I Dream of Wedding Cake

I am a list person. I make lists almost everyday. Sometimes I make multiple lists in a day. I love outlining and planning and most of all checking things off! There's just something so satisfying about placing a check-mark beside an accomplished task. Sometimes I'll even write down something I got done that wasn't originally on my list, and then check it off with added flare, simply 'cause it feels so good!

A few months after the initial shock of turning 25, I decided to make a list of things I wish to do in the next 25 years of my life. The list holds monumental goals (like getting married or something craaaazy like that) as well as more fluid & continual goals (like growing in my artistry & such). One of the things I added to the list was one I envisioned happening in the latter part of my next 25 years. Make a Wedding Cake.

Little did I know, my goal would be reached over the course of my next year... three fold! (side note: I enjoy seeing how a couple's cake reflects them in some way, shape, or form... or taste!)

The first time I was asked, I was pretty amazed. Heck, all three times I was shocked. But the first time was like a punch unaware. A really sweet punch. Like a fruit punch!! It was for a fellow & his fiancee-to-be (for they had not even gotten engaged when I was asked!) in my community that I had grown to love and appreciate very much over the years. It was during my time with this community that my baking really flourished, so it was very fitting that my first wedding cake was for someone within that group. 

Now I don't know how you feel about it, but making a wedding cake is kind of a crazy experience... at least to me. It's not your typical easy-bake-oven-40-minute-stress-coping-mechanism. It's a process. A long one. I am still surprised that I said yes. More often than not, if a task seems even the tiniest bit beyond my capabilities, I treat the offer as though someone's offering me drugs and I just say no. But I think it was a combo of the list I had recently made along with the encouraging community I was surrounded by that compelled me to say yes.

So after hours and days and months of research I decided this puppy needed a trial run. So I had an open house shindig, which I appropriately dubbed "Let's Eat Cake!" I literally invited everyone on my facebook friend list to come over and eat cake. And the people came!! I was only left with a few pieces left, which were consumed by more cake lovers the following day.

("Let's Eat Cake!" Party... Bottom- chocolate peanut butter, Middle- cookies & cream, Top- champagne with raspberry and french butter cream)

Once I had my practice round, I was ready for the real deal. And let me just say that the toughest part about making a cake like this is the transportation. Every bump makes me wince and when I open the box at my destination I hold my breath. This one made it all the way to the coast... thankfully in one piece (well, technically three tiers... but later put together in one piece!)

 (I know it's a ghetto pic, but I really wasn't thinking to take a picture of it until I was already seated far, far away. Champagne cake with raspberry... so festive for a wedding!)

After checking that off my to-do list, I felt pretty good. But then!! Dun, dun, dunnnnn... I was asked again by another friend. This time double the guests. So this baby popped out (along with a sheet cake).

 (My first baking endeavor with foliage... their colors were fun! Plus we used their family's homemade raspberry jam in one of the fillings!)

And while this task was a bit more exhausting, physically... I was so excited to be a part of my friend's celebration in a yummy way!! That's pretty much the only thing that kept me going. And the fact that I couldn't really just show up without the cake. What kind of wedding would that be?!

Just when I thought it was time to hang up my baker's hat, a life long friend married his bodacious bride... and I got to make their cake!! Had you told me as a child that I'd be making the wedding cake for the boy who played Moses in the church musical, I probably would have stared at you and then laughed nervously (like I always did as a shy Indian child... I still do).

(I love the ribbon that the bride chose for this cake! Plus the pumpkin cake & cream cheese filling and dark chocolate mocha filled cakes... yum!)

The gifts & skills we have may not make a whole lot of sense at a given time, but every now and then the desires of our heart paired with our abilities super-align with the life surrounding us and things happen, almost out of the blue. We don't realize what's going on until we're in the thick of it. We take pictures because it's our passion and people smile at our work. We bake 'cause we love it and enjoy sharing it with those we love. We dance because we can't sit still. As long as we're using what we have, I think we're in a good place. You can't move forward unless you're moving to begin with. So move! Use those gifts. Bake that cake! Sing that song! Paint that wall! And when more opps arise, refrain from discrediting yourself immediately... ponder it, and if it sits right with you... DO IT! You never know what will come of it all.

I often joke about "how old" I am, but seriously it's so neat that I was given such an opportunity in the baking realm so early in life. The really cool thing is that I actually said yes and did them. That is a big deal. I'm glad it happened.

I'm super thankful & humbled by it all. Viva los pasteles!!