Summer Fruit Wedding Cake

and my humble return to Substack

Dear reader, it was a good summer despite all its hard parts. I must acknowledge my absence — as Cardi so eloquently put it, “I’m going through it, b*tch. I’m losing my mother-f*cking medulla.”

I am back now with many fruits of summer under my belt — beach days and sun-kissed shoulders, many market runs that stressed my bags with the weight of melons and tomatoes and enough preserved coriander to get me through ‘til next year. And the cooking was prolific despite Mercury retrograde doing its absolute best to cook me.

There was more than one cobbler, an easy vehicle to showcase the abundant berries and stone fruit. There were innumerable tomato salads, of course — some dressed with stracciatella & good olive oil or a couple glugs of fish sauce with lime. Sarah poached Bosc pears and I made two invisible pear cakes. My mom came to town and we made pasta from scratch with two sauces. It seems like I’ve finally learned that my aching heart just simply yearns for a home cooked meal.

From left to right: Sarah's poached pears, Melissa's homegrown tomatoes, pears and to-be stone fruit crumble

But my greatest cooking accomplishment of the summer was without a doubt the execution of Melissa’s wedding cake(s). In 2023, I made a wedding cake for our friend Jackie & Eric — a simple sponge cake with cream and just harvested strawberries which was the perfect complement to their summer solstice nuptials. The couple raved about it, even the pieces they stuck in the freezer to enjoy a year later for their first anniversary. The experience gave me the audacity to suggest I make Melissa’s cake — it was only double the amount of guests this time, anyway.

Jackie & Eric’s wedding cake from 2023

I started off overly ambitious, as I tend to do. A complicated recipe ignites my drive and the execution becomes a game — so I tried my hand at Red Currant Bakery’s brioche cake. It actually turned out so well and we all loved the trial cake, but it required assembly right before presentation and sweet Melissa & Max wanted me to be present at the wedding, so the improvisation began.

Trial brioche cake

Melissa worked at one of my favorite cafe’s in Detroit that no longer exists that served some of the best olive oil cakes I’ve ever had, so when she asked for an olive oil cake in lieu of the brioche, the stakes were high (for my Capricorn determination). I still wanted the dramatic look of the cream in between cake layers and fruit dripping everywhere, so I essentially just substituted the brioche for cake and used blueberries, plums and blackberries which were prolific in September.

The wedding was Saturday so prep started on Thursday — Christina so graciously offered her kitchen to me as mine is lacking space and a dishwasher. We washed and picked hundreds of blueberries and pitted & sliced Italian plums to prep for the compote that would be dolloped on top of the cake between layers of cream & cake. We made a single batch of the cream and the cake to make sure it would all come together, a trial that I would’ve usually executed earlier but with the last minute switch from brioche to cake, we were just rolling with it.

From left to right: blueberry-plum compote, honey mascarpone cream, another trial cake

The trial was a success (thank god) and Friday we proceeded to make the final cakes — all 5 of them. Going up in volume is tricky business which I learned from my years of producing on average 12 sourdough loaves a week from a home kitchen with no dishwasher and a standard home oven. It’s certainly not easy but it is definitely possible. I needed to make 5x the cream I made before but still just had a standard size kitchen aid so the batches had to be broken down and I made it in three.

Throughout the whole experience, there was a lot of trial, error, and improvisation and I truly wouldn’t have come out of it mentally ok if it wasn’t for the help of Christina (a reminder that our friends actually do want to help us, if we let them). We finished out the day with five intensely aromatic lemon olive oil cakes, four quarts of cream, a Dutch oven full of compote and only one microplaning injury.

Finally, Saturday had arrived — I had everything checked off for transporting and final assembly, but my mind was preoccupied as I was also to deliver a speech (which I insisted on when I was not under a cake-induced delirium). I was literally pacing around my house holding a fake microphone practicing as my blackberries macerated on the counter. It was giving psychotic break but kind of cute, honestly.

I packed up my subaru with all the cakes, cream & compote along with an apron and a few assembly tools. It was a fortunately short drive, just a couple blocks to Melissa’s house where the wedding would take place that evening. The house was quiet when I arrived which I was grateful for and I set up all my mise en place on her dining table where I assembled the cakes and placed them on tiered stands that chilled in the fridge where they’d stay until after dinner.

