Eloise & Colin Wedding Week: the Cake
It makes such a brief appearance at the reception, and yet it looms so large, in more ways than one.
No, not the maid of honor’s speech. That’s another story. (And Eloise is afraid. She is very afraid.) I’m talking about that cake.
So, for Eloise’s wedding cake, I turned to my favorite cake expert, Francine Crawford, who provided Eloise and Colin with this carnation-themed extravaganza:
It does the Pink Carnation proud, no?
Just in case something should happen to the first cake (this IS Eloise, after all), Sharlene suggested two others:
Sadly, neither of those made it to the reception. Turnip appropriated the first for a waistcoat. As for the second– after a couple of glasses of champagne, Pammy mistook it for a hat.
Eloise’s mother was a bit worried about what Eloise might wind up with left to herself, so she consulted with Clara of Clara’s flowers, who came up with these options, two in classic white:
One with a beautiful cascade of flowers designed by Clara:
And one which Clara describes as “a proper English cake stuffed full of hydrangeas, peonies, stephanotis, roses and sweet peas!”
Naturally, Eloise is now wondering whether there were spies named “the Sweet Pea”, “the Peony”, or, possibly, “the Stealthy Stephanotis”.
But here’s the real question, folks…. Flavors.
What do you think is inside that gorgeous, carnation-decked cake? Vanilla, chocolate, red velvet, carrot cake? Gingerbread? (Colin is a Miles descendant, after all.) Or has Eloise gone traditional and opted for an old school fruit cake?
One thing is for sure. There’s raspberry jam in there somewhere. Because Turnip says so.
Do you have other cakes to recommend for Colin and Eloise?
(For more cake fun, I was trying to find a 2012 post I wrote for the Ballroom Blog about historical wedding cakes, including an 1806 wedding cake recipe. But, sadly, it seems to have disappeared into the electronic ether.)
I say it must be strawberry cream.
If Turnip says so, then it is a certainty isn’t it?
I hope this link works: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/496662665129912389/
All of the wedding cakes I have encountered, with only one exception, have been very heavy, dark fruitcakes. As I only enjoy light fruit cakes and very much dislike the heavy ones, I have always felt very let down by wedding cakes. They look gorgeous but taste nasty and bitter. The one exception was an Italian wedding I went to where the wedding cake was a big pyramid of caramel profiteroles, which was dismantled and eaten as dessert. I really enjoyed that one!
We had raspberry lemon cake for our wedding, so that is my vote!
That sounds divine, Kiki! Lucky you!
They can be anything inside except that horrid white cake so often used by bakeries. Gingerbread or Carrot Cake both sound yummy! And the cascading roses cake, second from the bottom, seems just perfect for Eloise.
I hope it’s almond cake! (Delicious.)
I always like almond flavored cake with buttercream frosting, there could be fresh strawberries or raspberries in there too 🙂
Carrot cake is my absolute favorite, but doesn’t go with raspberry jam. Perhaps there can be a children’s cake ?
I think she did what we did and each layer was a different flavor. Trying to please everyone. Incidentally, the only wedding cake I ate at my reception was the piece my husband shoved in my face. So very very little. And I had seriously asked him not to. He’s still not sorry.
I think it’s alternating raspberry and chocolate layers, maybe a white layer too. Those cakes are all great, but the first picture is absolutely perfect!
I also went with different layers being different flavors but that did not get communicated to the cake cutters so everyone was surprised each time a new layer was cut. We also had a groom’s cake of chocolate with chocolate frosting since that is what my husband wanted. They did cut my favorite flavor first, which was cherry vanilla, so I got one slice of that. But it is very hard to eat in a wedding dress!
Almond cake,the best! Hope the link works. The 1st cake, English Rose.
http://www.prettyamazingcakes.co.uk/wedding-cakes-floral-bristol-gallery1
Love the English Rose cake as a second to the carnation cake. And almond cake is the best – so light.
Yes, almond cake. With raspberry filling.