A Las Vegas Wedding and a Last-Minute Cake
My brother went to Vegas last week and got married.
It’s not what you think. Elvis was not involved, nor was Mike Tyson, a tiger, or a wolf pack of any sort.
It was just him and his then-fiancé. They came home late Saturday night, and my family decided to have a nice barbeque lunch on Sunday. It was my dad’s idea to make a little wedding cake for them; something special to celebrate their marriage before they have a big bash later this month. Easier said than done, eh, Daddio?
I frantically started looking for recipes, decorating ideas, and templates. Most of the cakes that I found and loved served roughly two-hundred people and would require my starting to prepare it a week in advance.
When in doubt, go to Martha.
I found this Dreamy Coconut Wedding Cake on Stewart’s site and thought, that’ll do. L (my new sister-in-law) loves coconut as much as I do, so I thought a cake like this would work. I didn’t follow the recipe, but I surely tried to replicate the look, as best as I could…
…and it turned out lovely.
It was rich. It was creamy. It was chocolate.
It was bliss.
Here’s how it was done:
I made the cake, a double batch of this Double Chocolate Layer Cake (sans icing, or course), and rather than using two 8-inch pans, I used an 8, a 6, and a 3-inch spring form pan. There was enough batter left over to make eight mini-cupcakes. Once baked, I let the cakes cool in the pans and then covered them with plastic wrap and left them to sit overnight.
In the morning, I sliced each cake in half horizontally using thread (it cuts cleaner than with a knife) and trimmed the 6-inch cake around the edges to make a 5-inch cake. I placed one half of the largest cake on a cardboard cake round, covered it with coconut buttercream (see below), and then placed its significant other on top.
Next, I measured the height of this first tier and cut five wooden dowels (when I say I cut wooden dowels, I really mean C did it. No sharp objects for me, thank you very much) and placed them in the cake (one in the middle, four placed about two inches away from the centre, in a cross form). I repeated the process with the 5-inch cake placed on a 5-inch cardboard cake round, coconut buttercream, and three dowels in a triangle form. Lastly, I placed the smallest tier on a 3-inch cardboard round, smeared coconut buttercream on the first layer, and topped it with the other half.
I then filled two piping bags with the vanilla buttercream (see below) and cut off the end of the bag (about an inch up). First, I piped it around the edges of the cake and then used the rest to fill it in. I used an offset palette knife to spread it evenly, and then pressed sweetened flaked coconut into the entire cake (about 1 ½ cups). Afterward, I pressed large dried coconut ribbons into the cake, just to give it a little more texture. To finish, I wrapped three pieces of champagne coloured satin ribbon around the cake (at the bottom of each tier) and secured the edges with craft glue (not on the cake… just on the ribbon). I also added a little bow on the bottom tier.
Vanilla/Coconut Buttercream
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups salted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
6 cups icing sugar
1 tablespoon whipping cream + 2 tablespoons skim milk, hot
1 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
Instructions:
In a large bowl, whip butter and vanilla until light and creamy using an electric mixer. Add half of the icing sugar, beat on a medium speed until incorporated. Add the remainder of the icing sugar and beat on high until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the cream and milk mixture, one tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached. Set aside 2/3 of the buttercream (this will be used to cover the cake).
Add the coconut to the 1/3 of the buttercream and stir well (this will be used for the filling between layers).
