Behind the Scenes of the Wedding Cake Falling Apart

June of 2019 and my cousin is about to marry the love of her life. Thirty minutes before the ceremony, I arrived. The wedding cake looks like it encountered an earthquake.

Let us travel back down memory lane to when my cousin and I were little girls and what brought us to that moment. We used to play outside jumping on the trampoline, watching Disney movies and eating Giovanni’s cheese sticks. We grew up and even though we didn’t stay in touch much, the love remained. I remember her high school heartbreaks and the sadness she felt. Her college days brought out the very best of her. She was studying to be a nurse and one myrtle beach trip she met Jared. It was her Pinning Ceremony that I got to finally meet him. She always gushed about him and I always wondered how her cheeks didn’t hurt from smiling so much. I surprised her with a homemade cake with a nursing cap, thermometer and band-aid image that said congratulations, Jessica. It was homemade buttercream frosting with white cake, fresh strawberries and glaze in the center.

Everyone loved the cake even though the icing had melted upon transport during its two-hour destination to make my cousin happy. It was great to finally meet the love of her life, the reason for all her smiles. We even joked when he bought her jewelry if it came from Jared’s. You could see how well he treated her. To see the respect he had for her.

Fast forward and Jared had proposed finally on a cruise line on the top deck. I know I and others kept waiting to when he was going to ask. Here we are in 2019 and Jessica asks me to make her wedding cake. She and Jared had traveled back to that mouthwatering cake I surprised her with on her pinning day ceremony. Shocked and delighted, I said absolutely. She asked me to what charge and I said, “For you, nothing.” Upon insistence, costs were given to cover all of what was needed. I politely said, “$100.00, should cover it.” I stretched that as far as it could go. Unless you are a baker and cake decorator, you have no idea the costs and work that goes into it all.

We talked about a beautiful cake display that she and Jared loved and I told her I would love to make it happen; the display consisted of five wooden crates, two vases of flowers, candles, cupcakes, and the wedding cake. Then we talked about how many cupcakes and which flavors. We decided one hundred cupcakes should be plenty plus the wedding cake of two tiers. We went back and forth for weeks on the flavors for the cupcakes because I create everything out of imagination. I don’t go by any recipes.

I ran all those ideas by them and offered a cake tasting and they insisted they trusted me and looked forward to seeing it all. We decided on the wedding cake to be a white cake with fresh strawberries and strawberry glaze, with homemade buttercream frosting. We went back and forth on different designs and she left me to decide. I chose cascading roses. The cupcakes we decided on were strawberry like the wedding cake, s'mores, Reese, and Oreos.

I had about three weeks to put everything in motion. I had no car and needed transportation to get to the wedding and haul everything. I booked with Enterprise and had my car reserved. I had saved backed my earnings and budgeted everything accordingly for the two-hour trip and expenses. I booked the hotel because I was hoping to unwind and drink a few. I had a wedding date, my ex-boyfriend who just got out of his relationship. I was back and forth on even asking him to be my date, but he was a great prom date when we were fifteen years old.

Then I had to order cake tools from Amazon because my old tools were thrown in the trash from my fresh breakup. I had to find crates or buy them. With me working and all this planning, making them was out of the question. I found a wedding store almost two hours out, who had the crates and other things I could rent. Having no car and relying on others to get me to and from work, to the wedding store and the grocery store to gather all my materials was pure chaos. I always have a detailed list of things I need to pull all of this off. The day I got transportation to go to the store they didn’t have all that I needed, which required another arrangement out.

Here we are a week before the wedding. I have everything booked. I borrowed cake pans, silver trays, got my cake tools, I decided to make gum paste flowers and watched videos because it seemed the same as fondant flowers. I even did a trial run and made cupcakes for my coworkers to make sure it all tasted great. My biggest fear was that my cupcakes and wedding cake would be thrown at me, like how tomatoes are thrown at the comedians with bad jokes. Mom and I had got our dresses. I called my wedding date and made sure he was still attending. The wedding is on Saturday and it is Thursday and I have to pick my wedding date up in Louisa after I finish my five-hour work shift. My parents loan me their vehicle until I can pick up my loan vehicle. I expected to pick him up at his sister's house or his parent's house. I get the address and I make my way to an unknown destination. I pull into the driveway and he asks me to come in so he can introduce me to his pregnant ex-girlfriend. Do you know how you can hear crickets when everything is silent? That’s how it felt. I had no clue that I was being put in that weird predicament. I tried being nice but one ex to another ex just wasn’t working. I politely said, “It was nice to meet you.” Then left to wait in the vehicle. Once we made it back to my apartment I canceled the hotel I booked. I began working on cupcake liners, I wanted to wrap around the cupcakes to make look prettier. We sat there and cut out lace doilies and taped them together and measured it all out. We then figured out how to transport the cake. Asking ourselves what was the best and most secure way it would not slide.

