Wednesday, October 14, 2009

The Great Wedding Cake Project. . .purchase phase

So, there is still great indecision throughout the land about Tabitha and A.'s wedding cake (all on A.'s side. If it were up to Tab, she would have picked one of my original designs.) However, I figured I'd go forward with a post about the next phase of the project: the purchase phase (dun, dun, DUNNN!!!!)

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know I love wedding cakes, and that I even have a little plan for a side business involving baking. So, I know I need a lot of equipment to get this done. After research, I know exactly how much equipment, and that is a f@#kton. Yes, that is a proper baking term. Exhibit A: " . . . then add a f@#kton of flour, and stir until your arm falls off."

So, to further the education of my readership in the fine art of trying to bake wedding cakes, giving up and running to Jewel at 3am the night before to buy muffins, here is a short list of products needed to start the endeavor:

-1 large cake leveler - for leveling the tops of each tier, and splitting them into layers for filling.
-1 cake lifter - the surface you decorate the cake on is not its final resting place. This is for lifting the cake without getting finger prints all over it.
-1 wide glide rolling pin - This is the extra-wide rolling pin you need for rolling out large circles of fondant. Your normal wooden one ain't gonna cut it.
-1 set of 20" rolling pin guide rings - these are slipped onto the ends of your rolling pin to make sure you roll your fondant to a uniform thickness.
-1 roll and cut mat - This provides handy cutting guides for fondant circles that will fit your tiers.
-2 packages Ready-to-Use White Fondant
-1 Floral Collection Flower Making Set - This has all the cut-outs you need to make gum-paste or fondant flowers. Not all the tools you need, of course. Those are coming.
-1 Fondant Shaping foam set- This is a little square of smooth pink foam that you press your flowers into to create soft indentations and give them a 3-D effect. Nobody likes a flat flower, after all . . .
-1 10-pc Fondant/Gum Paste Tool Set - These are all the little ball-ended, hooked, pointed, rounded little tools you use to round and feather and shape your flowers. Yeah, it even gets more ridiculous.
-2 packages Ready To Use Gum Paste - Yeah, you can make your own. But, why?
-2 Non-stick 3-Tier Stackable Cooling Grid - Because I can't just cool these tiers on paper plates anymore.
-1 Decorator Preferred Round Pan Set - included is a 6", 10", and 14" pan.
-2 Heating Cores - Any cake 10" in diameter or more needs this metal heating core to make sure it bakes in the center evenly.
-1 professional turntable - This seems superfluous, but think about trying to turn a 14" cake on your own without it.
-1 easy glide fondant smoother - even the guys on Ace of Cakes use this. 'Nuff said.
-icing colors - depending on what colors the cake is going to be, I'll need multiples of these to tint the white gum paste and/or fondant.
-1 set of cardboard round separators - these go between the tiers, to provide support.
-wooden dowels of varying heights - each tier gets at least four to support the weight of the tier above, and one long dowel gets hammered through the center of all three tiers.
And, finally:
-1 pack of 24 disposable decorating bags - My Martha Stewart Cake Decorating set comes with a few, but not nearly enough for this.

Okay . . . so, if any of y'all have it in your heads to make your sister's wedding cake, or a friend's, or even your own to save money, take a look at the short list above. All together, the items on the list clock in at around $400. It's a good thing my sister only has to pay for flour, sugar, and eggs . . .



42 comments:

Kathy said...

Your blog is beautiful :)

Congratulations on your SITS day :)

love lives in the kitchen said...

hello and happy sist day! your blog is so beautiful and i simply love this wedding cake!
i'm hapy to be your new follower!
have a great day!
justyna

sweetjeanette said...

Congrats on being the featured blogger SITSTA!!!

sweetjeanette.blogspot.com

. said...

Mmm cake. :P Yum! Congrats on being today's featured blogger. Have a great day. :D

From SITS :)

Sara Elizabeth said...

Oh WOW! How cool. I just love cake design. That is a BEAUTIFUL cake sketch.

Happy SITS Day!

OKMom said...

I'm loving the softness of your blog. Avalon has always been a misty, magical word to me, and it seems you've captured the essence. Cake decorating is a chore! I did my own wedding cake, and I think next time I'll just pay up!

Take care now.

OKMom

La Belle Mere said...

Oooooh, I love you!!! You crack me up. And I love your style! Fabulous. You have a new follower.

I do live in England although the Victorians were a bit before my time! Oh and I LOVE Chicago.

Happy SITS day!

LBM xxx

mommakin said...

Ok, wow. Yeah, I'd say you'd BETTER go into a little side business after an investment like that. This is gonna be one gorgeous cake and one f@#kton of a labor of love. (Hope I used that technical term correctly).

Mesina said...

Congrats on your SITS day!! Oh I love baking, and cakes especially. I had thought a few years back to start my own buisness doing some cake decorating. I would love it! Sounds like you have quite the project ahead, how exciting! Good luck in your venture with it and most of all, have fun xx

A Healthier Me said...

Wow, that's a long list of stuff! I always thought it would be fun to learn to do wedding cakes, I;m rethinking that thought....

visting from SITS

MsTypo said...

Congrats on your SITS day!! :) I can't wait to check out your other posts. :) I for one will def not be trying to make a wedding cake - i think it'd be cheaper to buy one. *eek*

MrsM said...

Wow! At least if you're doing it for a business you can write all of that stuff off =)

Happy SITS day!

Elizabeth D. said...

Wow, that's all the stuff on my Christmas list this year! I, too, am hoping to start doing some baking as a business, and need lots of tools. And f*ckton is quite possibly my new favorite word, thank you! Happy SITS Day to you!

