Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Cake Tuesday: pie.

I love making delicious cakes for other people, but 99.999 times out of 100 I'll choose pie, personally.

So this wedding was pure heaven (times SIX): Southern pecan (with a splash of Baker's bourbon); coconut cream, heavy on the coconut; lemon meringue, with a base of pure rich curd; apple galettes glazed with thyme syrup; mixed berry, with three local berries still in season; and finally fresh pumpkin, with a crystallized ginger crust.

HEAVEN.

This couple was passionate about organic ingredients, which is how they found me in the first place. They raise chickens and ducks, and keep bees, and farm all sorts of fruits and vegetables. They even raised a pig and a lamb for their wedding reception. Before you raise your eyebrows at this, consider what you've been served at weddings - do you know the origins of everything (anything?) on your plate? I was told that they toasted the animals before the meal, explaining that they were raised with love to be enjoyed gratefully and joyfully. It was a privilege to be part of a wedding for two people so committed to local, organic, responsibly-managed food. And of course there was cake.

Three tiers wrapped in white chocolate, then decorated fresh flowers mixed with sugar poppies, a few butterflies, and BEES! The bees were on spiraled wires, and it was such a windy day they were absolutely buzzing and swaying around the cake. It was a really neat effect and fit in perfectly with the natural beauty of the vineyard.