Throwing a Party

My aunt and uncle recently celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.  My cousin decided to surprise them with a party.

He booked a party room at a local restaurant but wanted to make the cake on his own - with some help from me.  Neither of us had any real experience using fondant, but he had his heart set on finishing the cake with it.  After a couple of trial runs, we felt we were prepared to make a nice looking cake.

I ended up out of commission on Friday (getting over either a 24 hour bug or food poisoning – I’m not sure which but it wasn’t fun). 

PANIC!  We need to make cake!!

T saved the day by baking two of the three layers for us.  My cousin came after work  to bake the third layer, make the butter cream crumb coat and make the chocolate ganache filling.  By that point in the day, I was able to peel myself from the couch for small spurts so I was able to show him what he needed to do.  The day ended with 2 layers filled and crumb coated when we were supposed to be finished! 

EEEEK!!

We somehow managed to pull it out in the end on Saturday morning.

I found ribbon in my ribbon stash (I think it was from my wedding six years ago, even).  The leaves (dipped in melted beeswax) and roses were a last minute touch.  I felt it looked too plain and you could see any imperfections in the fondant (and that the ribbon was a little too short.  Shhhh.)

About a week before the party, he started to get nervous about decorations.  I went rummaging in my craft supplies and came up with a game plan – maroon and orange (not shown) fabrics on the cake and gift tables, a couple of potted mums off my front porch and mason jars filled with sunflowers from my garden for centerpieces.

It all came together perfectly and we had a fantastic evening celebrating a wonderful couple.

The best part?  The surprise didn’t get out.

Here’s to at least 25 more happy years!