Wedding Cake Baking Playlist
what i listened to while baking (10/15-10/19)
Hello my friends,
I’m writing this dispatch from Folly Beach, the sleepy beach town just south of Downtown Charleston, South Carolina. My cousin (and dear friend), Anna, is getting married this Saturday and I’m in charge of the wedding cake, so I’m here a week early with ample time for baking and assembly.
When it comes to baking, I need a really good playlist or album to guide me. For my February pop-up at Public Records, I could only listen to one thing on repeat: The 2003 cast recording of the Broadway musical, Wicked. I have the analytics to prove it:
Once a theater kid, always a theater kid, I guess.
Tuesday, Oct 15th: Baking
During our initial brainstorm, Anna requested something that reminds her of tres leches. I asked her to explain what specifically she likes about that dessert, and she mentioned how much she enjoys the flavor of cinnamon. I figured I could use condensed milk in our final rendition of her wedding cake, and when she mentioned her love of caramel, I decided on a dulce de leche filling.
We landed on a cinnamon olive oil cake, which I’ve based off of Natasha Pickowicz’s recipe from More Than Cake, with some tweaks (the main ones being: I like using kefir in place of buttermilk, and the addition of cinnamon. I’m using Burlap & Barrel’s Royal Cinnamon, one of my top tier favorite products ever.) I am also making a secret, surprise chocolate quarter sheet cake.
I was essentially in the kitchen for all of Tuesday, which meant many hours of music. On my morning walk to grab a cortado, I listened to Charli xcx’s brat remix album in full before switching to How I’m Feeling Now. While baking, I danced to the entirety of Number 1 Angel, Pop 2 (I think I replayed Track 10 about 4 times), Charli, and then back to How I’m Feeling Now once more for good measure. I like full albums, and I like repetition.
I became a Charli XCX fan in May 2020. How I’m Feeling Now is the perfect pandemic album, and still holds up years later. I knew of Charli from Boom Clap and I Love It, but How I’m Feeling Now encapsulated all the emotions I was experiencing while locked inside my parents house in Staten Island. I was scared, anxious, bored, going insane, and wanted late nights, with my friends, in New York. I definitely don’t feel nostalgic for that time, but it’s nice to listen back to the record; I still resonate with much of what she sang about.
The thing about me: I love a pop diva with lore. One of the only positive things that became of my first out-of-college-full-time-job in October 2020 were my wonderful coworkers, who taught me all about Charli, including her leaked-and-scrapped third project, XCX WORLD. I am happy for the success of this year’s Brat, but if I’m being honest, I think HIFN is the superior album.
After so much Charli, I needed a vibe shift. I turned on Show Me The Body’s new album, CORPUS II, which made me feel nostalgic for their earlier work. From 2014-2017, it felt like my entire life was waiting for another SMTB show. Luckily, they played often around New York City in many now-defunct DIY venues. My stand out songs from their new album: It Burns, Stomach and Honky Tonk.
I ended my long day of baking with two albums: The Strokes’ Is This It and Crosby, Stills & Nash self titled album. Am I lame for fully believe Is This It is a perfect, no skip album? I basically went full circle, from Charli’s Mean Girl remix featuring Julian Casablanca to his early work, which is funny. I played Crosby, Stills & Nash to help me fall asleep.
Wednesday, Oct 16th: Fillings & Buttercream
I struggled falling asleep last night, so I had a very late start to my day. Lorde’s Pure Heroine was the soundtrack to my morning, another perfect, no-skip album.
When I finally entered the kitchen, ready to get started on my buttercreams and fillings, I couldn’t figure out what to play. I like listening to albums in full because it’s easy to play something and not have to think about curating a playlist for the next 45 minutes to an hour. I shuffled through a few albums (including both Vampire Weekend’s and Tigers Jaw’s self titled albums) before settling into Pretty Sick’s Makes Me Sick Makes Me Smile.
On todays agenda: vanilla bean Swiss meringue buttercream, dulce de leche (for the wedding cake), chocolate ganache, and Magnolia Bakery’s buttercream (for the sheet cake).
I made dulce de leche for the first time last month. The method I use: preheat oven to 425F, pour condensed milk into an oven safe vessel, wrap tightly with foil, place into a water bath, and bake for about an hour and forty five minutes. When it comes out of the oven, let it cool, then whip until smooth. There’s nothing like an easy, hands-off task to check off your to-do list to make you feel productive.
Makes Me Sick Makes Me Smile is such a good album. Listening to Pretty Sick makes me feel like a teenager running around the Lower East Side with my friends. I love the entire album, but my favorite songs are Human Condition, Sober, and Self Fulfilling Prophecy. I queued up their EP from earlier this year, Streetwise, a 17 minute collection of 6 songs that pivots their grunge-y punk inspired sound to something more electronic and synthy. It’s a really fun listen.
While separating yolks and whites from approximately 16 eggs, I listened to Joyce Manor’s Never Hungover Again and S/T. I discovered Joyce Manor in high school, but I did not fully appreciate them until I saw them live in 2017. I was studying abroad in Melbourne, Australia, where they opened up for The Smith Street Band at Forum Theater. I hadn’t listened to Joyce Manor in a while, but as soon as I heard the opening chords to Catalina Fight Song, the part of my brain where lyrics are stored opened back up and my obsession began. I remember a weekend trip later that year, while unable to fall asleep in a hostel due to a loud snorer, I listened Barry Johnson’s nasal croon like some sort of deranged lullaby. It worked; to this day, when unable to sleep, I can listen to Joyce Manor like a strange placebo sleeping pill.
