Did I mention that I am making my sister's wedding cake this summer? I'm so excited to have such an important assignment for her big day. Luckily, I have had two opportunities to practice a three tiered cake. One was for our Halloween party and the second was for a traditional engagement and ring ceremony here in Ethiopia.
The cake is quite small as wedding cakes come. The bottom tier is 12 inches, the second tier is 9 inches and the top tier is 6 inches. Each tier is a two layer cake with filling in between. For this cake the 12 inch tier is almond butter cake with a strawberry buttercream filling. The 9 inch tier is chocolate cake with a coffee buttercream filling. The 6 inch tier is vanilla butter cake with a lemon buttercream filling.
For the size, it's immensely heavy. Which I guess is the true test whether a cake is made with real butter! I know it sounds crazy but this cake took 30 eggs and 6.25 pounds of butter. Well, you only get married once right?
The real practice for me is in the assembly. All the stability lies at the base and wooden dowels help support the next layer. I could still use a bit of practice before this July, but so far so good. This cake made it to it's destination driven on the mean streets of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia completely assembled! Amazing.
