Wedding Cake - Done!

Hi. I don't believe we've met. I'm Olga and I made a wedding cake. An honest to goodness four-tier-swiss-buttercream-clad-cake-dowel-and-cake-board-supported wedding cake. I found the hard limit of my stand-mixer by attempting to make 24 cups of chocolate cake batter in one batch. I squinted every time I added another glug of buttermilk. The project only took about 7 pounds of butter, 20 egg whites (just for frosting), 1 pound of the best cocoa powder money can buy, 18 bags of chai tea, and a lot, a lot of time.

It was such a success, I feel that a lot of thanks are in order. I'd like to thank:

• Deb (of smitten kitchen) - for documenting her wedding cake making experience, which I studied for weeks before I set out on this endeavor.
• An incredible cookbook (Sky High) where most of the recipes and lots of advice came from.
• Elyse - for chiseling the cardboard cake boards so that I wouldn't have to touch them.
• Tori - for entrusting her wedding cake to inexperienced-me!
• The wedding DJ - for temporarily halting the rave music and playing Celebration and Single Ladies, providing me with a much needed dance release and making it all totally worth it.
• JZ - for being an awesome friend (if only through email) and believing in me.
• The Bees - for telling me that I could do it despite my recent cake set-back.
• Dearest mama - for reminding me to start early and exceeding my quota of stand-mixer & spatula accidents while she was here.
• Vova - for getting the rotating cake stand and saving me a lot of time.
• Tessy - for general awesomeness and lots of help the night before.

I couldn't have done it without y'all!

Tessy and I cutting the cake. (I did not take this photo. I also don't know who did.)