I began baking up a storm all through the night. I got about two hours of sleep. We had to clear out my refrigerator to keep the cupcakes fresh and remind each other which each one was. My cake mix isn’t just a box of cake mix and dump into the pan, I add extra ingredients to make the cake richer. For the strawberry cake for the wedding cake and cupcakes, it was my basic white cake mix. For my Reese cake mix, I added Reese morsels into the batter. The Oreo cake mix I did my chocolate cake mix with chocolate chips and we crushed Oreo's in a zip lock bag with the back of a knife. I needed a rolling pin. All of those, I lined my pans after they were either greased or lined with muffin liners. With the s'mores, I did a chocolate cake mix and added marshmallow fluff that I folded into the batter. My liners had crushed graham crackers and melted butter that I had set in the oven for five minutes, I then poured the batter on top of the graham crackers, I added a mini marshmallow in the center to each cupcake. After all this had baked and the cupcakes were cooling in the fridge, I let the wedding cake layers cool at room temperature. It was around 1 pm that Friday and we needed to pick up the rental car and get mom and dad's vehicle back to them. We also forgot to grab our wedding shoes for me and my wedding date.

We get to the car rental place and they gave my car to the guy sitting in the office and said, “We tried to call.” They called an old number. This was booked three weeks in advance. I explained how important it was that I needed a car. He called around and nothing. We then go grab our wedding shoes and then head to my parent's house. I explain this entire mess to my parents and they need the vehicle to get to the wedding and there was no way all of us would fit and haul what I needed to haul. The decision was made that I would take their van and they would find a way to get there. We drive thirty minutes back to my place. We are hungry and it is now 4 pm. We fix something quick and I start on making the icing. Homemade icing isn’t easy. I had to make homemade buttercream frosting, peanut butter frosting, oreo frosting, and s'mores frosting. I am dirtying up more mixing bowls than anything. I have powdered sugar everywhere and garbage piling high from all this chaos. My tactic was let's get the cupcakes out of the way. Then focus on the wedding cake. With the Reese cupcakes, I break out my piping bags and icing tips and decorate them. I had mini Reese cups in the freezer to keep from melting. After topping the icing and the Reese cup I then drizzle chocolate syrup on top. JR then helps closes those containers and sets them aside. With the oreo cupcakes, I had to use a different icing bag and tip and pipe the frosting on those and decorate with mini Oreos and then drizzle chocolate syrup on those. I hand those off to JR. With the strawberry cupcakes JR diced up fresh strawberries and I mixed with glaze and put into a piping bag and filled the center of the cupcake with that. I then frosted with my basic white buttercream frosting with a different tip and icing bag. I topped with sliced fresh strawberries and drizzled with chocolate syrup.

The s’mores were the hardest. I had an idea of how I wanted it to go but when I asked JR's opinion we would go back and forth brainstorming. We created a great idea with the whole concept. We froze graham crackers and mini Hershey bars. After ten minutes we pulled them from the freezer. I gave him instructions on how to make mini campfire s'mores with the graham crackers the chocolate bar and mini marshmallow and to microwave to get a toasty melty look while I frosted the cupcakes. I used my basic buttercream frosting and folded in marshmallow fluff and used a different icing bag and tip while he did that.

I heard him say in an excited voice, “Whoa, that was neat, You should have seen that.”

Like a fascinated child he shows me how the marshmallow blew up three times its size.

I said, “Playtime is over and we need normal size.”

He said, “You are no fun.”

Trust me we were exhausted and it was nearing midnight.

The cupcakes were ready to go. All the decorations for the cake table were boxed up and at the front door. I annoyed him and said let's go back over this before we start with the wedding cake, to make sure we have everything. It's a horrible idea when you are sleep deprived. He annoyingly says yes it's all there, now can we sleep and start this backup tomorrow? I told him to sleep but I can't sleep because I'm afraid I’ll sleep in. He remains awake and I'm stacking the wedding cake, I have my dowel rods to make sure that the cake won't shift upon movement. I even did my research and no troubles for anyone.

