cake, we could not go crazy with the design. Simple it is.

The red ribbon around the base will be an edible candy ribbon, since fabric and whip cream don't mix too well. As for the piping design? Well, you can call it cake envy, folks. Sak decided that if we were putting power poles on the cake, then we should also put some low voltage stuff for him. Thus his "design", an op-amp and a mosfet, was born. It'll be drawn around the corners with white piping.

And that, in a nutshell, is our cake. We'll be responsible for bringing the topper and power poles, which the bakers will add on last minute. Now that I have the dimensions, hopefully it'll be easier to settle on an appropriate topper!

How did you know your baker was "the one"? Did you incorporate everything you wanted?

Cakie! - The Frosting

Friends, let me tell you about my latest fixation:

Princess Cake.

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This Swedish treat features delicately sweetened vanilla cake, filled with raspberry jam and fresh cream. It's moist, yet sturdy, and shaped to perfection with a layer of marzipan frosting.

It is amazing. I suggest you all find the nearest Swedish bakery and try it out.

But the reason I bring up this mouthwatering morsel is mainly because of the frosting. There are, it seems, alternatives to the standard buttercream or fondant choices. Let's discuss:

-Buttercream

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Made mostly of butter and sugar, this is the standard (and cheapest) cake frosting. Tasty, no frills, icing. It's easily piped around into flowers or basket weave patterns. It is, however, more difficult to create smooth, flawless looking surfaces. You also can't make fancy-sturdy models with it.

-Fondant

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A standard for smooth, tiered wedding cakes these days, commercial cake fondant is made of gelatin, glycerin, glucose and powdered sugar (sounds, delicious, doesn't it? :P). You can also make your own with marshmallows, if you prefer. It's more costly than buttercream, and tastes like..well, it doesn't taste like much. It's usually just peeled off and left uneaten. It cannot be used for piping, but can easily be molded into desired shapes and appliques, and has excellent structural strength.

-Royal Icing

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This is the hard, meringue-like substance on decorated sugar cookies and pre-made candy cake decorations. It's a bit brittle and inflexible as a cake cover, but would work for making sturdy piped details or appliques. It's made mostly from egg whites and sugar.

-Ganache

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Ganache is made of chocolate and cream, and tastes like a dream. However, it is super soft and prone to melting, so don't even think about using it for gravity-defying cake architecture, cause you won't get any support from this!

-Modeling Chocolate

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Perfect for creating rigid, complex structures, modeling chocolate can make for a super-sweet alternative. It's made of chocolate and a sugar syrup, but I'd still be a little wary about the melting factor.

-Marzipan

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Made of sugar and ground almond meal, marzipan makes for a great cake-cover when rolled out thinly. Let me emphasis thinly, as this frosting packs quite a flavor punch. It's best paired with simpler cakes like vanilla, since the almond flavor can overwhelm anything more complex. But boy, is it ever delicious! Structurally, it works similar to fondant, though it can become too brittle when dried out. One other note - marzipan apparently only comes in about 2 colors, green and ivory/almond color. Though I'm pretty sure you can dye the natural almond color to your preferred hue...

I'm definitely going to ask any potential bakers what our frosting options are. Sak is definitely pro-anything-chocolate, but I'm not sure if it would hold up in the Hawaii-heat. And I love the marzipan, but it might not go well with guava-coconut cake. Yet even if we end up back at fondant and buttercream, at least now I know there are other alternatives I need to "taste test"!

What are you covering your cake in?

Cakie! - The Lights Come On

In a glorious end to a week of fails, these cuties came in the mail last night:

My cake power poles! A huge shout-out and thank you to Ashinwi, who gave me the link to the pole-selling shop!

Now, since wood poles are for sissies, I'm going to have to paint them silver for some tubular steel pole action.

I'm thinking silver edible paint? That way I won't have to worry about poisoning anyone.

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Should I should paint them myself, or have our baker (whenever we find one) do it for us? Do I hold onto them, or give them to the baker six months out? What if they lose them? (I guess I guess the safest bet is just to ask the baker.)

The next question is, what to use for cables?

Wire, I think, would be too unwieldy. I can just see a piece coming undone and springing a big hole right into the side of the cake. *shudder*

I do have jewelry wire, which is a little less rigid, that we could use -

Or maybe some embroidery thread (though I'd have to get some in black)?

