So I somehow talked myself into thinking that I could make a 3-tiered cake for my sister Natalie’s wedding shower. And while I think we completed it successfully, it was definitely a team effort. It’s also not one I expect to repeat anytime soon, and certainly not on my own.

We baked the chocolate cakes a week in advance and froze them tightly packaged in plastic wrap. They were defrosted in the fridge the day before they were frosted, and frosted the night before they were to be served.

So here’s the play by play. Each tier consisted of two chocolate cakes covered in a whipped sugar vanilla frosting and then coated in coconut. We started by doing a “crumb coat” or a thin coat of frosting, then putting the assembled cakes back into the fridge for a few minutes, which helps prevent getting crumbs in the outer layer of frosting.

Each layer, which was placed on a cardboard base with a small hole in the middle, was then given a second coat of frosting and a layer of coconut. Wooden dowels were also inserted into the cake to allow them to be stacked, four in the bottom tier, three in the middle tier and one that ran through the full height of the cake to stop them from sliding.

The real trick was properly centering each layer, then wrapping them in a double layer of ribbon to add some colour.

I’m really happy with how everything turned out, and I think the bride was too. Many thanks go out to my youngest sister Joanna for the teamwork, mom for the moral support and photography, and everyone else who contributed.

Who knows, for the right person, I might even do it again.