ICED by Betsy makes a Guest Appearance at the Workman Wedding
Over a year ago, we were visiting our friends, the Workman family, shortly after hitting the road in our RV. We had a lot of catching up to do with them after all we had sold our house, closed the bakery, and moved into our first 5th wheel named Calvan. That was before the days of our current 5th wheel, Charlie! After chatting about all our life changes, we switched to catching up on things going on in their life. After all, there was a wedding being planned for their son Zach and his fiancé Grace. The Workman family had enjoyed ICED by Betsy cupcakes on several occasions over the years. Zach & Grace even took a trip to Royersford to visit the bakery during a visit to the Philadelphia area. So during our visit back in 2016, Zach asked if I would be able to make the cupcakes for their upcoming wedding. Even though we didn’t know exactly where we would be when the wedding day arrived on August 11 2017, we gladly agreed to bake up a few batches for the big day.
As you know by now, we are currently working in Maine for the summer. So the Workman Wedding became a road trip for Russ & I. We were able to get 4 days off during the super busy month of August at Acadia Bike & Coastal Kayaking to drive to Pennsylvania. Thanks, Glenn! We left after work and drove 10 hours before calling it a night at Russ’ sister’s house in Phoenixville, PA. The funny thing is, Russ’ Sister Ceil & family were not in Pennsylvania, rather were at the campground we were staying at in Maine. You may remember our last blog post that talked about their visit. Thank you Kapustas for providing the first B of a B & B. Typically, a stay at the Kapusta house includes a super big breakfast, but this time the bed was all we needed. This impromptu stop for the night in Phoenixville, also provided a bonus of a quick visit with Russ’ Dad. It was great to see him and catch him up on our travels and job in Maine.
After our visit, we hopped back in the car to finish up the last 2 hours of our road trip, bringing us to the Workman Farm, known as Z & Z Acres. Lucky of us, this is also one of our favorite B & B’s. Okay, it’s not an official bed and breakfast, but they could certainly run a darn good one!
The bride’s mom had all the ingredients ready and waiting for the baker’s arrival. I had also had several boxes of supplies sent to the Workman homestead early in the week. We relaxed for a couple of hours before it was time to roll my sleeves up, review some recipes, and measure out some ingredients. After all, it has been 595 days since I have baked a cupcake or touched a cupcake pan. I was a little nervous how that first batch would come out or if I would really remember how to make the famous ICED by Betsy frosting swirl.
Thursday morning rolled around and Russ and I got started on the baking around 9 AM. I much more enjoyable start time than the 4 AM I had grown accustomed to working in the bakery. I decided to do a test batch of 12 prior to going into mass production in case any adjustments needed to be made. The pans were bright and shiny, but remember this baker was still a bit rusty. I did have to make a few adjustments to oven temperature and baking time, but after those we were rolling them out pretty quick. ICED by Betsy was BACK!
Since I only had 6 cupcakes pans compared to the 30+ pans I was used to having at the bakery, I actually was able to enjoy some downtime between batches. It felt strange, but provided just enough time to wash some dishes or unwrap butter for the frosting.
After getting the 300 cupcakes baked and cooled, next step was filling & frosting. Russ had unwrapped all the butter which brought back memories of holidays past. During our busiest times at the bakery, he often sat and unwrapped butter for hours on end while the frosting queens used it up just as fast as he could unwrap it. It was strange making such small batches of frosting, but we still managed to use 48 sticks of butter and 28 pounds of powdered sugar. YIKES, or should we say YUMMY! Now that the frosting was ready, it was time for the true test. Did “The Betsy” of ICED by Betsy remember how to frost the cupcakes. It was just like riding a bike!
We breezed through the decorating portion fairly quick and finished up just in time to deliver the cupcakes to the wedding venue to keep in the walk-in fridge overnight. This also brought back many memories of delivering wedding cupcakes on the weekends. Those crazy days of running from bakery, to farmers’ markets, back to bakery, to wedding venue, etc. was a drastic contrast to the more relaxed delivery schedule this time around. We finished up the evening with a delicious meal at the new Z & Z Farm after the rehearsal dinner. While it was a busy 9 hour day of baking & decorating, the fact that I didn’t have to get up and do it all again tomorrow was a relief!
The morning of the wedding we were pretty slow moving. After the long few days of driving, a busy day baking, and the realization that we would have to leave early the following morning, we took it easy. We did splurge a little with a pedicure for Baker Betsy and a haircut for Mr. Betsy (as he was often called at the bakery). Since the forecast was for rain, it was a bit unsure whether the wedding would need to be moved inside. Since that was an option, I wanted to have the cupcakes all displayed in plenty of time. Russ & I headed over to the venue and went to work. We got the majority of the cupcakes on the display and kept the rest in the back to replenish when necessary.
The wedding ceremony went on without a hitch. No rain, beautiful breeze, and a lovely outdoor wedding was enjoyed. After the I Do’s, rings, kisses, and announcement of the new couple - Mr. & Mrs. Zachary Workman we moved inside to celebrate. We spent the evening catching up with old friends & chatting with many people we had only heard stories about (all good, of course)! It was a relaxed & fun wedding and we are so glad we made the trip to be there.
We left the next morning and started the drive through seven states back to Maine. We had a bit more traffic than our late night drive on the way down. We actually passed the Kapusta family (who were headed back to PA) in Connecticut with honks & waves! We did make a pit stop in New Hampshire for a meal break that we conveniently paired with a stop at Costco to stock up on some of our Costco favorites. We brought a cooler along just for the occasion. With Costco closing at 6 PM we were in a bit of a time crunch and traffic wasn’t helping. We made it in time to cruise quickly around and pick up just the things we needed. Due to our weekly Costco runs with the bakery in the past, we know our way around a Costco like the back of our hand. The check-out lines were lengthy, but a much needed stretch break on our road trip. We arrived back in Maine about 11 PM. We unpacked the necessities and that Costco cooler and called it a night. We were back at it again at work on Sunday! A whirlwind of a trip, but one we will always remember. In the meantime, the Baker Betsy & her cupcakes will be going back into hibernation with no Spring in the forecast!
