'The Countdown begins,' and 'Yes, we have a winner!'

One month from today I will be "Mrs. D.E.B"!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woo-hoo! 

I find it incredibly hard to believe, what an amazing journey it has been.

Wedding plans are going well. 

The cake saga has be SOLVED!!! And the winner is....DUNCAN HINES!!

(Sorry, Betty.)

Cake mixes arrived, Sally the Cake Baker did her magic and sent samples home with the D.E.B. yesterday evening. I took one bite of the Duncan Hines version, looked at the D.E.B. and said: "Now, we are getting married!" It was "wedding cake" at long last. Alleluia! I think Sally the Cake Baker was about to go spare.

I have an entirely new nightmare on my hands with the blasted "wedding quilt" (what was I thinking?). 

But, for now, after a busy afternoon at the Stratford-upon-Avon Literary Festival, I'm pulling an "all-nighter" prepping for a pre-performance lecture on "The Winter's Tale" I have to give tomorrow morning to a group of 15-16 year olds from Italy.

If it's not one thing, it's another.

Good night!

Seek and Ye Shall Find!

American white cake mixes--amongst other USA goodies--found in England!! 

Check out the following online specialist foodie shops the supply American treats in the UK:

"American Sweets": www.Americansweets.co.uk

(Just ordered "Duncan Hines White Cake" mix from them, should be here on Tuesday! How's that for a quick result?)

"Let's Eat American": www.letseatdirect.com

And, mega thanks to Nanny Debbie who spotted "Betty Crocker White Cake" at Bakers & Larners!

Let them eat cake...

Plans for getting work done today have been foiled -- by cake. 

My wonderful English "cake baker," Sally, graciously sent along yet another cake sample for me and the D.E.B. to try. As with her three previous "American wedding cake" attempts, she has made a lovely and positively yummy little cake. But, it's still not quite right. 

I don't really want to try her patience much further, but you know that feeling, when you know precisely what you want, and you want so desperately for the other person to get it right, but it's not? That's where I am. I really want to say: "Oh, Sally! Well done! It's perfect." But, that isn't 100% true. What she has done is lovely, no doubt. And would be perfectly splendid on the day, but it's just, not, quite, it.

I have already spent countless, precious hours scouring the internet for recipes, so today, more urgent action was needed. I sent out frantic emails to friends across the water ("Go buy some slices of wedding cake, and post them to me!"), and even dropped a pleading, electronic missive to legendary Italian pastry chef, Biagio Settepani, owner and Head Baker of Bruno Bakery in Manhattan. I have no shame. Besides, when I lived in the West Village, I was a regular at Bruno's, so why not. I'll be shocked if I hear back from him, but it was worth a shot. 

Even more foolishly, I posted a "Wedding Cake Distress Call" to all my friends on Facebook. (I'm still awaiting all the witty responses which will undoubted ensue...) What else is a girl meant to do?!

Then, like a flash of lightning, it came to me: Betty Crocker. 

Forget Martha, Betty was there long before! Betty Crocker White Cake, isn't that what I'm looking for?? Surely, the answer to this dilemma and major life crisis can not be as simple as that? Or could it?

At least I now have a focus to my campaign. One grand last ditch effort, before I give up the cause. So, I just need to make several boxes of Betty Crocker White Cake mix magically appear on this side of the Atlantic. 

My beloved Sainsbury's actually carries numerous Betty Crocker products and mixes, just not the white one. So, pushy Yankee doodle that I am, I wrote them. "Dear Sainsbury's: Please help!"

We shall see how far I get. I only hope, for poor Sally the Cake Baker's sake, that Sainsbury's can save the day.

Cake report

On Tuesday evening, The D.E.B. and I invited our friend, Sallie (not Sally the cake baker) to join us in our garden for a glass of wine and a bit of cake. It was a lovely, warmish spring evening.  We sipped chilled rosé, and prepared ourselves for the task at hand. 

Before us, three lovely wedding cake samples: 1.) a traditional English sponge with jam, 2.) Sally the Cake Baker’s attempt at American wedding cake, and 3.) a combination cake, American wedding cake with jam.

In the end, it was number 3 for each of us. Sally the Cake Baker had done a very good job of getting the flavo(u)r and taste of the American wedding cake just right, the only thing I could fault was the texture. Her version with quite dense. 

American wedding cake is meant to have a very light, airy texture. So, we are going to have another go. Sally the Cake Baker thinks the difference could be in the flour. 

Could it be that American flour has a unique characteristic that its British counterpart lacks? Or perhaps there is a special flour that American bakers use to produce wedding cakes, and nothing else. I promised Sally the Cake Baker that I would do a bit more research on this for her next attempt.

Having my cake, and eating it, too

Warwickshire cake baker, Sally McCluskey, has had a go at producing an American wedding cake for me and The D.E.B. to sample. She delivered it to The D.E.B.'s office this morning and we are having a cake fest when he gets home tonight. I can't wait! I really, really hope it's what I'm looking for...

I scoured the 'net for wedding cake recipes, but all I could find was the weird, wacky and innovative. All I wanted is a plain and simple wedding cake. There is a certain taste that traditional American wedding cakes have, that anyone who has ever had one knows. It is quite simply divine, and inexplicable. I have no idea what the "flavo(u)rs" are that go into it. It's just dreamy. In the end, I did find a recipe that seemed straight-forward enough. We then had to convert the measurements so Sally could re-produce it with English tools and devices.

She stopped by a few weeks ago, and we had a great meeting. She had loads of magazines and pictures for me to look at. I like her aesthetic: simple, clean lines. And she really liked the idea of a "Poetry cake": a three-tiered cake with lines of poetry written along the sides.

Anyway, Sally is super talented, so I have very high hopes. Here's her website: Cake Vision UK 

Dream cake

Isn't this lovely?!

It's called a "Poetry Cake". Along the sides are the words of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnet #43: "How do I Love Thee? Let me count the ways." *SIGH*

Gorgeous.