Mary K Brennan said...

Wow, and those baking shows make it look so easy! I think I'll stick to the boxed cakes for now.
Stopping by from SITS. Enjoy your day!

Valerie said...

Wow! I would feel so overwhelmed! I have watched those wedding cake shows and they make it look so easy. Congrats on being FB today! I hope you have a great SITS day!

Corrie Howe said...

Happy SITS day!. I love the vintage pictures around your site.

Jennifer C. Valerie said...

That is quite a list! Happy SITS Day!

Brandi said...

OOOH so lovely! :D I'm here via SITS : )

Queenie Jeannie said...

I can bake anything........but decorate? not so much!!! Bravo to you for taking on this challenge!!

Happy SITS Day!!!

JennyMac said...

I want to come to your wedding cake workshop! I have most of those tools! :) I LOVE to bake and wanted to make my own wedding cake...alas i was talked out of it by the master baker in our family but I still really wanted to...I hope you open your side business!

Pregosaur said...

Yikes! DIYing a wedding cake is a lot more expensive than it might seem like at first!

Christina Lee said...

Happy SITS day--oooh lots of things to go and read here now!

Cara said...

The cake is absolutely beautiful and the your victorian dress is TDF - I just moved into a 1880 Queen Anne Vitorian House and I am beginning to be insprired by all things Victorian. Stopping by from SITS.

Jenn

Jennifer Juniper said...

I never dreamed it would be so expensive to bake a wedding cake. I guess I feel better about forking over hundreds of dollars to the person who baked mine!

It's fun to watch this process, I tagged along when smitten kitchen baked a cake last year. It's involved!

Happy sits to you :)

Pam said...

Happy SITS DAy! Wow, baking wedding cakes is pretty ambitious. I'm in awe. The most I can do is brownies from a box. You go girl!

Karen said...

Wow, you have a lot of diverse interests. I've been scrolling through your blog. Love the venue for the wedding. It's always more fun when a wedding isn't at a traditional reception hall.

Karen and Gerard said...

Congrats on you SITS day! Looking for your favorite posts.

Anonymous said...

My SIL makes cakes for friends. I got to watch/help her when she made the wedding cake for my BIL. It was beautiful but I realized I would never want that pressure!

http://knit1kids4.wordpress.com/2009/07/22/wedding-cake-in-the-making/

Happy SITS day!

Jen said...

WOW!! That's crazy it costs so much! I wouldn't even know where to begin! I love watching all the cake shows, like Cake Boss and Amazing Wedding Cakes! Anyways, congrats on being today's Featured blogger on SITS!! Hope you enjoy your special day!

Jen

The Expatresse said...

Oh! Etsy! Off to check you out there.

P.S. Happy SITS Day.

P.P.S. I loved the Star Trek movie. I don't even like Star Trek, but I liked that movie a lot.

Unknown said...

Great Post. I love weddings myself but after I went through all my own indesicions with my own wedding I don't think I could handle doing everyone else's too. lOL

Happy SITS day my friend. Hope you have a great week.
Sheri
http://sherisstory.blogspot.com

Amanda @ Serenity Now said...

Happy SITS Feature Day! :) You have a really pretty blog! Love the list of cake tools. :) Who knew you needed so many to make a cake?! :)

Crafty Girls Workshop said...

Hey,
Stopping by from the SITS featured blogger e-mail. Did you know you are the SITS FB today!? You know, sometimes I think I would have loved to live in Victorian England too, especially the time of Jane Austen so I could wear pretty dresses, practice my embroidery and playing the pianoforte and flirt with cute guys who are shy and super courteous! Your blog is cute! I think I'll be stopping by again soon.

Anna
P.S. Costumes rock! I go to the Renaissance Festival almost every year in costume.

Dawn said...

Wow, that's a lot of equipment! My grandmother used to make/decorate wedding cakes-they were beautiful!

congrats on your SITS day! enjoy!

Jenny said...

Grats on your SITS day! :D

Unknown said...

Congrats on being the FB today :) Hope you have a wonderful day!

Anonymous said...

Congrats on being the FB @ SITS today. I had fun looking through your posts at random. Hope you're feeling much better after your trip to the dentist:D
I was blessed to have my sis make my wedding cake. For her, it's only a side job, but she loves it. Mine was 3 tiers with 2 side jobbies...a gorgeous basket-weave design with wee little roses and grape bunches...in white and ivory. Loved it. I'm sure your sis will treasure hers, as well!

Allison said...

Love the cake design. I agree that the tools can be SO expensive. Just making some more elaborate birthday cakes required a lot more equipment that I was planning for! Great Blog and hope you have a great SITS day!

Melissa B. said...

Congrats on your SITS Day in the Sun...but where is everyone else?

Stephanie Faris said...

Fondent makes cakes so pretty but I've never liked the taste of it. Is it just me? Maybe I just had a bad example of it.

One of my Hobby Blogs said...

you're obviously a wedding fan - so am I - wish I could get married again!! (sits)

Jenn Erickson said...

Beautiful design! Best of luck and lots of fun with your newest creative endeavor. If you need any help, troubleshooting, tips or just want to talk "cake", count me in. I'm a professional cake sculptor (well, actually I'm on hiatus, as I refocus my energy and creativity on my two young daughters), and often miss the "biz", so I relish the opportunity to chat with other cake art afficionados! You can see a sample of some of my previous work in the slideshow on my blog: www. rookno17.blogspot.com

Happy Caking! Jenn