I finished my day with a front-to-back listen to Wicked. Mostly, I wanted to sing along to Defying Gravity and Popular.
Thursday, Oct 17th: Assembly
When I know I have a large to-do list for the next day, I find it difficult to fall asleep with ease. Needless to say, I haven’t been sleeping well this week. I once again tossed and turned until eventually succumbing to Crosby, Stills & Nash for zzz’s.
While doing my morning tasks, I played Regina Spektor’s Far. Really, I just wanted to listen to Folding Chair. I played half the album before turning to Instagram for music inspiration:
My cousin Jane joined me in the kitchen, and we listened to Hairspray, the soundtrack to the 2017 motion picture of the same name. Honestly… banger after banger. We were essentially doing parallel play, both working on separate baking projects and singing along to Zac Efron’s rendition of Without Love.
For the rest of my work day, I played full albums directly pulled from my instagram recommendations. I listened to the entirety of Panic! At the Disco’s A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, which might be another perfect album. The way But It's Better If You Do fades directly into I Write Sins Not Tragedies… true art. Next up was Lana Del Ray’s Norman Fucking Rockwell!, the album that got me interested in her music. I’m pretty sure since it’s 2019 release, it’s been one of my top played albums at the end of each year. When I graduated from uni in 2019, I took a ceramics class, and, jobless with basically zero responsibilities, headed to my studio each Monday through Friday like a 9-5 and listened to NFR on repeat. I made a lot of ceramics during that period, and when I see them, I think of Lana.
Someone recommended Movement’s 2017 album Feel Something, which reminded me that although I love their song Daylily, I haven’t really explored much more of their sound, which I’ve found I really enjoy. I added it to my library, then queued up Clairo’s newly released Charm, which I hadn’t yet listened to but found I knew many songs because of TikTok. Not to be all *old man yells at cloud,* but I think there was something very special about opening up a CD and listening front-to-back, only knowing the singles beforehand.
I had not heard of Girlpuppy before today, but her 2022 album When I’m Alone leans indie-rock, and I found it easy to tune in and zone out to it. I finished the night with a recommendation for Men I Trust’s Oncle Jazz, listening to half the album before tapping out of the kitchen for some sleep.
Friday, Oct 18: Final assembly + decoration
I find the most nerve wracking part of baking cakes is the final assembly, putting the individual tiers together to make one large cake. For this, I worked in silence, holding my breathe until everything felt stable.
When in the midst of smoothing out my base, trying to make everything look pretty and neat, someone called out from the living room, “do you normally work in silence?” Out of stress, I had forgotten to hit play. While decorating, I listened to two albums on repeat: Wicked (there’s something about this album that really sparks creativity for me I guess…) and Loveless by My Bloody Valentine. Headphones in, world out. I listened exclusively to these two albums for the next few hours.
Saturday, October 19: Flowers
I woke up on Saturday at approximately 6:30am. Bailey and I quickly freshened up and changed before heading to Jeremiah Farm & Goat Dairy, where we were gathering flowers to decorate the cake. Casey, one of the farmers, led us around her personal garden, snipping vines of butterfly peas, orange cosmos, holy basil and more. I shuffled through Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s discography on the ride there and back. Their music continued to play as I spent the next 2 hours carefully placing flowers on each cake.
When it comes to decorating, both with icing and flowers, I typically do not have anything particular in mind. I find myself trying to both follow the shape of things, and fill up the space in a way that feels pleasing. I like making use of both very small and very large piping tips for variation, and I like both intricate details and large strokes. I recently described it to someone as “doodling or painting on a large, blank canvas.” Buttercream is one of my favorite mediums, as it’s so easy to erase and redo designs over and over and over again.
I worked on the sheet cake first, using up pansy petals like sprinkles, before working on the actual wedding cake.
While sorting through my flower cuttings, I had a vision of vines encircling the tiered cake. Instead of clipping the butterfly peas close to the petals, I kept them whole, allowing them to creep up and down the sides. Once firmly glued in place with buttercream, I added pansies, marigolds, and other wispy, slouchy stems to create movement and depth.
All that was left to do: deliver the cake. This wound up being the most anxiety inducing part of the entire process. Seeing as this was the largest cake I’ve ever made, it was also the heaviest. Something important to note about Folly Beach: almost all of the houses are raised on stilts, an important protection against flooding. I had to slowly walk down each step, not trusting another person to help for fear of dropping the cake.
Then, I had to hold on for dear life during the excruciating 15 minute drive to the wedding venue. I was dressed in my wedding fit (a puffy sleeved pink number from Rent The Runway—not sponsored, I pay for this sh*t), an I Love New York apron protecting me from stray buttercream, already running 10 minutes late. Thankfully Bailey captured this moment of pure anxiety where I actually look… kind of.. chic <3
Anyway, the story ends here: the cake arrived safely, Bailey and I quickly called a car to the ceremony, and we only held up the wedding for an approximate 10 minutes (true story: we were told afterwards an announcement was made that they were waiting for a ‘few guests’ to arrive. Bailey and I were those few guests.)
Back home in New York, I have another week of baking to look forward to, which means many more hours of music to explore. Send me your favorite, no-skip album to listen to.
Thanks for reading!
xoxo,
Jamie
you're so brave and correct so say HIFN is better than Brat. Loved this writeup! :)
i loved this! learned so much about all of the work that goes into baking a wedding cake and really enjoyed all of the memories and associations you shared with each album <3 some albums i've been returning to recently: resavoir's self-titled and windswept adan by ichiko aoba