A cake dilemma
I need any advice I can get!
Friends are celebrating their wedding at their ranch in Northern California. Rather than having a wedding cake, they have asked several of us to bring cakes—so while they won’t be traditional wedding cakes, it would be best if they weren’t completely casual either. Here’s the problem though: guests, including us, are arriving a day early and camping out on the property, where temperatures range from pretty cool in the night to very hot in the afternoon. My best solution, I think, is to make a cake in its entirety, freeze it, and let it thaw gradually in a cooler over the day or so. Any additional, final decorations would have to be pretty minor. Help! Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Cake Bible doesn’t cover situations like this one!
18 Comments
Go to a kitchen supply store. rent a "cold box." Buy some dry ice. Ask a caterer for advice.
I agree about making a cake that does not need to be frosted. Or buy an "ice cream ball," (LL BEAN used to sell them...) and serve your cake a la mode a la minute. Or make a fruit caramel with butter, not cream, and that could be a lovely garnish.
Or make a dutch oven cake the night before the wedding, at your campfire. Tricky! Impressive! but careful - don't upstage the bride with your inventiveness...
Good luck and cheers to the happy couple!
Good luck and cheers to the happy couple!
I've brought chocolate truffle tarts or alternatively dense, rich brownies to picnics. I pack up an Isi cream whipper (along the lines of Phil's suggestion to bring Reddi Whip). People get a real kick when I break it out and attach the cartridge and they get to "decorate" their own portion with whipped cream. If there's going to be refrigeration this could work!
I'm still considering all your advice, I'll welcome more, and I will definitely report back in.
I don't have more ideas beyond what you suggested for the cake in the (variable) weather.
Maybe write to experts - the great RLB herself, Wilton, King Arthur, Mary Berry in the UK - for advice.
PS are there caterers for this wedding...maybe they have some chiller capacity. Also, is anyone coming in an RV with electricity...etc etc