This cake took a solid week to bake

Trevor Wyman stands proudly behind his first wedding cake. He should - it took a week to make.

The first-year Columbia Falls culinary student at Flathead Valley Community College was one of several displaying the most difficult cakes to bake - not just because they have to look good but because they have to taste good, too.

Wyman's cake was a four-tiered affair, part green tea cake and part vanilla buttercake with black sesame seed frosting and black cherry filling. A tree and its roots wound around the cake, made from modeling chocolate.

It could best be described in one word: Yummmmm.

Wyman got his start in baking and cooking at age 10 helping his parents Chad and Karen in the kitchen.

"I took a lot of time cooking at home," he said. "I like working with new flavors."

Wyman said he probably wouldn't become a baker, however. While his cake was well received, it took a long time to make, about 40 hours he figured. He froze the cake so it wouldn't go stale while he worked on it. The cherry blossom flowers, handmade with sugar, took forever, he said.

The culinary students didn't just learn to make cakes under chef instructor Tracy Darue. They had to learn the practical side, too.

"I made the students load them up into a van and drive them around the parking lot so the students could get a sense of what it's like to deliver one," she said.

This was the first time the class has opened a tasting to the public. It was well attended, with more than 40 people trying the cakes. No one left hungry.

And for the rest of the cake?

"We get to take them home," Wyman said.

Wyman graduates in December and will look for a job in the field.

"The ultimate goal is to own my own restaurant someday," he said.