a little tiered cake with a lot of tahini and marzipan

last week, two of the most wonderful humans on the planet got married. lydia and ben have been friends of mine since juilliard, and on friday i sat weepy on the couch as jacob, who was in north carolina catering their little six-person wedding, live texted the thing to me:

they signed the paper! it's official!!!!

*****ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!! i am crying****** 😂😭😂😭😂😭😂😭 is she the most beautiful human on the planet?1?1?!!!!!!!!! 

pull yourself together! and yes. she is. now, i'm about to put the rosemary on your cake, how do you want it???

whatever feels right!!!!!! make it pretty!!!!! i am so weepy happy!!!!!!!!!!

by all accounts, it sounded like a total dream. and i was so *tickled* that they asked me to make their cake. shipping a decorated cake is something new for me, so earlier in the summer, i did a test run where i put a buttercream frosted cake on dry ice and shipped it 2-3 day in a styrofoam cooler. it worked! but in the end, i strayed from the buttercream route and shipped a sturdy room temperature cake wrapped in tons and tons of bubble wrap. it was very tahini and halva centric, as lydia and i have bonded over a mutual loooove of halva, and i aimed to keep the decorations elegant and classy and quirky, just like her :) here is what i made:

the bottom layer // a simple chocolate cake, filled with halva floss and tahini that i sweetened a bit with sugar.

the top layer // layers of tahini dirty blondies baked in my favorite mini cake pan, and covered with apricot jam.

the whole thing got wrapped in marzipan, decorated with marzipan braids and fresh rosemary, and gobbled up by the new mr. and mrs.

congratulations, lydia and ben!!!!!!!!! welcome to married life!!!

-yeh!