I have always loved pretty cakes, but could never figure out how to replicate one myself. I recently started Wilton Course 1 and it was great. I friend of mine announced (with ten days notice) that she was getting married. She not so subtly commented that she was going to get a Spongebob cake from Walmart and scratch the words off. This, of course, drove me crazy. We looked a some pics online and found something SIMPLE that I felt I could replicate with some level of success. 

Something along these lines, but with only two tiers, and 8" and a 10". The only pans I had in that size were 3" rounds I had never used before and due to time limitations there wasn't really time for much of a test cake. She wanted blue ribbon at the bottom of each tier and roses instead of daisies. I had make fondant roses, but this cake was to be entirely buttercream.  I hit YouTube and tasked myself with learning to make a rose. This was my first one. It irritated me that the edges of the petals were frayed looking, but she loved it.

So I changed to blue.

Cake Central, Google, and some playing supplied me with some great recipes for cake mix. I wanted to ensure the bottom tier (which was to be chocolate) was moist but dense to support the weight of being stacked. Now I wish I had written down the changes I made because it came out incredible! It was two 3" layers of very fudgey chocolate with some buttercream in between them. I baked on Monday and froze the cakes, then took them out Wednesday and leveled and crumb-coated the chocolate and put it in the fridge for 24 hours. (The blonde is the daughter of the bride and groom who was thrilled to be my helper and official taste-tester!)

The top layer was a white cake with a chocolate ganache filling (that I had never made before but came out super tasty.

That one came out amazing without a crumbcoat, so one layer and it went to the fridge until I was ready for final touches.

The couple requested one yellow roses on top to symbolize a son they lost. I was so proud of how it came out (Thanks to a Cake Central tip to put corn syrup in the icing!) I used my new, super huge rose tip. since it was way too big for my flower nail I used wax paper held to the bottom of a drinking glass with double-sided tape.

Here are both tiers, leveled, stacked, iced, and with the ribbon on and dowels in.

Oh, did I mention I also had to make 40 white and 40 chocolate cupcakes, all filled with chocolate ganache? To say the least, it was a VERY BUSY 5 days of prep!

The finished cake!

The actual stacking didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped. The top tier ended up with a finger hole in the back and was not centered, but no one but me noticed. I will need to do a bit of research and practice before I ever do that again for such a monumental cake.

The view from the top

Cutting the cake:

And, in true tribute to my masterpiece, it ended up smeared up a nose!

My cuticles are dyed blue, there is confectioners sugar stuck to every surface in my kitchen, and my veins are pumping buttercream from multiple tastings when making each batch. My shoulders ache and my carpal tunnel is throbbing. However, the cake was super moist and tasty, the cupcakes disappeared instantly, the bride and groom loved it, and I got to play a special role in a dear friend's day. 

While I wanted to pull my hair out many times in the last week, I would do it all again in an instant!

AWelcome to the world of being a baker/decorator!

We will do it over & over...we love it & we love to hate it.