We somehow misplaced the scissors and he pulls out his pocket knife and starts to cut them down to the size I need. We carefully place them in certain areas to make sure the weight would be supported. I decided to go with two layers for the bottom tier and the top tier. To make sure it had fullness. Around the top layer and the sixth dowel rod I hear, “Son of a bi*tch,” then the blood. I'm horrified. The sink has blood on it and he is trying to remain calm and we do first aid. It looked like it needed a good stitch or two and the hospital is thirty minutes out and it is two in the morning. He wanted me to leave him alone and tough it out so I go back to the wedding cake after washing my hands good.

The cake is all stacked after I layered strawberries and glaze in the center and I'm shaking it to make sure it all stays in place.

This catches his attention and asks me, “What are you doing?”

Me: “I'm shaking the cake to make sure the rods work.”

He said, “Then really shake it.”

Me: “I don’t have enough cake mix to do this all over again.”

Him: “We are shaking this cake.”

He shook the cake and unlike Jenga, it didn’t come crashing down. I felt more at ease and was ready to frost the cake. At this point, he crashes out. The wedding cake is frosted and its time for the gum paste roses. I pull all that out and I'm kneading it and I get nowhere. It's hard as a rock and I'm needing his help or a rolling pin. I'm not bothering him and I have no rolling pin. I take a five-minute break and try to think this out. I can’t microwave the gum paste because it will ruin it. I go back and I fight with the paste and I am defeated. I realize I still have to get dressed, get my hair done, my makeup, drive two hours and set everything up. I knew it had been raining and my cousin had planned for an outdoor wedding. It was that moment I wanted a dramatic moment to stuff my face with cake, sit on the kitchen floor and cry out, “Why me, why this and so forth.”

I pulled myself together. My zombie me started talking to myself and said,

“Your cousin loves your cakes. She wants your cake. It will be beautiful no matter what, so get it together and get to the wedding.”

I decided okay her wedding colors are coral and navy blue and she is classy and elegant. I will make coral roses and decorate the borders like a pearl necklace. I got to mixing yellow food coloring and pink food coloring to get the right shade. I then broke out another icing bag and frosted my roses. I decided against green leaves and wanted whites leaves and then did the pearl borders. I surprised myself. I found great difficulty in getting this put into the refrigerator because of the weight. My original idea was to take it off this makeshift turntable and put it on this beautiful glass cake display and set it in the crate and transport. I needed his help and just did what I could to put it in the fridge. I let him sleep and the sun was up. The rain stopped. I went to put my dress on, curl my hair and put on makeup.

I wanted enough time to not run into traffic and not get lost. To make sure we made it and could set it all up and relax. I gently wake him up and tell him to get dressed. He was taken aback at my dress and when he saw the cake he was truly surprised. He said my cousin would love it. It is nearing noon. We gather everything up and helps get the cake on the glass display and then into the crate. We then cushion things around it to make sure no shifting. We carefully placed everything to where if any sudden stops that nothing would be jarred. My biggest concern was getting off the top of my hill and it and everything being okay. We reach the bottom of the hill and he gets out and checks everything and its all good. I crank up the air conditioner because it’s the end of June. It just rained. He wants me to relax all I have done is stress and worry. We do nothing but talk and listen to music. We stop for gas and continue going. I notice the air conditioner isn’t putting out enough air and I call my dad and put him on speaker. He says he has the magic touch and I don’t know what I’m doing.

Dad, you win that battle. I was too tired to worry and fret.

We arrive close to the venue and the GPS gets us lost. We have thirty minutes to set up before she walks down the aisle and I'm in panic mode. I call one of my relatives and they help guide us there. I drive as close to the door as possible to unload everything. I'm heading back for the wedding cake and JR stops me and says, “You don’t want to see this.”

It is at that moment I want to cry because I know it can't be good and she is walking down the aisle very soon. I have to face the music and I come to look and it looks like an earthquake took the wedding cake out. I wanted to curse, cry and scream. I wanted the dramatic moment I withheld from in the kitchen when the gum paste out won me.

