I had the pleasure of making my baby sister's wedding cake this past weekend.

I spent one day baking all the layers - 3 tiers, 2 layers each.

Spent another day (and night) making the buttercream, applying the buttercream, making the buttercream look perfect, and finally, stacking the tiers.

I use a bench scraper to get the sides of my cake very straight. Don't say I never shared any secrets with you.

I use drinking straws as internal supports (yet another secret). I stack the cakes with a little buttercream "glue" between the tiers, leaving about 1/4-inch of space between the tiers - the space is covered later. I drove a wooden dowel down the center of the cake to keep the tiers from shifting in the car.

Once the ribbon, flowers, piping, etc are added, the 1/4-inch space is completely hidden.

This Deep Chocolate Cake with Amaretto Italian Buttercream was super yummy! Wish I could have shared it with each and every one of you!!

Btw, did I mention that we had to drive 3 hours to the wedding? Normally I would dread driving a stacked cake that distance, but this past weekend the color of the autumn leaves were at their prime. We had 3 full hours of these stunning views - enjoy!

Happy Fall - 2009!