I love to bake, and I’m frequently asked to bake cakes and cookies for all sorts of special occasions. It’s long been something I enjoy and has become more than “just a hobby” – although nowhere near “I’ll make a full living doing this!" It’s been fun to challenge myself, learning new things and letting my techniques grow over time.
Last September, a couple asked me if I would make their wedding cake for this past weekend. I didn’t hesitate, as I always feel honored when someone asks me to play a part in their special day. They knew exactly what they wanted for the cake flavor: Pink Champagne! Apparently, it was a family favorite growing up and this bit of nostalgia was what they were craving. I was completely unfamiliar with it, so I scoured recipes, tried a few, mixed and matched ingredients and finally came up with a recipe I thought would be the best for them to sample. When they tried their tasting cake – with Pink Champagne in both the cake as well as the buttercream – they were thrilled with the result!
We talked over the details and while they agreed it should be all pink on the inside, they definitely wanted the outside buttercream frosting to be white. Since the Pink Champagne adds subtle flavor but not color, this was not an issue. And, yes, it was buttercream – not fondant – that they had in mind. Since I’m not a big fan of fondant, I was pleased with that request!
Their wedding was going to be black-tie formal, so the cake needed to fit into the black and white theme. They also wanted the cake to be a focal point at their reception, which was going to be in a beautifully renovated Art Deco-style building. They were looking for something dramatic, but with a sort of understated elegance. To that end, they didn’t want any floral embellishments or fancy add-ons; they wanted the cake to stand on its own. After discussing several design options, we decided on an embossed quilted diamond pattern around the sides of the tiers and across the top.
With notes in hand, I sketched up a cake plan for them to review.
Their wedding cake had begun to come to life! They gave me the thumbs-up on the design and proportions. They also gave me the contact information for their caterer so she and I could coordinate whatever details were necessary along the way.
Now, fast-forward to April 2025. The couple scheduled a walk-through of the venue that included themselves, their caterer, their DJ and me. It was a stunning location! We made some decisions on how things would be set up and, still wanting the cake to be a focal point, they decided to locate it on this beautiful entryway table, where the guests would walk by it as they were welcomed into the reception with a glass of Champagne. Okay… no pressure at all!
Now it came down to the final logistics of making a three-tier cake in my kitchen! I had done two tiers before, but this was definitely going to need a little extra planning. Luckily my building had a chest freezer that was not currently in use and I was able to freeze the cake layers as I made them. Each tier was going to consist of four layers. I always bake an extra layer because “you never know”, so I had five 6” layers, five 9” layers, and five 12” layers. With the wedding on a Saturday, I baked the layers early the week before, wrapped each one tightly, and froze them. Doing this while the cake is still slightly warm keeps them nice and moist. On Wednesday evening, I cleared out my refrigerator of anything that didn’t absolutely require deep chilling and could do well in coolers with ice packs. Things like dairy and produce remained in the door sections and drawers, but things like pickles, BBQ sauce, jams, and maple syrup were packed up and kept cold in the coolers. As for wine, beer, sparkling water, and such… I figured I could let them stay at room temperature and put them back later.
I made several (many!) batches of buttercream on Thursday, both pink for filling between the layers as well as white for frosting the outside of the cake. Because the cake was going to have that quilted diamond pattern embossed onto it, this buttercream had to be an American Buttercream, which develops a bit of a “crust” on the outside. It’s the confectioners sugar in American Buttercream that creates that crusted surface.
As you can see, I use a lightly-dampened kitchen towel draped over my mixer to help keep the confectioners sugar from spewing all over my kitchen when I make American Buttercream! It really does help keep the sugar dust at least somewhat under control.
After the buttercream was made, I decided to assemble and frost the 6” tier. I pulled the 6” layers from the chest freezer, filled the layers with pink buttercream, leveled out the tier, and “crumb-coated” it. Once it had set up in the fridge for about 30 minutes, I then frosted the entire tier with white buttercream, smoothed it, and returned it to the fridge.
