My friend's wedding! ...AND a birthday cake

Oh.  WOW.  The month of July was EXTREMELY busy.

The month started out with a family friend's surprise birthday party.  Her husband secretly ordered a small dessert buffet:  strawberry mini-cheesecakes and double chocolate brownies, and a decadent chocolate mousse birthday cake.

Now, the following day was my co-worker's wedding...and she had asked me to make her a three-tier wedding cake.  This will be my first time making a multi-layer cake outside of school, and I was up for the challenge!  She wanted it simple, with white buttercream frosting (she hates fondant);  and she emphasized that it has to taste good.  Of course, I am not going to argue;  most wedding cakes are known for looking pretty but not tasting as good.  I was determined to make her cake look elegant, pretty, AND tasty!

But first things first...

I got the cheesecakes and the brownies done pretty quickly (he only requested 30 pieces or so of each).  I used a cake mix for the chocolate cake, and put two layers of chocolate mousse.  The cake was finished with chocolate buttercream, chocolate decor, fresh fruits, and a few Lintz truffle balls (cuz they're cute!)

I did the piping with melted white chocolate.  As soon as I delivered all the goodies, I had to drive to Park City, (a good half-an hour drive up the mountain) to finish my friend's wedding cake.  Her wedding was held at Waldorf Astoria hotel.

There's a story behind this.  When our sous chef found out that she's getting married, and that she had asked me to make her the cake, he offered to let me use the ingredients and the equipment at our workplace.  Which meant I didn't have to bake the several batches of cakes (in my teeny oven) or make the huge batch of Swiss buttercream (in my dinky mixer) at home!  I was more than happy to accept the offer.  So up until this day, I stayed a few hours later each day assembling the cakes (I was clocked out of course).

She wanted one tier chocolate cake w/chocolate mousse and another tier vanilla cake w/strawberry mousse.  I didn't stack the tiers, just filled and frosted it.  All I had to do was take the three cakes to Waldorf-Astoria and finish the cake there.  There was NO WAY I was going to transport the assembled three-tier cake up the swervy canyon road to Park City!

Once there, I stacked the cakes and finished decorating.

Very simple but elegant.  I put the cake away in the hotel's walk-in fridge and left for the night.
The next day, (the big day!) I arrived early to do some finishing touches...

I

 The florist gave me some flowers and the cake topper.  I stood back and thought, "...THAT. IS. CUTE."
Indeed, it turned out to be a very cute wedding cake, enough for about 70 people.

 After the ceremony, all of us congratulated the bride and the groom with some cocktails.  I didn't drink, since I'm a major lightweight and I'd prefer not to be tipsy while driving down a canyon road on the way home.
The next day, she texted me, telling me that the cake was delicious and the perfect amount!  *phew* Despite a few mishaps (yes, the cake ended up with a few scratches and dents during transit that I had to fix), the cake turned out awesome!