Oh yes, friends—I saved the best wedding post for last. Today, I finally reveal to you…our wedding cakes!
Matt and I had the luck and pleasure of hiring Jennifer Ward of Be Free Bakers, a local Kansas City allergen-free bakery, to bake our cakes. Jennifer is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, and she’s extremely well-versed in baking without dairy, eggs, or gluten.
Perhaps best of all, Jennifer gave me free reign over the creative process of flavor selection, and she didn’t even bat an eye at the crazy combos I came up with.
Most importantly, though, she implemented those ideas like a true expert, and we ended up with the sexiest, yummiest gluten-free vegan cupcakes known to man!
For Matt, the chocoholic, we had…
CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES
with raspberry jam filling
and mocha buttercream frosting
And for me, we had…
VANILLA-CHOCOLATE CHIP CUPCAKES
with peanut butter filling
and cookie dough buttercream frosting
For. REAL.
Jennifer made us 120 cupcakes – 60 of each flavor – as well as a six-inch layer-cake version of the vanilla flavor (because, well, that was my flavor!) to top our lovely cupcake tower. She even coordinated the color and design of the tower and the cupcake liners with our wedding décor!
Care for a little more detail? You got it.
Jennifer made my vanilla cupcakes with real vanilla bean powder and tiny hand-grated shards of dark chocolate (“chips”) throughout.
The filling contained all-natural peanut butter and Earth Balance…
…and the cookie dough frosting – perhaps my favorite part – was a basic vegan buttercream with real chocolate chip cookie dough whipped right in.
MOUTHGASM. I can die happy now.
Jennifer filled Matt’s chocolate cupcakes with a dab of chocolate buttercream plus a spoonful of local Berry Nutty Farms raspberry jam (the same jam we used in our PB&J unity ceremony)…
…and topped them with an espresso-infused chocolate mocha buttercream frosting and squares of Chocolove coffee crunch dark chocolate.
Holy hellaciously delicious.
I could never in mere words fully convey the spectacularity of these custom-designed Be Free Bakers gluten-free vegan cupcakes, so I won’t try any further. Just know that they were the CUPCAKES TO END ALL CUPCAKES. And then some. We’re still hearing about them from some of our omnivorous guests, several of whom have called them the best cupcakes they’ve ever eaten. Though many people at our wedding might’ve figured our cakes were vegan, most had no idea they were gluten-free as well. THAT is how good Jennifer’s tender, fluffy, flavorful little cakes were. Unreal!
We surprised everyone at the cake cutting by whipping out my giant coconut cleaver…
…and using it to cut the six-inch cake topping the tower. Great laughs.
And then I licked it clean, cuz I’m hardcore like that.
I gave Matt the first bite.
And then it was my turn.
Unspeakably tasty.
This is my “YAY, CAKE!” face.
Oh dear oh dear, what I wouldn’t give for a lifetime supply of Jennifer’s outrageously excellent GF vegan cakes.
Tremendous thanks to Jennifer Ward at Be Free Bakers for creating the wedding cakes of my dreams! Visit her site, people, and those of you here in KC should be on the lookout for her cookies, brownies, and cupcake mixes in stores all around the city.
That’s it for the wedding talk, folks—this completes my series of posts about the big day. Hope you enjoyed reading about it!
For all the rest of my wedding posts, visit my Wedding tab.
WOW these sound beyond tasty, and look amazing! Wish I was in Wichita so I could take a ride to her bakery!
It’s actually not a storefront bakery – but she sells her baked goods and cupcake mixes in local stores. You could contact her about ordering them online, though!
Oh my goodness, those sound unreal! U did save the best for last : ) I love the pics, especially the one of you licking the frosting off the cleaver, lol : ) Will you be posting about some of that epic food that you ate on your honeymoon?? I sure hope so!
Hehe, thanks Tara!
Although I may change my mind later, for now, I think I’m going to refrain from blogging about our honeymoon, and just keep the memories between me and Matt. Hope you understand! However, I’ll likely be sharing several recipes in the next few months that were inspired by our travels!
Of course I totally understand! : ) I thought that might be the case (but hoped it wasn’t! lol!) At least I got to enjoy the pics on Instagram. I’ll look forward to enjoying your new recipes!!!
Glad you got to peek at them on IG!
Oh man these sound DELICIOUS!! The vanilla one sounds like perfection, yum! I love that you had a little layer cake to cut too… and the cleaver is too amazing! Love it!
Hehe, thanks Sarah! We demolished that little layer cake the next morning. Holy crap, SO GOOD!
Miss your face. xoxo
P.S. The Bride’s tastes win forever. Sorry, Matt.
Miss YOURS! I have a feeling you haven’t gotten any texts from me? Damn Canada! The disc you mailed to Sam (in the green envelope) from my place was returned to sender while we were away! Let me know what I should do with it.
