Cake

The Cake Was Not a Lie

Everyday Adventures

And it was good…

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Obviously I went with store-bought (I mean, sure, I could make something like that, but I wouldn’t normally). And not even because I was late getting home from the knitting event (because I had the date wrong and it was Tuesday night, not Wednesday–oops!), simply because the indulgence was all the sweeter for not having a kitchen to clean up afterwards.

One of the things that afforded the possibility of going to an after-work event was that Duncan has been given elevated privileges while we’re gone. After a couple of crate mishaps (the calm only lasted a couple weeks, apparently), Todd opted to sequester him with his bed, bowl, and toys in the back hallway and his dog door open for side-yard access. While we suspect he spends most of his days moping that we’re not there, he seems to be enjoying the change.

It meant we could go out to dinner on Friday night and not worry so much about him being cooped up for another hour or so. It also means we need to actually puppy-proof the back hall and side yard because, while he hasn’t destroyed anything yet, we really shouldn’t give him the opportunity if we can help it. I also worry about him being a nuisance outside, barking at the neighbors when they’re in their own backyards–just another reason to get that privacy fence up sooner rather than later, right?

And speaking of the pup, I made my first layout with the Project Life App of some of the pictures we took of him on Monday night.

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The app does have some drawbacks compared to digiscrapping in Photoshop. Pictures are only pictures unless you buy the overlay packs, text only fits in the designated journalling spaces in the journaling cards, and of course there are no additional embellishments. But the pro column is stocked with all my photos at my fingers since I can pull from Google Photos (where both my cell photos and my “real” camera downloads are archived). Plus, it’s on my phone, which is with me pretty much always, so I could scrapbook on my lunch break or in the car (when Todd’s driving, obviously!). Plus, the necessarily simple layouts make getting the basics down quick and easy.

I think my plan would be to start on the app, then export it so I can add embellishments or other bits in Photoshop before uploading them for printing.

Sure, most of the pictures I take these days are of food or design team projects, but the app might also help me remember to take more candid, everyday photos, not just special trips or assignments. Certainly couldn’t hurt!

About the Cake…

Third Time Wife, Wedding Planning
(personal photos)

(personal photos)

Pretty, huh? All of the above are personal pictures of cakes I’ve made for other brides and grooms. Not only did I used to spend my spare time decorating cakes (for fun and, occasionally, profit), I also used to be a Wilton Method Instructor and taught other folks how to do it.

Which is why this next bit might be a touch surprising:

I don’t want a wedding cake.

I know! I know. It may not make sense, at first, but hear me out. I have a few reasons for this:

  1. Wedding cakes are expensive (for a reason!)–even the basic models start around $2 a slice and I wouldn’t want a basic, blah, boring cake.
  2. Our wedding will be a small group and, really, a cake to feed 50 will look so very tiny unless we do a bunch of fake layers underneath to give it some presence (I know, I’ve done it both ways).
  3. There’s no way I’d be willing to do it myself. Even when I loved doing them, it was more a love-hate thing going on.
  4. No one else would be able to please me. I’m a perfectionist and a control freak and having spent years nose-deep in icing I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from critiquing whomever we ordered from and, truly, it would never satisfy me.

Luckily, having alternatives to a traditional wedding cake is nothing new to today’s brides (though the guests might still be a smidgen puzzled over it) and options abound:

  • Tower of cupcakes–offers variety and easy serving sizes and I do have to admit, the cupcake stands are neat to look at.
  • Tower of cream puffs–go French with a croquembouche; if your area is cool enough and lacking in humidity, a spun-sugar “cage” is a very nice touch.
  • Cake buffet–instead of one big cake, why not lots of normal-sized cakes of different flavor combinations to choose from?
  • Dessert buffet–who says it has to be cake? Pies, tartlets, cookies and whatever else your sweet tooth desire can be arranged on a variety of pretty plates and stands.
  • Ice cream sundae bar with various flavors, toppings and bases (brownies and pound cake, anyone?).

When I first confessed my disinterest in having a traditional wedding cake to Mr. Road Trip, he laughed but understood (he was there, incidentally, when I made my brother’s cake the year before and learned just how and why I feel the way I do about them). We joked that if it was truly a reflection of us and our favorite sweet, then the “cake” would need to be Oreos, as the double-stuffed fudge ones are one of the few indulgences we keep around the house.

Of course, since the initial decision to forgo the big spectacle cake was reached, some health issues have come up for me which mean staying away from wheat (among other things–I’ll go into that when we get closer to our tasting). This means I will definitely be making at least some of the items for our dessert buffet, both to make sure that there are safe sweets for me to eat as well as them being up to my admittedly high standards. But we’ll also be contacting the few bakeries in town that have wheat-free options available so that I don’t have to do it all.