The Whimsical Wedding and the Creative Cake

My mother-in-law, Beverly, married the wonderful Matt Audrain on December 30th, 2010. It was an elegantly charming wedding and my sister, Andrea, and I got to make the cake! I adore Beverly's choice of the lovely color blue (she looks AMAZING in blue); so I wanted to integrate this color into the cake. We used some teal blue sugar rose petal cake decorations and scattered blueberries to represent the pretty black pearls Beverly wore at the wedding.
Here is a photo of Beverly and I before the wedding ceremony...I was the matron of honor! I also wore pearls and blue! The flowers were absolutely stunning; my bouquet had beautiful blue hydrangeas in it! Below is the recipe for the delicious lemon and blueberry wedding cake we made. :-)
Moist Lemon Cake

2 1/2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 eggs

3 tsp. baking powder without aluminum (Rumford brand)

1 cup orange juice

1 cup coconut oil

3 tsp. lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease two 9 inch cake pans with non-stick cooking spray or butter. In a large bowl mix together all dry ingredients. Then add all the wet ingredients. Mix together well. Then pour cake batter into prepared baking pans. Check cakes after 30 minutes of baking with a toothpick. Keep an eye on them. Add an additional 5-10 minutes if not done.

Buttercream Lemon Filling with Blueberry Preserves Topping

2 sticks softened butter

1 8 oz. package of cream cheese

Zest of 1 lemon

1 cup powdered sugar

blueberry preserves

Mix together butter and cream cheese until combined. Add in lemon zest; mix in well. Then add in powdered sugar until well blended. Layer this filling on top of cake layer first to serve as a barrier for the blueberry preserves topping: so they won't seep through the cake. Then top with second cake layer and repeat.
Marshmallow Fluff Frosting

3 egg whites

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup water

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups powdered sugar

Combine sugar and water in a medium saucepan to form a simple syrup; bring to gentle boil and cook until sugar is completely dissolved. Allow simple syrup to cool down to room temperature before adding to egg whites and salt. Then beat with mixer on high speed for 10 minutes or until thick. Add powdered sugar and beat until blended.

*For Perfect Buttercream Frosting (this is the adjustment we will make next time we make this so the frosting will be thicker and hold its form better):

Add two sticks softened butter, a cup of powdered sugar, and 1 tsp. of vanilla extract per cup of marshmallow fluff.

The moist lemon cake recipe is one of Andrea's and my favorite cake recipes and we make it often; normally we place a homemade lemon curd filling in between each cake layer (which we didn't do for this lemon/blueberry wedding cake). This lemon curd filling is phenomenal! Here is the recipe:

Lemon Curd Filling

4 large egg yolks

3 large eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup lemon juice

2 tbs. whole milk

1 tbs. cornstarch (non-GMO)

6 tbs. unsalted butter

Whisk together egg yolks and eggs in medium saucepan. Stir in sugar, lemon juice, milk, and cornstarch. Add the butter (cut into 1/2 pieces) and place saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir often with wire whisk for 5-8 minutes or until mixture thickens. Don't boil. Allow to cool before adding to cake.