I gave marching orders and told everyone to grab stuff and not to touch the wedding cake. It was like soldiers marching to the beat of my drum. I carried the wedding cake inside. Just like every excited person should be they all wanted to see the cake. I did not want anyone to see this cake. Like a flock of curious onlookers dying to see how beautiful the cake was the mother of the bride, the bridesmaids, maid of honor, grandmother of the bride and others all look and with disgust say,

“Oh, my goodness. Jessica's cake is ruined. That is horrible. I can’t believe this. What are we going to do?”

I have had only two hours of sleep and I'm pretty hungry. I am already mad that some loser took my rental car, that the gum paste had to be a jerk, the dowel rods failed, that the air conditioner didn’t want to cooperate and now this. Can you make a girl feel any worse?

JR and I kick it into high gear. I go into cake survival mode and make room in the fridge beside all the alcohol to get the cake cold and harden the icing. The caterer sees the cake and says you can save that can't you?

We are talking about the bottom layer of the wedding cake that looks like an earthquake made several cracks in it. I'm not a doctor. That will take some heavy freezing and lots of icing to pull that bad boy back together. I can only save the top layer. Trust me I thought about finding the closet Walmart but I was not about to feel my cousin's wrath for an imposter cake. She always wants my cake. I politely tell the cater I have got this and that cake you can still eat.

JR and I put all the crates up. We set up all the trays and line them with lace doilies, start placing cupcakes in a beautiful arrangement. We forgot the liners we made. Thanks to sleep deprivation. We pull out the vases and place the flowers in them. We align the pictures in a better view and just bring the display to life as my cousin wanted.

My cousin is about to walk down the aisle in five minutes and I have chocolate on my dress from the cupcakes where they melted and I have to save her wedding cake. Thankfully being a baker and cake decorator for nearly eighteen years I came prepared. I brought extra pearls, extra icing, and extra icing bags. I made her top layer her wedding cake. I put it on display and put her wedding topper on it and I felt relieved, I salvaged it. She even asked me to, later on, serve the cake and that felt like an honor.

After I had it all set up and we saved a disaster and I trying to clean up my dress we didn’t have time to sit with the guests to watch her walk down the aisle. We stood instead behind the paned glassed doors and watched it all unfold.

I wish I could have sat out there but I didn’t miss it. We found our table and sat and waited for everything to begin. I was tired, I had been up nearly twenty-four hours and I was hungry. We talked with the other guests and grabbed pictures. I wanted to drink and unwind but JR wasn’t going to let me. My parents didn’t want him driving their vehicle and we were respectful of that. It is now 5 pm and food won't be served until 6 pm and I wanted to stay and dance. Jr and I agreed that me driving and how tired I was, that it was best if we left.

We went to meet my cousin and I apologized for ruining her cake and she had the biggest smile on her face and said its perfect. That she loved it. That she loved everything we did and hugged us both. We got back on the road and I kept drifting off and JR kept telling me to pull off and sleep some. I'm stubborn and won't listen. We continue and I fell asleep and was headed straight for a church. JR grabbed the wheel and got me awake. I lost the battle with him and we pulled off the side of the road to let me sleep twenty minutes.

We get back on the road and I become what southerners call “slap happy” a mix of so tired and so hungry that you are just a tad bit crazy. We are listening to music and JR changes the station and passes up Taylor Swift and I become a different person.

I said, “That is my song, what are you thinking?”

I then belt out every word to the song and JR has this look of please get me out of this car with her. He realized that the more I sang my heart out to whatever song no matter how crazy I sounded or looked that I was staying awake. We finally see a McDonalds and I get really happy. We go in and in an unladylike fashion I bark orders of what I want and I lay down on the bench tucking my dress underneath me and just ate.

We get back on the road and the scenery is breathtaking and we finally make it back home and I crash hard.

I learned a lot through all of this. I told my cousin I wished I could have seen her smash the cake in hubby's face because she had been looking forward to that and she showed me a video. She got him good. He was such a sport about it and was so happy. He called his dear wife to come over for some cake and she knew it was her turn and she pulled her hair back and took it like a champ. The best part was the kiss of frosting from face to face. Excitement and joy I was able to help achieve with everything I did for my sweet cousin and her husband. They had a beautiful wedding and found their fairy tale. They weren’t even looking. She told me she would aggravate me for an anniversary cake and I said anytime. She always has me for any cake and any support. Things don’t always don’t go accordingly but it’s the heart behind it all. My cousin's beautiful heart made everything I went through worth it all.

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