In any case, I'm pretty excited about this cake now. Sak and I will have to visit a hobby shop and get a cute little LED lamp for the top.

..And only somewhat unrelated, but undeniably adorable:

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Little streetlight place card holders! *swoons* These would be so neat for a vintage/romantic Audrey Hepburn-type wedding. Or it would be neat for those that name their tables after cities/districts, since each card looks like a little street sign. I love it, but unfortunately it doesn't mesh too well with my decidedly Asian theme-vibe. Oh well, just thought I'd share anyway! :)

Why is everything in miniature always so cute? Does silver paint make your tongue sparkle? What do the power poles look like where you live? (The construction tends to differ by area.)

Cakie! - Hats

I've talked a little bit about overall cake designs, but today let's just concentrate on the fun part - the topper.

Pretty much anything you can think of can be made into a cake topper. Here's my shortlist:

-Custom wooden people
I picked these little guys up at Michael's for about a dollar or so. It would be simple enough to paint them into a Sak and Peng, and would end up looking maybe something like this:

(click image for source)

-Anime figurines
Oh, there's ton of potential here. Link and Zelda, Shinji and Asuka/Rei/Misato/Kaoru, Lelouch and CC..Somehow I don't think we really identify with the more iconic "couples". Maybe more with Otani and Risa, or Nodame and Chiaki. Maybe we'll go back to Tamama and Keroro, even.
How would this look on a cake? I bought this one from Fanime for $5 a few years ago.

-Flowers
Can't go wrong here, a pretty bunch of flowers on top of a cake is gorgeous, though not high up the personality scale.

(Click image for source)

-Little IC people

(click image for source)

I had this weird thought of using big fatty IC chips and making them look like little people-bugs by bending the pins into feet and hands (Like the "bugs" above, only standing up like "people"). Draw a face on with paint, and voila? Unfortunately, I doubt I could find chips big enough, and we might run into the "contains lead" problem again.

-Hawaiian Salt & Pepper Shakers

(click image for source)

This seems to be the standard cake topper for the Hawaiian bride. It's so cute! But not really indicative of Sak and I. Neither of us are even close to being that tan. *sigh*.

What kind of hat does your cake get to wear?

Cakie! - A Beginning

In the weeks to come, I'll be responsible for lining up some cake tastings.

What does one bring to a cake tasting?

The smart thing would be to first say, "a budget".

Okay, but unfortunately, I have no idea how much a wedding cake is supposed to cost. $3-$5 dollars a slice? How much do I even need?

All these unknown variables run through my head as Sak picks up the chorus of the Birthday Cake song. Oh Salinas, ever the silly town.


*Ahem* ...Yeah, sorry about that. Back to business?

As in any complex problem, we'll start by listing out the "givens". What do I already know? (Click images for sources!)

- We want a square cake.
Everyone knows you get more cake out of a square than a circle!

-Maybe 3 or 4 tiers high.


-Mostly white, but with either red or black trimmings.


-At least 2 different kinds of fillings. If I can find a place that will do a rum cake, I can die a happy penga. A good rum cake with a custardy middle is nothing to laugh at!

Or how about some guava chiffon?

Mmm. Hungry now.


And Sak adds, "Please make it tres leche." Umm. Somehow I don't think they make tres leche in Hawaii? We'll put it on the shortlist for the at-home reception, smack dab in the middle of Salinas. In fact, I already know a great bakery for that one.

Sounds easy enough, right? Well, what about the design?

For once I'm drawing a bit of a blank.

I like cakes with ribbon on bottoms..


And cakes with white-on-white piping...


And cakes with gum paste flowers...



But together I don't think it would work out so well. Then there was also my other hair-brained idea.

Tiny little power poles (model-railroad size), on each tier, going up to the top of the cake, where mini-Sak & mini-Penga would stand under a mini streetlight, lit by LED.

Okay, yeah, I just went from fresh flowers and ribbons to train sets. But in my head it seems so cool. And with both of us having graduated as power engineers, it's got plenty of meaning.


Don't you just love paint? :P

Only one problem. I can't find mini-power poles anywhere. Resident train-expert Sak says it's because model-train sets usually are set in pre-electricity times, so there wouldn't be any power. So unless we make our own steel towers, this idea is out.

Even so, I'm still in love with the idea of an LED-lit cake. Let's add that to the list of cake-requisites.

What kind of cake are you planning on? And how do you stop yourself from getting mad cravings while thinking about it?