Making the perfect wedding cake means sweating the details, baker says

By Camille Blake

May 5, 2005 | After four hours of cooking cake layers, Megan Cowdin, pulls the last layer out of the 350-degree oven. Each layer takes only 30 minutes to bake, but there are eight layers to this wedding cake.

Cowdin, 20, starting decorating cakes when she took a cake decorating class with her sister last October. The course lasted for six weeks and she attended once a week. The course was split into three sections: birthday cakes, elegant cakes and advanced decorative occasion cakes. On completion of the class, she earned her cake decorating license. Out of 10 people, Cowdin and one other person made it through to the end of class.

"I think people don't have enough patience to decorate a cake to make it just right," Cowdin said. "Most people stopped coming after the birthday cake course.

In her cupboard, Cowdin has a plethora of cake pans: clowns, a football player, a pumpkin, a troll, a teddy bear and superman. She has about 10 of just plain square and round pans.

"Megan left work for two hours to take advantage of the sale at Michael's on wedding cake pans," said Carmelle Cox, co-worker. "I think she bought 10 pans."

In her kitchen, Cowdin has pictures of all the cakes she made in and out of class. On her fridge she has pictures of her making her first wedding cake.

First is the batter, next is all of the layers laying out cooling, then all of the layers frosted, then one of her stacking them, one picture of them stacked and last the final out come. Cowdin is standing by, showing off her accomplishment. The final product is a round three tiered, white cake with red frosting roses on the top two layers and the bottom tier tied with a red chiffon ribbon.

Of all the cakes she made during the class, Cowdin said her favorite one to make was the wedding cake.

"Wedding cakes just have the best out come and have the biggest achievement," said Cowdin. "Anyone can make a birthday cake.

Wedding cakes take the most time to make, said Cowdin. For a four tier cake, with each tier two layers of cake, mixing the batter, cooking and frosting it takes approximately 10 hours to complete. And that doesn't include the fondant icing.

A batch of fondant takes about 72 hours to make from scratch, said Cowdin.

But to make it easier, fondant can be bought in a box at any craft store. Out of the box, fondant looks like a white brick of clay. It is harder than regular frosting. The purpose of it is to make the cake look more elegant

"Fondant doesn't have a taste to it, but some people like it and some people don't. I personally don't like it," said Cowdin.

Before the fondant is situated on the cake, the two layers of a tier are frosted to make the fondant stick and then stacked. Cowdin then takes the brick of fondant and kneads it out with wooden paddles. If there is going to be color to it, she adds the color at this time. The flat, sheet of fondant is then positioned over the frosted tier. Cowdin then smoothes the fondant out in a circular, stroking pattern to get the air bubbles out. Taking the paddle the length of the rectangular tier and over the side, the fondant straightens out the cake and creases the edges and corner. Cowdin repeats this at least three or four times per tier, a process totaling about two hours. The excess fondant is cut off the bottom. This cake is going to be for her sisters wedding in a couple of days.

"If I were to make my own wedding cake, I would do a square cake because they look more elegant. It would have four tiers in descending order, biggest at the base, of course. I would have fresh red roses topping the cake, with red ribbon and silver beads streaming down the cake," said Cowdin.

The cake for her sisters wedding will have three round tiers, with yellow fondant. It will be bordered with quarter sized mirrors, with fresh white daisies topping it. This is the second wedding cake she has made.

Cowdin said she would like to go professional with her wedding cakes, but she just needs to get some more experience behind her. She is well on her way. She said another of her sisters is getting married in three weeks and she is making a cake for her, a co-worker asked her to make his wedding cake and one of her cousins ordered a cake from Cowdin.

"It would be just a fun side job to have. I really want to be a stay-at-home mom, but I couldn't depend on it for my sole income," said Cowdin.

According to Wedding Cakes and Cultural Histroy, by Simon R. Charsley, wedding cakes are a showpiece, a symbol of something to be remembered forever. The wedding cake today has its origins about a hundred years ago, in a confection that commemorated the marriage of one of Queen Victoria's daughters in 1859. The layers were stacked like hat boxes. Cakes were considered a symbol of well being by early American cooks on the east coast, with each region of the country having their own favorites.

The traditional wedding cake is a three-tiered vanilla confection with white icing, a miniature bride and bridegroom on top and lots of buttercream roses. But, cakes today are much more creative and a personal expression of style and come in a variety of shapes, flavors and decorations, said Charsley.

Cowdin has a little secret recipe to her cakes. If the wedding cake is not going to be served to everyone, she will make it out of rice crispies.

"If no one is going to eat is besides the bride and groom, I usually offer to make it out of rice crispies," said Cowdin. "It is cheaper and easier to make. Plus, it's pretty tasty. And transporting and stacking is a lot less complicated.

Amy Zesiger, Cowdin's sister, said watching her stack tiers is like watching someone building a house out of cards.

"She'll get eye level with the bottom tier and bring the next tier right over the top. She brings the tier down so slow you would think it was the most valuable thing in the world," said Zesiger.

"Stacking the tiers is the hardest part about the cake. You can't stack it till you take it to where the reception is," said Cowdin.

She puts cardboard underneath each tier to help keep its shape. Once the cake is all in place, she will add fresh flowers to it, or whatever has been requested to top it. If something should happen and it's not stacked just right, Cowdin takes out her travel kit containing extra frosting and wooden dowels to help lift the tier off. So far, she hasn't had any terrible accidents happen.

"Megan is pretty good at making wedding cakes and I am impressed she even finished the class," said Zesiger. "She really seems to enjoy her new found hobby and I hope she goes far with it.

If Cowdin were to go professional she would want to name her business "Cake Customs," or "Cowdin's Creations.

"My husband came up with Cake Customs, and I really liked it," said Cowdin. When she is not making cakes, Cowdin likes to play with her black Labrador, Snoop, work on finishing her house and going running with her husband. She lives in Wellsville and said there isn't much else to do out there. Maybe someday, she said she would like to move to Salt Lake, or St. George.

MS
MS