Ack, no!! When have you sent texts? I stopped my American phone at the end of December, but before then it should have worked.
I think I now get 100 international texts with my Canadian phone, so I’m going to text you 
Ack, I have no idea what that is; my memory is failing me! Could you email me a picture?? A disc in a green envelope… I’m mindboggled!
Oh, no, it was after we got back from our trip, so probably January 2nd or 3rd. But I did send you a couple text last October/November that I don’t think you ever got…
Emailed a photo!
You are probably the most gorgeous bride I’ve ever seen.
Aside from my gushing, from one pastry chef to another…those cupcakes look amazing. The texture…oh my. I am VERY, very serious about my gluten-free and vegan baking (as you know…), and I an not quick to lend a round of applause to many g-free/vegan products. (I have STUPID-HIGH standards when it comes to baking.) But these look seriously amazing. I SO wish I could have somehow, someway made a cake for you–but you know the moving and everything…chaos. But I think everything worked out perfectly for you, just as I knew it would all along.
And I’m sure a blessing-in-disguise that the other bakers bailed out on you. Everything for a reason…
Oh, and bonus for her use of vanilla powder. Takes baking to another level. You’ll never go back to extract again. Unless it’s pure vanilla bean paste.
Aww, Trish…thank you
The texture was TO DIE FOR. I’ve never seen/tasted anything like it before in a GF vegan cupcake (granted, I still haven’t tasted YOURS, but that needs to change soon!). If you ever want to try them yourself, you should scoot down to the Nature’s Own Health Market on 30-whatever and Main and pick up one of her cupcake mixes to make at home! I’m sure you’re anti-premade-cake-mix – normally, I am too – but Jen’s are worth an exception
Actually, I’m not against pre-made cake mix at all! I don’t typically use it in much as I’m partial to my own mix and my own creations and recipes. But I’ve actually developed SO MANY cake recipes around mixes, especially pre-vegan baking days. People could never tell, and they’d rave about the cakes endlessly. (I was the Cake Mix Doctor before she even had a book out…) But I’ve not hesitated to use Pamela’s Mix. In fact, I used it at Green Acres commonly as it was just something I always had on hand. It wasn’t great for every purpose, but I created some pretty delicious cakes and cookies around the mix itself. I will def check her stuff out. And yes, we soon need to change the fact that your taste buds have never made friends with my cakes. We should trade one night. You cook dinner, I’ll bring cake.
That sounds like a friggin’ delicious trade to me.
Oh wow….these cake-babies looks amazing!! I am drooling all over my computer now…:-) Do you think Jennifer Ward does long-distance wedding cake catering…?
….I´ll need a gluten free, vegan great wedding cake soon.
And you look stunning; love the dress!
Depends on the distance, I suppose…but probably not Thailand!
Hehe. Thanks Maria!
Oh, wow!! These look astronomically amazing.
Good way of putting it, Kari! They WERE.
HOLY YUM!!! Those look super effin’ tasty. She needs to open a store front asap (or maybe not, as then I would become a cupcake addict!
) I am totally going to track down one of her mixes; you said they sell them at Nature’s Own, right?
PS: I love the cleaver idea!
Oh I know…just thinking about having access to cakes like these at all times makes my pants feel tighter. Haha!
Yup, Nature’s Own on Main sells them, and several other stores around the city!
Hey Amber – I just found your blog and I love it! These cupcakes look so unbelievably good, and you both look fantastic.
I got a “blog award” recently and reblogged with a link to ten blogs I read. Yours was one of them! If you want to take a look, here’s the link: http://highballemys.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/my-first-award.html
Thanks Emy! I don’t often find fellow linguists in the food blogosphere – nice to “meet” you.
I think the flavors you picked sound quite scrumptious. Would have love to have been there. So cool how you used the coconut cleaver to cut the cake.
Thanks! I’m still quite proud of those flavors.
Gah! I just wanna punch you both in your ridiculously adorable faces!! SO cuuuuuuute!!
xo-S
Teehee! I’ll take that as a compliment
Thanks doll!
OMG you’re too F’ing cute!! Both of you!
Those cupcakes look OUT OF CONTROL. Ooey, gooey, vegan goodness with sugar. YUM!
p.s. I LOVE you!
You would’ve LOVED them!
I freakin love your wedding cakes Amber!!! The pics of you guys digging in are great!
Hehe, thanks!
These look fantastic! Yum yum!
Thanks Jessica! They were PERFECT.
Wow! I think those cupcakes are actually perfect for any occasion even hen parties. The fact that they’re without dairy, eggs, or gluten adds to their appeal.
Thanks Sabrina! You’re right, they would fit any occasion, no matter how small.