Mental Preparation in Cake Town USA

I cannot catalogue my thought process becuase t'was a bit schizo, a lot manic, studious, focused, and downright a stream of consiousness. Though I try, I ain't no Virginia Wolf.

Instead, let's talk about math, numbers and π-- not to be confused with pie (mmm... pie).

Size: 120 people. 14", 10", 6" tiers. 4 layers per tier.

You must count on people being too drunk to eat cake. It is at the end of the night, so unfortunately not everybody is going to taste the cake.

Conversion charts: I converted tier volume (1/2πr*r*height) to number of slices, to amount volume batter needed, to recipe multipliers. If I lost you I settled on 4.5 times the Martha Stewart yellow cake recipes... 4.5*11c of batter... 49.5 c of batter.

Batches:
1 1/3 recipe for a 14 inch
2/3 recipe for a 10 inch
1/3 recipe for a 6 inch.

I also used 4 times the buttercream frosting recipe. Like my mom said, more is more. I used about 10 cups of curd. I used about 6 cups of lemon syrup.

I bought 6 dozen eggs, 38 sticks of butter, 4 boxes of cake flour, a bushel of lemons, bags and bags of frozen berries, cartons of fresh raspberries, 12 cake rounds, 3 cake boxes, 30+ straws.

In those days I became even more of a bag lady than I already am.



The day before the wedding I baked all the cakes and made the filling. I torted, assembled and frosted the crumb coat of the tiers.

The day of, I assembled and decorated.

And now more than a month after I studied the art of because a pastry chef, I have catalogued my endeavor because there aren't many chances in my life to make a wedding cake.

But enough: Let's get this cake started!