Once frosting the 6” tier was complete, I pulled the cake layers for the 9” and 12” tiers, filled the layers with pink buttercream, leveled the tiers, and crumb-coated them.
You can see the completely frosted 6” tier on the top right. While the camera angle makes it look somewhat asymmetrical, you’ll see in the final photo that it’s perfectly level across the top!
On Friday, I finished frosting the 9” and 12” tiers. Since these two tiers were going to support the tier above it, I needed to insert stabilizers to facilitate that support. I use boba tea straws for the stabilizers. On top of the 9” tier, I outlined a circle where the 6” tier would eventually be placed. The recommendation is generally one stabilizer for every inch of diameter being supported; I always add one more for the center. So, in this case, I inserted one straw in the center and 6 straws surrounding it, all within the border of that 6” circle. I did the same for the 12” tier, using ten straws to support the 9” tier. Once the tiers were stabilized, I frosted each tier with white buttercream, smoothed it, and returned them to the fridge.
Since the quilted diamond pattern is usually something done on a fondant-covered cake, I needed to make sure the surfaces were as smooth and blemish-free as possible. I kept reading about the “Viva paper towel method” for smoothing American Buttercream, giving a clean, matte finish similar to fondant. I tried it, loved it, and wanted to share it with you here.
The reference to “Viva” paper towels is because this brand is one of the few (if not the only) paper towel that has no embossing on one side. It’s also a very sturdy paper towel, nearly cloth-like.
You can see in the photo that the sheet on top has an embossed wave in it. The bottom sheet is the reverse side and, while you can see some difference, it’s actually much smoother than the photo shows; the waves you see are showing through from the other side. This smoother side is the one that will be placed against the frosting. I frosted a demo cake to show you the difference it makes – and how quickly it smooths out! Here is the top of the cake with the unsmoothed buttercream.
You want the buttercream to have crusted a bit, but not for it to harden completely. If it’s too soft, the paper towel will stick to the buttercream while, if it’s too hard, pressing on the paper towel would have little-to-no smoothing effect. Here is a video of smoothing the buttercream using a Viva paper towel and a fondant smoother – or, as my husband calls it, a “trowel”! I did not speed this up because I wanted you to see how quick this process is in real time.
Here is a photo of the smoothed buttercream.
I did this “Viva smoothing” on the sides and tops of each tier. Then I used a diamond impression mat to emboss the quilted diamond design around the sides of each tier, as well as across the top of the top tier. Inserting a black sugar pearl at the intersection of each line in the design was a delight, as I was able to see the cake really come to life! Here is what the mat looks like.
Finally, I moved the 12” tier to a thick, inflexible cake board (a “cake drum”) and stacked the tiers. I affixed 1” wide black grosgrain ribbon around the base of each tier to add some dimension, as well as around the cake drum. I removed the middle shelf of my refrigerator to set the cake inside. The fridge had been open and closed a lot and the cake had come down in temperature a bit with the final touches, so I draped it loosely with a bit of plastic wrap just in case any condensation formed and dripped.
In total, the cake was about 18” tall and 16” in diameter with the cake drum base – and it weighed about 28 pounds! I won’t get into all the shenanigans involved maneuvering it to transport to the venue, but I absolutely loved the way it looked on that once-intimidating table at the entry to the reception!
The couple loved it and told me their guests thoroughly enjoyed it. Some even went back for seconds! I was also told that by the time the guests entered the space, the light from the windows was hitting the cake beautifully. Those are the things that bring me so much joy in baking for others.
If you love to bake, I hope this tale gave you some inspiration and bits of information to take forward to your next project!
Baking and sweet options at The Chopping Block are scattered throughout June! There is a hands-on Donut Boot Camp (that's discounted because it's on a Friday daytime!) as well as a Kid’s Camp focused on Sweet Treats. In addition, many of our class menus include a dessert for you to enjoy making as part of the meal. Take a look at our class calendar for some fun options!
