Operation Wedding Cake

Operation Wedding Cake is officially complete!

First, let me say a few words about wedding cakes. I love cake, especially wedding cake. I joke that I got married for the cake. However, Dio and I never had a formal wedding, so we never had the experience of picking out that special cake. (But we DID have cake. Two, in fact.)

Wedding cakes are so precious, and such an important part of a wedding ceremony, should you choose to have one. I had only experienced the guests side of the wedding cake experience before. Staring at it throughout the wedding, marveling at how pretty it was, and wondering when I could eat it. Now, on the other end, I realize how precious this confection is. How much care goes into making it. Through the entire process, through the stress, sleeping in the kitchen, dealing with the humidity, losing decorations, gathering new ones, getting stung on the tongue by a bee, and finally putting it all together, I kept reminding myself how much I love the people I made this cake for, and how I wanted to make this the most special, wonderful cake they had ever eaten.

All day, I felt like I was guarding something so delicate and precious. The relief and pride when I placed this cake in front of them was overwhelming. I laughed as the groom lifted it up for the entire room to see, and then I retreated to the outside of the building and quietly watched them cut the cake through a window, with a huge grin on my face.

This cake that was our gift to them on their wedding day.






















(Photo courtesy and copyright of Peter Paradise)



Immense thanks to Dio, Miss A, and my mother and father for putting up with me and helping me bake all those cakes.

And many blessings to Chaya Leia and Dave. I'm looking forward to remaking that top tier for them in a year, and watching it bring back the memories of that day.

Cake Teaser

This pretty much sums up my week (and my current mental state)...



Two of the coolest people I know are getting married this weekend, and I have the honor of making their cakes. The cakes are all, as of 30 minutes ago, finished and stored in my little freezer, ready to be transported to the wedding site and decorated tomorrow afternoon.















(Cakes are scary before they're dressed up for the table, huh? There are 3 12'' rounds, two 9'' and 6'' rounds, 4 9''x13'' white cake sheets, and 5 9''X13'' chocolate sheets crammed in that freezer, awaiting their doom. Their delicious, frosting covered doom.)


The coolest thing about this baking marathon? The tiered cake is gluten-free! Yep, you heard me. Gluten-free Banana Spice Cake (with a few spice modifications on my end, including the addition of about a tsp. of orange peel on Dio's suggestion, which adds a nice touch to the flavor), recipe courtesy of Karina's Kitchen. We made a test cake last weekend. Feedback was really positive.
I don't usually care much for gluten-free baking, but this cake was moist as can be and had a really good flavor (somewhere between banana bread and carrot cake). It was a really pleasant , and delicious, surprise, and I think the bride will really enjoy it. The groom too!

Green Goddess Casserole

Sorry it's been a while, but hopefully this weekend we'll have a big spur of activities, and I can catch up on past meals.

Last night I wanted a break from meat (I know, heresy!), but I still wanted something rich and satisfying that still had a bit of a homey taste. I'm from Ohio, so what better than a pasta bake? I had been interested in making my own Green Goddess dressing, and thought it would make a great sauce. Not the modern-hippy one, but one rich and savory where the herbs nicely off-balance the deep flavor of anchovies. I can't stand anchovies by themselves, but used in sauce, they're amazing! I keep a bottle of Thai West Fish sauce in my fridge, and use it quite often.

Green Goddess Casserole

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound pasta (rotini, shells, macaroni, anything you'd put in a bake. I used spinach and tomato rotini to add more depth to the recipe. And cause I already had it in my cupboard

For the Sauce

• 1 cup mayonaisse (home-made is best)
• 2 tablespoons anchovy sauce (I use Thai West Fish Sauce)
• 1 cup spinach, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup mixed fresh herbs (or 1 tablespoon dried, but fresh is much better for this). I used basil, chives and spring onions
• 1 egg

For the Tofu

• 1 brick of pressed seasoned tofu. Quickest and easiest is buying a pressed tofu like a five spice. They make a great one near us in Cambridge. Otherwise, you can use any recipe to press and marinate your tofu
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp mirin (or half tbsp white whine and half tbsp sugar)
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp ginger powder

The rest

• 3 cups spinach, chopped
• Two tomatoes, chopped
• 1 ball fresh mozzarella (about 5 oz.) chopped into half inch cubes
• 2 chugs Canola oil

Putting it together

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Make your pasta, following directions, for al dente.
3. In blender, add all ingredients for sauce. Blend on low until incorporated and sauce is a spring green color. Set aside.
4. Mix all ingredients for the tofu except the tofu itself in a bowl.
5. Cut tofu into half-inch squares. For me, this was cutting the block once vertically. For other tofus, twice. Add to bowl, toss to coat.
6. Put a chug of oil in the bottom of a pie plate, and swirl to cover. Add tofu, spread out as evenly as possible, and add to oven for half an hour, tossing every ten minutes.
7. When pasta is down, drain and shock under cold water. Add to 10" pie tin or 11x7 brownie pan. Add the spinach, tomatoes, mozzarella and sauce and toss to combine. On top add the tofu, pouring any marinade over top. Bake for 20 minutes.

Laa wants me to note that the tomatoes, chives and basil came from our garden. The extreme sweetness of home-grown tomatoes really added a nice note to the dish. Laa usually doesn't eat raw tomatoes, and she eats them! So I'd recommend getting as good quality tomatoes as possible.