A Wedding Cake At The Prison!

After two 2 week courses the final exam was a wedding cake. Since it was the 18th Street Gang, it had to be 18 tiers. And what a cake it turned out to be!



To the right is the top tier. We had the "cake from hell" experience as the weather changed from warm to cool and rainy to hot and humid again and all of the fondant icing decided to wilt. The cake was not very even on the side, due to the climate changes, but it was beautiful.



The guys learned about Royal Icing and Buttercream Icing in the first 2 weeks of classes and then they learned about Fondant and Gumpaste in the 2nd two weeks of classes.

They learned step by step how to make gumpaste flowers, starting with roses and then calle lilys. You can see some of these hand made flowers in the first photo.



In the first cake decorating classes they had learned how to make borders by piping royal or buttercream icing. They also learned how to make the leaves, which they piped onto the cake after the flowers were in place.

The cake all 18 tiers of it tasted wonderful! The background at the prison was not so beautiful and really doesn't do justice to the cake, but the cake turned out to be a masterpiece.

The center of the cake had 6 tiers which were then connected by bridges to 4 more towers of 3 tiers each.

Several of the guys had to get up on the heavy duty table to place the tiers in the correct positions. I am not sure what the final cake weighed, but I know it was over 100 pounds of cake.

First they all made flowers and flowers and more flowers. Each day the ladies showed them how to make different flowers. For two weeks, everyone in the classes made flowers and the flowers which were not eaten, were saved to go on the cake.

Then the ladies and I and Erlinda baked all of the cakes at my house, as the oven that was donated to the prison was not yet in operation. Claudia Hurt, Lisa Summerlin, Dede Reed and Tracy Wirta iced and iced and iced with buttercream until all of the cakes were iced. Then we took them to the prison. That was a trick. Each tier was 2 layers of cake with filling in between and some of them were so big that they had to set across two people's legs. The bumpy roads in Honduras were not cooperating and so when we arrived at Tamara Prison 40 miles away, with cakes intact it was a miracle.

The guys were really, really proud of themselves. First they shimmer dusted a design on the sides of the iced cake, then they strategically assembled the center column of 6 tiers. As they began to decorate the center tier, they began to get more and more enthused, finally all of the hard work was coming together. After putting the border around all of the tiers, it was time to start placing the flowers. As soon as all of the flowers were placed they had to fill in with the green leaves.

Then it was time to place the other four towers of three tiers each and each had to be decorated the same as the center tower. With 24 boys taking turns it took 4 hours to complete the assembly of the cake and the

placement of the flowers and the final touches.

But the wait was worth it. Two weeks and 800 flowers later, the cake was complete. The guys were so proud of the cake and I was proud of them.

It was incredible how well it turned out!

I am thinking of having another Cake Missionary Team come to Honduras in early spring, to teach women in southern Honduras. I have identified a large number of women who live in adobe huts with dirt floors, who need jobs to help them make ends meet and to feed their children. I am hoping to go to these people and teach them how to make flowers where they can sell them in Tegucigalpa to help their families.

Do you know a cake decorator with an adventurous heart?

Do you have decorating supplies that are sitting in your cabinet unused that you might like to donate?