From left to right: packed prep, cake assembly, sexy compote-cream ooze

I then promptly switched gears into my unofficial role as maid of honor. In this instance, that meant to cut limes, move plates around, grab the veil, zip up Melissa’s wedding dress and tell her how beautiful she looks (I am quite literally crying remembering this moment).

Beautiful Melissa before she married the love of her life

an incredible diptych Christina captured of me & my two personalities

I’ve been to many weddings in many different capacities in my life — as a guest, a bridesmaid, a bride, a photographer, a caterer, a server. In the past, I’ve felt pangs of hopelessness or dismay over the performance & capitalism of it all. But Melissa’s wedding filled me with nothing but love. Love for my friend and the love that she has found, love for the group of people who all showed up to celebrate that love, love for the dedication of her work to put on this ephemeral event so we could all bask in the rays of their love.

MELISSA’S WEDDING CAKE

Macerated Black Berries:

• 300 g blackberries

• 25–30 g granulated sugar

• 1 tsp lemon juice

1. gently toss blackberries with sugar and lemon in a nonreactive bowl

2. let sit at room temp for 20–30 minutes, then refrigerate until needed

Blueberry Plum Compote:

• 250g blueberries

• 300g Italian (prune) plums, pitted, cut into 6-8 wedges each

• 40-60g sugar (depending on your taste and how sweet your fruit is)

• Zest & Juice of 1 lemon

• 3 cardamom pods in a tea strainer or cheese cloth for easy removal

*if making compote on the same day as the cake, take your eggs out of the fridge so they’ll be room temperature by the time you start the cake, same with the cream cheese if you plan to make the cream the same day

1. in a heavy bottomed pot over medium heat, add washed & prepared fruit, sugar, lemon & lemon juice

2. the fruit will release its juices quickly, stir often and keep an eye on the pot as it reduces down, around 30 minutes

3. cool completely, transfer to air tight container and store in the refrigerator until ready for use (can be made ~2 days ahead of time)

Lemon Olive Oil Cake

• 300g AP flour

• 2 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1 tsp kosher salt

• 250g granulated sugar

• 3 eggs, room temp

• 250ml extra virgin olive oil (the flavor will really come out so use a nice olive oil that you enjoy the taste of)

• 250ml whole milk

• 2 tsp vanilla extract

• zest of 1 lemon

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees & grease and line the bottom of a 8” springform pan with parchment

2. sift flour into a mixing bowl and add baking powder, soda, and salt

3. in another large mixing bowl, whisk sugar, eggs, and zest until pale and thick (about 2 min) then slowly stream in olive oil while whisking

4. add milk and vanilla, whisk to combine

5. fold in dry ingredients until just combined, careful to not overmix

6. pour into pan and give it a few taps to help settle evenly and release any bubbles

7. bake 45–55 minutes, until golden and a tester comes out clean (check the cake when you start to smell it) *while the cake is baking, start the cream

8. cool completely in pan before removing from the mold

Honey Mascarpone Cream

• 175g cream cheese (room temp)

• 227g mascarpone (cold)

• 1/4tsp salt

• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or powder

• 350g heavy cream (cold)

• 50g honey

1. in a stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat cream cheese on low-medium with salt until smooth

2. add mascarpone, vanilla and honey, mixing gently until combined

3. switch to whisk attachment, add heavy cream and beat until fluffy (don’t overmix - the mascarpone can curdle)

4. store in the refrigerator until ready to use

Assembly:

1. with a bread knife, carefully cut the cake from side to side, creating two discs — the cake is delicate, so be careful!

2. add compote to bottom layer using as much or as little as you like

3. add the cream in big dollops, trying your best not to mix the cream with the compote as you spread the cream over the compote

4. add the other cake layer on top

5. add more cream to the top of the cake, making a shallow bowl where you’ll spoon the macerated blackberries into

6. slice carefully :)

And now for a dump of photos of Melissa’s wedding that was beautifully captured by Christina. Damn do I love love.