Pistachio and White Chocolate wedding cake–the privilege, the passion, the pressure, the result.

The relief was palpable!
But this only really eventuated when the cakes were securely and strategically placed and artistically arranged on the cake table, ready for the bride and groom to ceremoniously cut.

I was supremely chuffed when my Godson and his fiancee asked if I would make their wedding cake. I had 3 months to work the creative juices, and this kicked off with a meeting with the bride and groom to be.
In a jovial discussion, I fired a barrage of questions–What flavour?
(Not fruitcake, not ginger. Anything, we trust you…)
How many at the reception?
(120)
Do you have any theme/colour scheme going on?
(greens, cream, white, sunflowers in bride’s bouquet, teal blue bridesmaids. Just want to keep it natural and bright and fresh…)
Are guests taking cake home?
(No–with coffee after meal.)
What shape–I personally think round looks better.
(Agreed–can we have tiers?)
What about staggered sized cakes on different height cake stands?
(Ooh yes. That sounds cool.)
Draw picture.
Mind has been churning about flavour being something special but a bit out there.
What about a pistachio and cardamon cake?
(Sounds fantastic.)
Talk about fun ways of decorating–you know, silly things like models of groom climbing a ladder up to reach bride…
OK–let me do some planning and I will get back to you.

What ensued was weeks of reading every pistachio cake recipe I could find and practicing several, most of which were OK but not quite what I had in mind. Shannon Bennet’s pistachio cup cakes recipe was the closest I came until I pursued the idea of using not just ground pistachios, but pistachio paste. A gold plated ingredient that I could only find in one place in my city. My mind kept thinking of flavour combinations and how it could be translated into a wedding cake with the right texture and stability. I thought about the white chocolate mud cake I made for my daughter’s wedding and skipped to the next thought–white chocolate, pistachio and cardamon. And just begging for a rosewater butter cream frosting. That was it.
I eventually tweaked several recipes into one, did a practice smaller cake and was happy.
So, for the main cake. A 3 layered, 12 inch white chocolate, pistachio and cardamon cake with rosewater buttercream frosting.
The second 2 layered 10 inch cake was a white chocolate with whole peeled green pistachios, brownie type cake with the same frosting. The third 2 layered cake was a white chocolate mud cake with the same frosting.
The two smaller cakes were made two days before the wedding and frozen, to be frosted on the day before the wedding. The main cake was baked extremely successfully to my great relief the day before the wedding and iced that night.
And after consultation with the local cake decorating shop, I was directed how to make a buttercream frosting that would not split in the heat (and it was a 30 or so degree day the day of the wedding).
Now, I am not a cake decorator, although I have a pretty good sense of what may work. I tried to get a grasp on how the bride wanted things to feel and decided on a textured frosting with a ribbon at the base of each cake and sunflowers as the decoration. I took a measured guess at the green coloured ribbon, and used some of the left over vase and bouquet lace to adorn the main cake.
It took me hours to frost the cakes to the level where the crumbs didn’t show through. They were covered and left in the fridge at the reception hall awaiting the final adornment of ribbon, sunflowers and a little teal butterfly upon one of the sunflowers. I was finally happy.