Obsessions

When I like something, I don't just "like it." I either get into something full force, or not at all. Such has been the "liking" of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. It's just one of the best things about North Carolina, specifically Winston-Salem. I am ever grateful for Vernon Rudolph who started selling the dessert in Old Salem in 1937. What a grand idea.

Fast forward to my first doughnuts....and vacation morning breakfasts, every project in high school regardless of subject, the birthday I received stock & became a part owner, the countless late night talks, the freshman hall theme that I oversaw, the cup of glaze that I froze, staring at doughnuts on the "glazy" river...I could go on & on & on.
So, of course, when Josh & I started dating, doughnuts were a part of our relationship. For example, one time we spent an entire date night making incredible desserts out of doughnuts. This was one of them (a Krispy Kreme strawberry shortcake):
And after he proposed to me, we went to Krispy Kreme before coming back to the dinner he had made for us.

Because I've been obsessed with Krispy Kreme since my toddler years, the one thing I had planned about my wedding before I was ever even engaged is that I wanted to have a Krispy Kreme cake. After thinking of the idea, I later came across the Occasions brochure with some small Krispy Kreme cakes made by local bakeries. When the time for our wedding came, I decided it would be even more memorable if I built the cake myself. Why leave all the fun up to a caterer?!?

The summer before the wedding, I was working at NC Governor's School in Winston-Salem. While I was an RA in the dorms, I had an excuse to buy several dozen doughnuts "for the residents." I was able to experiment with different ways of stacking doughnuts before presenting the doughnuts to the dorm. This would be the only "practice run" in building a small doughnut cake. We couldn't buy hundreds of doughnuts again just to practice! This made my mom nervous, but even if the actual cake was a "flop," we would have Krispy Kreme. If worse came to worse, I was willing to just pass out doughnuts and not have a true wedding cake!

Luckily, my dad is an engineer, so I convinced him to help me with my project. We sat down with graphing paper (of course) and sketched out a drawing of the cake. We decided on 5 white tiers, edged with black satin ribbon and decorated with pearl button pushpins. The cake needed to look classy since our wedding was going to be an evening military wedding. I decided on using all original glaze to keep the look uniform.
The tiers would be stacked, one atop another, in descending size. We used glass vases as columns in between the tiers, and we filled the columns with white string lights. On the top tier, we planned for a vase of tall white gladiolas. The bridesmaids bouquets of white tulips wrapped in black satin ribbon and pearl pushpins would surround the cake at the reception.

I placed the order for 50 dozen doughnuts a few months before the wedding. When the day finally came, we picked up the doughnuts after the rehearsal dinner.

The morning of the wedding, bridesmaids, friends, and family headed to the country club for decorating and the long-awaited cake building. But, when we arrived, I decided the only person helping me build would be my dad! Everyone else watched as dad and I began stacking the doughnuts. The doughnuts were placed on the outside of the columns and were stacked like bricks: each layer was offset by 1/2 of a doughnut. Our graph had worked out perfectly. We had estimated just the right number of doughnuts per tier.
After the wedding ceremony, the celebration began at the reception. The cake was a hit, but wasn't surprising to all my friends and family. They knew it was exactly what I had wanted to do for years! When the time came to cut the cake, Josh and I had to use a sword, as the military tradition goes. We speared one of the top doughnuts for the "cutting of the cake" and then ate our first doughnut off of the military sword. TOO COOL!

So, like I said, I'm not too good at just "liking" things. Go big or go home. And pick up a Krispy Kreme along the way.