Kitchen bravado

Good Food Blog

What is RSS?

Posted at 11:40AM, 11 July 2008 by Caroline Hire - Food editor, bbcgoodfood.com

Have you ever agreed to cook for an occasion and realised you may have bitten off more than you can chew?

Perhaps you set your sights at winning over a loved one with a meal of the finest ingredients, only to realise that a starry-eyed episode in the fishmongers would inevitably lead to a stand-off with a lobster. Or maybe you kindly said you'd throw a birthday party and watched with horror as the guest list burgeoned from 14 to 40?

Well I had just such an episode recently.

All wide-eyed and enthusiastic after a cake decorating course - I agreed to do a four-tier lemon drizzle extravaganza for a wedding. Unconcerned was I that the couple in question have impeccable taste, that extensive planning had gone right into the last confetti rose petal and that the cake they'd chosen (a sponge) would certainly need to be made last minute. No, I ploughed on in, carefully plotting and trialling different recipes, designs, cake sizes and decorations, every spare minute I had.

perhaps a wedding wasn't the best place to showcase my skill (or lack of)...

But weeks and various less than successful trials later, I started to get nervous - I'd never done a tiered cake before and really when I thought about it, only decorated three cakes in my life. Hmm, perhaps a wedding wasn't the best place to showcase my skill (or lack of) but by this stage the Big Day was weeks away.

The weekend before the wedding I began the epic that was the four-tier cake. Six cakes needed to be baked (the two bottom layers comprised two cakes each). I ended up making eight as two did not pass the test and had to be sacrificed (err, eaten), the other six went into the freezer.

Two days later, the process of buttercreaming, marzipanning and sugarpasting began. On the Thursday, my mum showed up to provide much needed moral support. She would not be getting her hands dirty even for a daughter in dire need but the constant encouragement helped to assuage rising nerves. By late evening and after a last-minute dash to the shops in search of the perfect ribbon, the cake was ready for the wedding the next day.

I drove down from London to Farnham at around 20 mph, with the tiers in fours boxes, my boot padded out with non-slip matting and fluffy towels. On arrival, the photographer swooped in on the assembly process - fortunately, the cake had survived the journey and stacked without drama. A few adjustments here and there and it was done. And quite nice it looked too.

The bride and groom loved the cake and I felt really proud to have been part of such a beautiful occasion. I think cake decorating may be like childbirth - was it hard? I don't remember, I'm just itching to do it all over again...

Have you fallen victim to a case of culinary bravado? Committed to an occasion that sent your pulse racing? Let us know...

Comments

drusilla

11 July 2008, 12:23PM
drusilla

I've agreed to do the summer wedding cake in June's issue for my future sister-in-law's wedding next year. Foolhardy or no? Not sure, but reading the above has certainly made me think a little bit more - maybe a trial run THIS year would be a good idea!!

Flag as inappropriate

Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

Your name: Reason:
Caroline

11 July 2008, 1:31PM
Caroline

Hi Drusilla, it's definately worth getting as much practise as possible but don't let that out you off - it's really worth the effort. I found the whole experience really rewarding and wouldn't hesitate to do it again. I didn't make the whole cake before just parts of it to make sure there were no nasty surprises last minute!

Flag as inappropriate

Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

Your name: Reason:
LizMacau88

12 July 2008, 8:33AM
LizMacau88

Caroline, that's just beautiful, congratulations. Drusilla, good luck with your cake. I don't think I'd ever venture such an elaborate preparation! I have often over-done things in the planning of lunch parties and realised that I have been a bit over-ambitious but I've survived. The worst has been occasionally leaving out a course -- such as a sorbet or an amuse-bouche -- but as no one knows the menu in advance they are none the wiser. I try and get as much done in advance as possible. Cakes for me are down to earth things like Diana Henry's Middle Eastern Orange Cake -- easy to make in advance and freezes like a dream. I have adapted it to lemon, lemon and passionfruit and the latest, which is still reposing in the freezer, passionfruit and lime.

Flag as inappropriate

Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

Your name: Reason:
Chef Santiago

12 July 2008, 3:48PM
Chef Santiago

That is a beautiful cake congragulations Caroline!

Flag as inappropriate

Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

Your name: Reason:
Elaine

12 July 2008, 8:29PM
Elaine

Caroline, your cake looks amazing. Well done. I once decided to make a Sussex Pond Pudding for a dinner party. I'd never made one before, but I loved the sound of it and it didn't look too difficult. Only problem? I discovered on the day (a Sunday) that my pan wasn't quite big enough to fit the pudding basin. I carried on regardless. Needless to say, the pudding never quite steamed properly, so that at 11pm we could all smell a gorgeous lemony aroma but the pudding was only half cooked. Fortuntely, I had bought two tubs of ice cream so we didn't go hungry!

Flag as inappropriate

Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

Your name: Reason:
shez

13 July 2008, 8:39PM
shez

I too made a wedding cake for an uncle in the days of royal icing rather than the roll on sugar paste available now and found it very nerve rackig but loved the admiring words on the big day so was worth it. I think I must have spent 20 hours making little lemon coloured sugar roses for it!

Flag as inappropriate

Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

Your name: Reason:
BeckyP

15 July 2008, 12:55PM
BeckyP

Hi Caroline, Chris has told me all about your cake course, and in actual fact from looking at your photo's we have the same tutor!!! Paddi has been teaching me for about a year now and I recognise a lot of the patterns you guys used (ie. runout butterflies)!! The cake looks great by the way! I don't know whether Chris told you, but I had 2 attempts at the wedding cake I recently did, and even then had to re-bake one of the tiers!!

Flag as inappropriate

Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

Your name: Reason:
carolann

16 July 2008, 3:56PM
carolann

I think your cake looks fantastic Caroline. Well done!

Flag as inappropriate

Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

Your name: Reason:
Caroline

16 July 2008, 5:54PM
Caroline

Thanks very much for all your compliments! :-) I'm making another one tonight, a 'Barbie' pink birthday cake with lots of sparkles for my niece who is seven. Becky - what a coincidence that we had/have the same teacher, Paddi is fantastic. I saw a pic of the wedding cake you did, it looked very professional. I'd love to hear more about your course some time. Caroline.

Flag as inappropriate

Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

Your name: Reason:
Britannia Cookers

7 August 2008, 12:04PM
Britannia Cookers

Well done, it's like you would need a lot of patience!

Flag as inappropriate

Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

Your name: Reason:

Your binder

Here are three other great reasons to sign up:

You get an online binder, where you can store all your favourite recipes and create menus.
You can add your own recipes to this site for others to try; plus, rate and make comments on recipes, and share your views on our blog.
You can sign up for our weekly newsletter (sent out on Wednesdays) - it's packed with recipes, special offers and competitions.