So part of the prep was Jennie made new garb for her niece and nephew and we were making a cake for Stacey's vigil. So, in January, we borrowed her beehive cake molds, saying that it was for a cake for my niece. We found a honey cake recipe, perfect for the lady with bees in her arms. We also found recipes for fondant and butter cream icing. So the weekend before Mudthaw, we needed to get our act in high gear. We made the cake in mold, but impatient me being impatient, I tried to de-pan one before it was fully cooled. So the cake crumbled, but at least it tasted good. We then tried to get the second one out when it had cooled, and while we had less trouble with that one, we still lost some detail. Additionally, I need to learn to read instructions as I set the temperature a little too high, so while the outside cooked, the inside was still a little gooey and under cooked.
So a second batch was made and this time, we used two 10" rounds. We ran out to get supplies for decorating the cake as it cooled. But realizing that we'd want the cake as fresh as possible meant that to ice and decorate it, it would have to wait until Friday night. Crap, Friday night where I had made dinner plans with friends coming down for the weekend. So into the freezer goes the cakes, and wait until Friday.
Headed out about 8:00 to meet up with Cheryl, Robert, LT at the hotel and take them to our favorite sushi place. Donovan, Sorsha, and Anastasia were just checking in to the hotel as we were about to leave, so we waited for them to get a room key and then they followed us. Magdalena met us at the restaurant on her way to the hotel. So the nine of us were out at Nagoya. I ordered two Mike rolls for the table (afterall, the roll is actually named after me). It was a great night, getting to hang out with friends outside of an event, and really talk, have fun, laugh a lot. Jennie and I dropped Sorsha off at Adam & Stacey's where we arrived to see a house full of friends. Then we headed home to get what sleep we could.
We got to the event and grabbed the stuff for the vigil from the car when they called Stacey into court. From that point forward, it was rush, rush, rush. I grabbed the cake, and made sure I showed it to her before people partook of it.
So afterwards, I got suited up to fence. I pushed myself a bit too much too early going back to back to back with warmups against Jacob Fisher, the newest OGR Davius, and then Donovan. After fencing Donovan, I was having issues breathing, mostly due to the chill in the air. Lungs a burning, it took me too long to recover, so I dropped out of the tournament and marshaled one of the four lists in the rapier tournament. What I saw was some excellent fights, courteous combatants, and smiles on faces.
I played major domo for a little bit while Antonio had things to do at the start of Stacey's vigil. Finally, I saw someone cut into the cake, so I had to try it. I don't want to toot our horns, but my goodness, was that a tasty cake. There was not much left of it. Actually, all the food/gifts/etc for the vigil was amazing.
Court came, and I got to see two friends made companions of the Silver Crescent. I know there were other awards, but I was breaking down the vigil, chatting, and doing other things. I got to see a good friend elevated to a peerage up close. I got to see a new comer to the SCA go up and receive a token from the royals. Post court, we got in the car, ran home, got changed, got beer, and headed over to Adam & Stacey's for dinner. Well us and about 40 others. The house was packed, food was eaten in mass quantities. I got to hang with my pelican, his wife, and my chosen family. And oh, my cheeks still hurt from laughing too much. I think we left at about 12:30 and the party seemed to still be going strong.
All in all, what a wonderful, exhausting weekend.
Icing Recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/quick-and-almost-professional-buttercream-icing/detail.aspx
Fondant Recipe adapted from : http://www.sweettoothlove.com/rainbow-fondant-cups/
So a second batch was made and this time, we used two 10" rounds. We ran out to get supplies for decorating the cake as it cooled. But realizing that we'd want the cake as fresh as possible meant that to ice and decorate it, it would have to wait until Friday night. Crap, Friday night where I had made dinner plans with friends coming down for the weekend. So into the freezer goes the cakes, and wait until Friday.
Friday:
During lunch I made the fondant. It needed some time to rest before we could roll it out and cut to shape. We had gotten a leaf shape fondant cutter, so that we could make a laurel wreath on the cake from the fondant. We whipped up a batch of icing from scratch, but it was not enough to go between the layers and cover the cake nicely. Because the cake was a little crumbly, Jennie laid on a rough coat of icing, which picked up some of the crumbs as she spread it. So I made a second batch, adding a little orange extract to it and then she recovered the cake with a smooth final coat. We then rolled out the fondant and cut it into the leaf shapes or two sizes, the large size for the top and a smaller size for the sides of the cake. So I finished decorating while Jennie took a shower. Cake went into the fridge, got washed up, and off we go...Headed out about 8:00 to meet up with Cheryl, Robert, LT at the hotel and take them to our favorite sushi place. Donovan, Sorsha, and Anastasia were just checking in to the hotel as we were about to leave, so we waited for them to get a room key and then they followed us. Magdalena met us at the restaurant on her way to the hotel. So the nine of us were out at Nagoya. I ordered two Mike rolls for the table (afterall, the roll is actually named after me). It was a great night, getting to hang out with friends outside of an event, and really talk, have fun, laugh a lot. Jennie and I dropped Sorsha off at Adam & Stacey's where we arrived to see a house full of friends. Then we headed home to get what sleep we could.
Saturday:
In the morning, we made a packing list and list of things to do so we would not forget. Problem is, I forgot stuff, like extra cloaks for Jennie and her sister, and the list. Well the list actually made it with us. On the way to the event, we stopped at Walgreen's and we picked up some supplies for the day, mainly foam swords for the kids to play with. We got flowers for the vigil to go along with the laurel branches Jennie cut from the trees around her house. We got coffee. I didn't order coffee, but my ice tea tasted like tea and coffee mixed and not in a good way. So I asked them to remake it. Still tasted the same. Jennie tasted it so I know I was not crazy.We got to the event and grabbed the stuff for the vigil from the car when they called Stacey into court. From that point forward, it was rush, rush, rush. I grabbed the cake, and made sure I showed it to her before people partook of it.
So afterwards, I got suited up to fence. I pushed myself a bit too much too early going back to back to back with warmups against Jacob Fisher, the newest OGR Davius, and then Donovan. After fencing Donovan, I was having issues breathing, mostly due to the chill in the air. Lungs a burning, it took me too long to recover, so I dropped out of the tournament and marshaled one of the four lists in the rapier tournament. What I saw was some excellent fights, courteous combatants, and smiles on faces.I played major domo for a little bit while Antonio had things to do at the start of Stacey's vigil. Finally, I saw someone cut into the cake, so I had to try it. I don't want to toot our horns, but my goodness, was that a tasty cake. There was not much left of it. Actually, all the food/gifts/etc for the vigil was amazing.
Court came, and I got to see two friends made companions of the Silver Crescent. I know there were other awards, but I was breaking down the vigil, chatting, and doing other things. I got to see a good friend elevated to a peerage up close. I got to see a new comer to the SCA go up and receive a token from the royals. Post court, we got in the car, ran home, got changed, got beer, and headed over to Adam & Stacey's for dinner. Well us and about 40 others. The house was packed, food was eaten in mass quantities. I got to hang with my pelican, his wife, and my chosen family. And oh, my cheeks still hurt from laughing too much. I think we left at about 12:30 and the party seemed to still be going strong.
All in all, what a wonderful, exhausting weekend.
Sources for recipies:
Cake Recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/moist-holiday-honeycake/detail.aspxIcing Recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/quick-and-almost-professional-buttercream-icing/detail.aspx
Fondant Recipe adapted from : http://www.sweettoothlove.com/rainbow-fondant-cups/
