Wedding Cake: The Vision

Although I've never heard of anyone craving the taste of wedding cake, the visual presentation of one is typically part of the American wedding reception. You've probably consumed several, and I imagine that most looked better than they tasted. Over the next couple of days, I'll be working on baking and decorating one for the wedding of a friend of mine, so while I wait for things to simmer, set, whip or bake, I'll be posting about the process. Hopefully, the end result will please both the eye and the palate. Neither you nor I may find out about of the second, as I'm a vegan and you're only experiencing it electronically (with the possible exception of some New Hope-ers).

So first: the vision. The bride wants the cake to reflect that of her parents, so it is a three-tier square cake. However, her parents' had pillars and an overabundance of frosting; she's decided to go with a "less-is-more" look, and rightly so, in my opinion. The plan is for a bottom tier 16" square, yellow cake with raspberry filling. The middle will be 12" square, chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling, and the top will be 8" square, same flavors as the bottom. It will be frosted in an ivory-colored frosting, flavored something butter-almond-vanilla-esque. Each layer will have a ribbon, pink or green, around it, and I'll festoon it with fresh flowers coordinating with those of the bridal party's once I get there.

Now: planning. I had never made a raspberry filling, so it seemed wise to make a test-run batch well in advance. But, what does one do with raspberry filling and no cake? So, I made a vegan lemon cake for my birthday, and the raspberry filling was fully approved by those who tried it. If you're surprised at the idea of a vegan cake, you might be interested to know that it is actually a post-Depression era recipe designed to save money. It was a disaster the first several times I attempted to make it, but the problem was my own illiteracy: baking powder and baking soda are not freely interchangeable. But, once done correctly, the final product was tasty and fluffy, and no actual cows or chickens were harmed in the making. The lemon was a great complement to the raspberry filling, and I iced it with vanilla frosting and garnished with fresh raspberries and lemon zest. Sorry, no pictures, but if needed, I can provide references from carnivores who went back for seconds.

Vegan Lemon Cake Recipe
Ingredients:
1 large lemon (juice and rind)
1 1⁄2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
6 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. vinegar (Yep, vinegar, but I promise you, you won’t taste it.)
1 tsp. vanilla
Water

Preheat oven to 350°.
Put flour, sugar and baking soda into a mixing bowl. Mix them together fairly well.
Then grate all your lemon rind into a measuring cup. (I find this is lots easier using a large liquid measure. I just lay the grater over the liquid measure and the rind falls in.)
Then, take your already sorely abused lemon, cut it in half and squeeze the juice from both halves into your measuring cup.
Next add water to your rind and lemon juice until you have filled one cup.
Pour your lemon juice mixture into your bowl of dry ingredients.
Add oil.
Add vanilla.
Add vinegar.
Mix well.
Mixture will foam.
Pour into an ungreased 8 inch cake pan. Bake 25 minutes, or until cake bounces back a bit when you touch its center.


Raspberry Filling Recipe
Serves/Yields: 3 1/2 cups
Prep. Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes

2 12 ounce packages of frozen raspberries (not packed in syrup)
1 1/3 cups water
1 1/2-2 cups granulated sugar (or to taste. 2 cups will be pretty sweet)
2 T of lemon juice (optional)
5-6 T of cornstarch dissolved in 1/2 cup of water

In a saucepan combine the raspberries, water, sugar, and lemon juice. Bring to boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the raspberries have broken down. Remove the mixture from the heat and strain with a fine mesh sieve. (I found that using the back of a ladle to rub the mixture through the sieve helped encourage more fruit to come through. I also like it with some seeds, so I didn't try too hard for a thorough job). Return the strained mixture to the heat. Dissolve the cornstarch in 1/2 cup of water. Whisk the slurry into the raspberry mixture. Bring the mixture back to a boil and simmer for 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and cool completely. It will take awhile to set up. It will thicken like a jelly. May stir it for easier spreading on cake.

NB: At no point should you leave the raspberry mixture simmering while you go upstairs to try to set up a photo scanner so you can have a picture of the bride's parents' wedding cake in your blog post. Your attempts to scan will fail, and your raspberry filling will boil out all over the stovetop in a syrupy, sugary mess.