Six Years Later...

Katie and Bill's Wedding Cake
October 1, 2005

Yesterday was the sixth wedding anniversary for my daughter Katie and her husband, Bill.  They were married in Manchester, Vermont, at the beautiful steepled church across from the Equinox Hotel, with a reception up at the hotel's Trout Pond Pavilion.  It was a perfect early autumn day that year, with bright blue skies and warm temperatures.  As evening fell, luminarias lit the path along the pond, and the venue was decorated in a fall theme, with carved pumpkins and mums, hay bales and tiny lights.  It was a wedding that was both rustic and elegant, and the buffet dinner was unique with such offerings as Vermont Cheddar Ale Soup, baked trout, and maple mousse!  Of course, there were traditional dishes as well.  My contribution was to the dessert table.  From my then tiny apartment kitchen in Saratoga Springs came not only the wedding cake, but a pineapple upside down grooms cake, a lemon cake, a carrot cake, a double fudge cake, a pumpkin swirl cheesecake (perhaps overkill?) as well as my son Jeff's chocolate chip cookies.  Next to the dessert table was a big tin tub filled with ice and single-serving containers of Vermont dairy milk! Anyway, the staff were impressed because the next day in the hotel's elevator, one of the staff asked me if I was the mother-of-the-bride who baked all those cakes, and thanked me enthusiastically, as they were the lucky recipients of any and all leftovers.

It's been our tradition that on Katie's and Bill's anniversary, I make a mini-version of their wedding cake.  The original was a yellow cake with Hershey chocolate frosting (recipe on back of tin), both enhanced with just a hint of almond.  Layers were filled with a swirl of buttercream and sour cherry filling.  So yesterday, when I was babysitting for Henry and Peter (their parents went back to Manchester for shopping and an anniversary dinner), we baked the cake.  Henry helped me (see photos below).  It was a rainy, cool day and we stayed in all day watching movies and baking, and had a very good time.  We made the same yellow cake and chocolate frosting, but decided to forego the swirled filling and kept it simple.  Pete enjoyed his pouch of babyfood for dinner (sweet potatoes and pears in a little container that he "drinks" like a bottle) and Henry and I dined on Campbell's tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.  We enjoyed our dinner at the coffee table while watching Pingu, a cartoon about a penguin.  It was a lovely.

Happy anniversary, Katie and Bill.  I look forward to making your cake again and again and again!

Click to enlarge