Chef!

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We picked up grandson Nathaniel from school for term break, and he was still wearing his uniform. He had just finished the last lab of his training. Next term, and for the next two years, he will have only academic courses. David took the luggage to the car, while Nate carried the top tier of a wedding cake! He had made the cake, and as he was leaving, his chef told him to take the top tier. Usually students don’t take food from the lab, but it was too late to serve any to students or to donate it. We were the happy recipients.

Not only did Nathaniel know how to produce a wedding cake, he knew how to cut it. He said the top tier should serve 15 people. According to him, the fondant covering should be discarded. That’s why the slices on the plates looked naked. Naked or not, the cake was delicious.

Published by Anne Mehrling

I'm a retiree who loves to write about life in the mountains of North Carolina.

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47 thoughts on “Chef!”

    1. I found out Nathaniel prefers to decorate with butter cream, and that would be my first choice for taste. We’ve had seconds on the cake and will finish it today. The cake is staying moist and very firm. Nate said his chef commented that his cake was a perfect base for decorating. Nice praise, but he still prefers to make bread,

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  6. I would eat the fondant too- I wonder why they discard it- is it because the combination of sugar and fat is too much. That would be the best part of the cake for me.
    But seriously, that cake was so beautiful- it could be sold in a shop.
    Did he make it himself? If he does only academic courses, next term, will he still practice all these skills he is learning somewhere- what I am asking is do these skills go away without practice?
    Glad Nate is home with you all. Wish I could have met them too.
    Susie

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    1. If I understood him correctly, a wedding cake covered in fondant is cut in the kitchen and goes out to guests without the fondant. Seems silly to me. I much prefer butter cream, as does Nathaniel. I agree with you that the icing is the best part, but maybe not fondant. Nate wouldn’t let us taste it.

      Nathaniel made the cake himself — everyone in the class made one. He will not cook at school again, though he might have catering jobs off campus. He works in the cafeteria, so he will be cooking, but not making a wedding cake. I’m sure he could hone his decorating skills quickly if needed.

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    1. Nathaniel feels he doesn’t have a flair for decorating or designing cakes. I guess it’s enough that he can do whatever he needs to do. He would love to own a bakery that features bread. I guess he’d hire someone else to do the cake part.

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  10. Yum! How beautiful! I’ll bet you didn’t know if you should eat it, or frame it! 😀
    I’ll want mine to be chocolate – if I do get another stab at a wedding. (I hope! 😉 )

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          1. Until we moved east I had never been to wakes. Now I have gotten used to seeing bodies, sometimes even of people I didn’t know, I just knew their family.

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  12. I was reading the prior comments – I did not know about the fondant and can’t remember the last wedding I went to – maybe 1976? I prefer butter cream frosting too. In Canada, they save the top layer for the first born birth celebration. They keep it in the freezer, as did my parents and it was frozen for three years. 🙂 However, in Canada they used to have just fruitcake with an icing on it … the fruitcake slices are wrapped in plastic, a paper doily around it and secured with a ribbon – they are inside the fake cake.

    We used to have a rustic bread store with hearth ovens and when it opened up, rustic breads were not commonplace. But my mom and I stopped in often – we had bought/eaten rustic breads for years as my father liked the Dimpflmeier German bread or peasant breads. We were beating a path there more and more and it was about a 20-mile round trip, then they suddenly closed. They were pricey, but it was a treat for us. When Marge’s husband retired (due to cirrhosis of the liver – he was on a liver wait list), one of their kids bought them a bread-baking machine for Christmas. Marge said they got up every morning, perused their “ready-made mixes” and then sat there watching the bread-baking machine make their bread. They’d smell it and were hungrier by the moment. They were eating a small loaf daily and then they finally packaged it up and put it in the basement after they couldn’t fit into their clothes anymore.

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    1. The Canadian customs are interesting. The top tier of our wedding cake would be served on the first anniversary. Nathaniel asked me about it, because that’s what he was told in school. He had never heard it before. He is only 20 years old, and none of his friends have gotten married. I presume a chef told the class about the tradition so they would not cut and serve the top tier at the wedding reception.

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      1. I assume they stiill do this custom as a few years ago my mother’s godchild’s daughter got married and they sent us a box with some of the fruitcake in it. When Kate Middleton and William were married, they had two wedding cakes. I had heard this story before, but the traditional cake was fruitcake and there was a separate cake that catered more to Williams’ tastes. Here is a story on it:
        https://www.thespruce.com/the-royal-wedding-cakes-3490157

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          1. You’re welcome Anne – I thought you would enjoy it, having lived in England and maybe Nathaniel would like it too. And interestingly, since Harry and Meghan are striving to be non-traditional Royals, they did not have a traditional wedding cake either. No fruitcake, a regular cake with buttercream frosting. I had heard and was surprised.
            https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a14018988/prince-harry-meghan-markle-wedding-cake/

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