I saw this recipe for peach wedding cake in a Martha Stewart magazine before I was even engaged.  I think that I had been working with local peaches at the restaurant and they were my current favorite.  I also loved that it was a step by step for making a wedding cake, I figured I could use it as a guide to making my own.  After Bryan proposed and the excitement of planning a wedding began, I realized that I REALLY wanted a peach cake!  Bryan and I both love their flavor and as we set a date in August, I knew that they would be in season.  I thought that peaches would be a subtle way of incorporating a typical southern ingredient into our day.  As our wedding weekend took shape the PEACH quickly became my inspiration.

People asked me over and over if I was going to make my own wedding cake.  When I was young and idealistic I thought, “of course I will make my own wedding cake” and in my next life I probably will, but after making two of them for other people I quickly realized that worrying about a cake on my actual wedding day might not be as fun.  I wanted to be able to relax.  Luckily, I had two amazing and talented friends to call in for help.  I worked with Shira Melen and Cristina Valente at FLOUR Bakery and Cafe a few years ago and we have remained baking buddies.  Bryan and I were thrilled that they were up for creating our peach cake.  I left it up to them as to what recipe they used and gave them the freedom to jazz it up however they wanted.  Well, the girls out did themselves…buttermilk cake, peach thyme jam filling and vanilla buttercream, it was amazing!

We finished every bite!!! We had such a wonderful celebration and were so happy to have our friends help make it special.  Here are a few pics of how I used peaches throughout the rest of the reception.

We didn’t freeze the top of the cake – we dug into it the day after.  We figure we will hire Shira and Cristina to make us another next August!!!!