A Cake for Nassim and Sp8

I am a firm believer that everyone should have a wedding cake when they get married. Whether you get married in a county jail, a million dollar country club, or if you elope in Canada. My favorite couple, Nassim and Sp8, got married in Canada a couple of weeks ago (I previously blogged one of their wedding portraits) and this past Saturday one of Sp8's friends (the would be Best Man), threw them a congratulatory dinner. 


When I heard about the dinner I knew immediately I was going to make them a little wedding cake. You just can't go without a wedding cake when you get married. I don't mean a sheet cake either, that doesn't count. It has to be at least 2 tiers. Those are nobody's rules but my own. I feel strongly about it. 


So I set out to make the cake. Let me just say, I am fortunate enough to have minions. Without these minions I could not have finished my cake on time, so thanks to my sister Tara and bestie Lesley. These minions were kind enough to use the fondant to make the little decorations in the one mold that I had. Each of these little leaves, flowers, birds, and twigs then had to have the excess fondant cut off of it. Not to mention us all having our hands dyed from mixing the colors for the better part of a week. It's a process. A long one. 


The cake itself was an applebutter spice cake with nutmeg/cinnamon buttercream frosting (under all the fondant). I dislike fondant so I wanted to make sure the frosting that was going to be under it was really tasty, and it was. 


The recipe, taken from allrecipes.com: 

Ingredients

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
•  
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
•  
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup apple butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup whole bran cereal or wheat germ
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 eggs, beaten

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray or grease one 9x13 inch pan.
2. Prepare the topping by mixing together the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and chopped pecans.
3. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. Blend together butter and sugar; add eggs and beat well. Add apple butter, vanilla, wheat germ or bran cereal. Add sifted dry ingredients alternately with sour cream; mix well after each addition.
5. Pour 1/2 batter into pan, sprinkle 1/2 the topping over top. Pour remaining batter and top with remaining topping.
6. Bake for 40 minutes.

The frosting recipe is just one I always use as a go to. 

2 sticks butter (softened)

8 cups confectioner's sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup milk 

**I added a teaspoon of nutmeg and cinnamon to make it more fall-like**

Cream the butter until fluffy, add in vanilla. Once blended add in confectioners sugar (with the nutmeg and cinnamon if you want) and milk, alternating each. You can use more or less milk depending on your consistency preference. **I also used half and half instead of milk- you can use either one you prefer.**

It's certainly not the best cake that's ever been made, but it was my first time trying my hand at fondant, so I'm pretty proud of myself. And again, couldn't have done it would Lay and Tara.