Succulent Wedding Cake

I must admit that when a bride approached me with the idea of putting succulents on her wedding cake, I wasn't sold on the idea. I had no idea if they were even "safe" to use and had difficulty finding any examples online. After extensive research, I learned that they were non-toxic and would then be okay to use. I still wrapped all the clipped ends in floral tape, just in case.

This cake was a true test of my patience. Turns out, I still have some left. Who knew? I made a double batch of almond champagne cake (recipe to follow), wasn't paying attention, and used baking SODA instead of baking POWDER. I decided to bake it anyways and find out what happens....... Both cakes were baked at the same temperature and were not overcooked. The cake on the left had the baking soda and the one on the right was cooked correctly with the baking powder. The whole place smelled like pancakes! Not ideal when you're baking a cake. I basically had to start over. This was a very long baking day.

With hopefully all the mishaps behind me, we forged ahead with cake assembly. The bride wanted white on white cake. I was able to talk her into lemon buttercream. Flavor is huge with me and I don't often do plain anything, unless I have to.

I also made a lemon mousse filling in addition to lemon buttercream and covered the cake in white fondant. I also saturated each layer of the cake with vanilla bean simple syrup to add moisture and flavor.

The bottom edges of the cake were finished with a turquoise ribbon and set in the fridge to chill.

Finally, the wedding day had come. I couldn't wait to set it up and hope that everyone loved it. The wedding toppers were made by the bride's daughter, Shannon, out of sculpty clay. She also helped me make the cake, every step of the way, and was a ton of help!

I supplemented with silvered thistles to the succulent bouquet. It maybe be the first and hopefully not last time I use thistles on anything. I find them very interesting looking.

Champagne Cake Recipe
(from allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS:
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (I used caked flour)
3 tsp. baking powder (NOT soda, lol)
1 tsp. kosher salt 
2/3 cup butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup champagne (I used almond champagne)
                                                                                 6 egg whites
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 10" round cake pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until very light and fluffy. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together, and then blend into creamed mixture alternately with champagne. (I also added 1 tsp. of vanilla)
3. In a large clean bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. (I also add 1/2 tsp. of meringue powder). Fold 1/3 of the whites into batter to lighten it, then fold in remaining egg whites. (it's extremely important that you incorporate the whites completely into the batter). Pour into prepared pan.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Also, a rule I make a point to bake the cake a day before I assemble it. The cake is wrapped completely in saran wrap and refrigerated overnight. This helps retain more of the moisture and makes it less crumbly to work with. I also don't give out my recipes (unless you're a really, really good friend) but here are the ingredients that I used in the other components of the cake:

Vanilla Bean Simple Syrup
white sugar
water
vanilla bean, split and scraped
pinch salt
mint leaves
lemon zest and juice

Lemon Buttercream
Balade butter
powdered sugar
lemon zest and juice
half and half
lemon sea salt