Leon & Veronica's 25th wedding anniversary was the first I've ever attended (still looking good, you two!) and it was beautiful, with singing and dancing presentations from their talented nephews and nieces but the most entertaining and warming presentation was from their three kids who re-enacted scenes from their first meeting. My favorite was the 'The Most Awesome Proposal In The World', something like that. I was probably the one who laughed the loudest in the ballroom of over 300 people.
And so we did it, decorated 328 cupcakes and a topper cake in one day. I wouldn't have been able to do it if not for my friends E, A, and L. I started around 9 am while A came about an hour later and the others before lunch time. We worked so hard that we forgot about lunch (Hub bought some buns but nobody stopped to eat). I had planned to deliver the cakes (this part I hate; I didn't know that I'd have to deliver) by 4 or 5 pm so that the silver couple can take photos of my piece de resistance before the guests arrive but a near-disaster happened at 2:30 pm.
A is the expert in sugarpaste cakes, at least among us, but she got the flu early in the week so she couldn't make the covering fondant on Thursday as planned. She had made 1 kg of fondant on Monday for me to make flowers. So I had to get commercial fondant from the stores. Commercial 'rolled fondant' is soft, pillowy and very pliablet. At RM10 a kg, commercial fondant is affordable and SO much easier to use than home-made fondant. With home-made fondant, I could make a small rose in 8 to 10 minutes but with commercial fondant, which doesn't need much kneading, I could get the same thing done in 2.5 minutes.
The near-disaster came when A draped the covering fondant! over th e tall (3 x 8" round cakes, stacked) American-style prune buttercake. The fondant immediately pulled off at the edge of the cake top, leaving a piece of jagged-edged fondant on the top while the rest of the fondant fell around the cake on the counter. We were stunned! I would have cried if I was the only one doing the job.
A suggested we cover the cake with Swiss buttercream but the butter needed to thaw and the icing would melt if the completed cake was not chilled, L suggested royal icing but I haven't made that in years plus it needs to harden. I decided to make our own covering fondant, even at that late stage, because A and I have made fondant before and it was better to go with something we know.E ran to the nearest cake ingredients shop to get liquid glucose but she also got a kg of imported fondant (lifesaver!) but upon kneading, it was crumbly and dry, opposite of the other fondant. Arggghh! Into the machine went the newly bought crumbly fondant, the salvaged soft fondant and lots of icing sugar. A draped the new fondant over the cake (reduced to 2 stacked cakes now) and we waited, silent and holding our breaths. The fondant didn't pull away. By then it was about 4 pm. 1/4 of the cupcakes were still not done because of the fuss over the failed fondant.
What have I learnt? 1) Decorating 328 cupcakes and a main cake on the same day is asking for trouble! i should've covered the main cake the night before as planned. I couldn't because I couldn't find 6" round cake boards in the stores for stacking the main cakes. 2) Delivery is part of the deal (I didn't know that) and thank God I got last minute help from friends and their wonderful kids! 3) I have wonderful friends who didn't complain and instead said they enjoyed themselves. Love you ladies!
We didn't cut the tops of the cakes at first and that resulted in gaps between the cakes and the fondant.
The top cake was covered in ivory colored fondant, flowers were made with home-made fondant.
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