Yesterday I had the pleasure of making and assembling a 12-inch-tall, three tier wedding cake for a midnight wedding at Portland's Voodoo Doughnuts. The people who got married are close friends of mine, so finding the inspiration for the design wasn't difficult (having them give me free reign when it came to designing the cake helped, too). Certain components literally came to me in a dream; the remaining details were filled in after giving the project some thought. I was an art history major during undergrad, so I have a tendency to imbue creative projects with lots of symbolism. I find that doing so gives the work some personality and depth, and it keeps me connected to the days when I studied the subject.
The cake itself was Serious Business Pastries's own super moist gingerbread cake, which was then frosted with white chocolate. I chose the gingerbread to commemorate the time of year the couple got married (the first day of winter, the solstice), and white chocolate frosting because the pair avid snow sport enthusiasts. The rustic approach I used to apply the frosting to the cake — the swirling, the unevenness — is meant to evoke images of ski trails and snow that's seen a fair amount of recent activity. When you see the frosting as snow, the cake itself takes on a mountainous kind of quality; and so at the top of the mountain I perched two shortbread cookie star cutouts to represent the couple, and the trail of bright green and orange macarons — colors the couple likes — symbolizes the trail the couple blazed together to get to the top. (Plus, who doesn't love macarons?!?) The single trail of macarons, as opposed to two separate trails, suggests unity.
And there you have it: Serious Business Pastries first blogpost, and the business's first wedding cake.
Happy holidays!
