My First Wedding Cake!

Hello, all! I recently had the opportunity to make a wedding cake for a very awesome friend that had faith in me. :) Her name is Halle, and I've known her since 6th grade (eek so long ago!). I was honored to be part of one of the most special days in her life, both as a guest and as the wedding cake maker!

After our consultation, she went with a beach themed cake that incorporated her colors (magenta and Malibu blue). The tier sizes were 6", 10", and 14" and the flavor was marble cake (yum!)

Because I had to work as well, I had to work on the cake over two days. I started by baking all of my layers, then storing them securely. The next day, I iced the bottom tier and doweled it (about 8 dowels 1 1/2  " from the edge of the next tier). Then I placed the next tier on, iced it and doweled it, and so on. I placed three dowels into the top tier so it can support the beautiful topper (that was made by the bride herself!)

Each tier was filled with one layer of icing

I dyed fondant in the Malibu blue, then I traced and cut a wave shape to serve as the border of each tier. Then came the pearl border, the "sand" (about 50/50 blend of light brown and white sugars), and shells made of white chocolate in candy molds. I subtly incorporated the magenta into the shells.

The shells and starfish were pearl dusted!

I was so relieved to have finally delivered the cake, even though it was pretty fun making it.

As a guest of the wedding, I can actually say first-hand that my cake was delicious! (Uh, not to toot my own horn or anything ;) )

And most importantly, the bride and her groom, Matt, loved it too!

Congratulations, Halle and Matt! :)

Cake with Gumpaste Roses

Hello, all! I've actually had this cake in my archives for a little while, and I thought I had already posted it! This was a little 6-inch cake that I had decorated with gumpaste roses and leaves. It looks like a mini-wedding cake, and since it's still wedding season, why not post it now? 

I iced and covered the little cake in white fondant, then made a little mound of fondant on top (I had some leftover yellow, so you'll see it in the side view) I started by making a large rose (for a refresher go here). I didn't have any wire or floral tape, so I stuck with toothpicks. I kept going with a few more, and stuck the roses into the mound then continued with progressively smaller roses cascading. On this particular cake, I made 4 large roses, 4 medium roses and 2 buds. I finished with leaves that I had cut out of green-tinted gumpaste. I folded them in half and let them dry on folded notecards (so they can hold their shape). I just chose little gaps to fill with leaves, then finished with a pearl border. Here are some more views...

One criticism that I would give the cake is that I am not really a fan of the leaves. Unfortunately, I only had one cutter, so they only came out to that one size. However, I went to my craft store and found this!

Courtesy Wilton.com

All those cutters! Can't wait to see what I can do with those...