Homemade Mini Wedding Cake

A wedding cake is not only the focal point of any reception, but a forever memory as the couple begins a life of their own. But, not everyone has a wedding cake. Couples that elope or get married on the spur of the moment while visiting far away places, sometimes later wish that they would have had a wedding cake of their own.

My son and his wife, both long-haul truckers (at the time), decided to get married in Las Vegas while both had trips taking them through that city. Now off the road and into other careers, my daughter-in-law mentioned one day that she always wanted a wedding cake, but never had one. It was easy to sense that this was something she really wanted, so I tucked it away in my memory bank and when their anniversary rolled around, I set out to create a small wedding cake for them.

As I'm not a professional cake designer, I had no idea that there were challenges and potential disasters that awaited me! I had a small cake pan, about 6 inches in across, and found a bake-proof soup cup perfect for the second layer. But, finding a container to bake the top cake layer was not so easy. Nothing seemed to fit! In desperation I thought maybe another soup bowl sized layer would work if I cut out a circle and placed that on top. Luckily, I stumbled on a small pan at a local craft store that worked great. Next I picked up some picks to embellish the cake in the bridal department of a craft store. So, bag in hand, I headed home to set out to create a mini-wedding cake.

Baking the cake was not difficult and posed no unexpected experiences. But, for some reason, the cake slid a bit and wound up looking more like the Leaning Tower of Pisa than a wedding cake! I put the cake in the refrigerator, thinking the icing would firm up with the cold environment. But, no, the cake kept sliding to an angle! Then, I placed it in the freezer for about 20 minutes, but that didn't improve the situation. The icing firmed up, alright, but now it was slanted with stiff icing!

Then a light bulb shown brightly in my brain, and I figured toothpicks would do the trick. Slanting the toothpicks here and there around the perimeter of the cake, I stepped back to take a look. The cake over-weighted the toothpicks and the cake remained on a slant! I was beginning to think this cake had a mind of its own or perhaps it was possessed! At wits end, I took three straws, cut them to cake height, and pushed the straws through all three layers! (Kind of like stabbing a wooden stake through the heart of a vampire!) But, that did the trick, and the cake was finally standing tall and straight!

Then I set out to embellish the cake with little roses, beads and sparkly decorations. Here's a picture of how the cake turned out. Success at last!