Gold Sequin Wedding Cake

I'm so glad to make a cake that is new and not made from someone else's design.  I can't even tell you how this design came about.  I think the bride liked so many popular wedding cake trends that we just used them all.  All tiers were buttercream and about 5" high except for the gold tier which was about 3.5". We used an Evil Cake Genius lace cake stencil and outlined each piece with a #2 tip.  We then added some pearls and silver dragees on top.  The bottom tier was buttercream with fondant "fabric ruffle" look.  We didn't want to  cover the entire tier because it would have been too heavy looking.  It was a 20" tier, so it took a long time!  We made the fantasy flowers with gold button centers and the fondant teardrop shapes. 

I'm sure you have seen lots of tutorials on how to do a tier with a sequin-like look.  There are so many ways of doing this and since I've only done it once, I can't speak to the other techniques.  I used some very large quins.  I highly recommend buying them from  cakedeco.com because the 5 lb carton is a LOT and cheap!  These were 1/2" big and I tried to push a handful into the buttercream covered cake and it was just a mess!  I ended up having to put them on one at a time and that was big fun......not!!  So I then chilled the cake really well.  Some people use a paint brush to get these completely covered.   I then airbrushed this old gold and bronze over the entire tier.  I had to cover the neon colors and it took a while.  You want to do this is several coats and not in a couple because you will have drips.  Now, my complaints.  It looks a bit like scales, probably somewhat because I'd been looking at it a long time.  I may do it in smaller quins next time, but I've got 4 lbs of the giant ones left!   I was happy with the look of the cake, but I couldn't stop wondering what people must have thought of "the baker" if the were served a piece of the gold tier.   The quins were NEON COLORED on the backsides!  They aren't very tasty either.  I'm just saying, the more I thought about it, the more embarrassed I was.  I am not judging anyone that does this technique.  I am not saying I won't do it again if time is a factor.  Next time  I really want to make my own sequins out of fondant or something else.  I just don't want the wedding guests to think that the baker is crazy when they bite into the cake :) 

Ruffle Ribbon Rose Wedding

We were asked to recreate an almost exact copy of a cake from the Pastry Studio.  I have been getting involved with some more FB groups and noticed people saying that you should ask permission before recreating a design that you copy.  I guess in a perfect world with lots of time and super polite people that may happen, but this is not that world.  I'm not going to lie and say that I ask other cake people, wrapping paper designers, or invitation designers for their permission when I draw inspiration from their designs.  I have friends that say they WILL NOT recreate another person's cake or even their own.  I have tried many times to sway a bride to my design but many times they are insistent on a certain cake with NO changes. 

I try to alter it but I can only push so much.  I don't want to lose the sale!  I would if I told them "No, you can't have what you love and dream of."  Does that mean I am an awful thief? I just can't accept that.  If you put your work out there to inspire brides and decorators, you shouldn't be mad when they want it.  I see copies of my stuff all the time, especially in my local area.  What I hate is when a local competitor knows your price for your cake and tries to undercut you to get the order, but that's a whole other topic.  I make sure to verbalize and have in my contract that my work will differ from another baker even when I'm trying to be exact.  I still feel guilty about using someone else's design and I won't be using these types of cakes on my new updated website in the future.

Please weigh in and feel free to tell me your thoughts on the matter.  We can have varying opinions and still be friends, right?

Disney Inspired Princess Wedding

Have you tried stenciling on cakes?  What about on buttercream cakes?  Now, I'm talking about real-butter buttercream that firms up in the fridge.  I will sometimes put the cake in the freezer for a few minutes, but not too long or it will get condensation and that's a whole other problem. 

I have tried different systems for "attaching" the stencil, but they all seem to make bigger mark than if I just hold them gently with one had and apply some icing with the other.  Once you've got a little icing on, it pretty much holds the stencil in place.  Just be prepared to do some "clean up" with paint brush for bleed overs and such.  If you have a lot to stencil, you may need to put it back in the cooler  in between.  Also, plan to wash and dry your stencil each time.  I think stenciling is pretty and uniform looking and is relatively quick.  This stencil came from Designer Stencils.


There was a cake by Jim Smeal that my bride found this stencil/pattern on and fell in love.  I wish they let me recreate all the patterns he used  because I'm really over my buttercream diamond patterns! The couple was very into Disney and this has a  kind of glass carriage / tiara feel to it.  They also had me add several "hidden Mickey's" all over the cake and that was pretty fun.  The bride wanted a big border on the two blue tiers and since they were assorted size dots, it too ended up looking like a bunch of Mickey heads.  The couple also had a sweet Lenox China Minnie and Mickey topper that we added at the reception.  It was a little "cream" and I like the look of the white cake not mixed with a cream topper.  I SO wanted to put some flowers on this cake but it is pretty as is.  I'm just really just proud that I got to make a colored wedding cake this week!  Go daring brides, GO! 

Ruffled Wedding Cake

Most of the cakes we do are formulaic these days, at least it feels that way.  Do I sound bored?  Well, when most bridal cakes are white and include a monogram, diamond pattern, dots, and/or swirls it can get a little mundane.  I am grateful for those cakes, don't get me wrong.  They are my "bread and butter" and I don't have to stress or learn a new technique every week. 

However, I was super glad to add a new design element to a couple of old standards, RUFFLES!  Yes, fondant ruffles!  I really was surprised how easy they are to do, just a little time consuming.  Once you get a standard width and length, make a little template out of a cake box lid and cut away!  The most important piece of advice I can give you for these is to use Fondarific brand fondant.  It is just perfect for this application!  It won't crack or dry out while you are working on it.  I pinched a few pleats in each strip and then applied directly on a butter cream cake.  Keeping the slant the same all the way around was a little challenging, but next time I'll just make a little triangle template to double check myself as I go.  It shouldn't look uniform, so no worries :)

When all the ruffles where complete I airbrushed them with ultra silver/PGA mixture. The bride was very fashion oriented and a little flashy, but in a good way!  The other accents are all dark purple, which like brown, you have to be very careful with because the dark colored accents end up photographing more black than anything.  We delivered this cake to "The Mill" in Chattanooga, TN and it was a little dark there so I'm showing you pics that we took in the shop. 

As you can see we also had to include buttercream diamond pattern and scrolls piping. The original design came from some ladies in Las Vegas, but for the life of me I can't find their names.  I liked their design better because they used circles instead of diamonds but you can't have everything when it's not "your" cake.  I did get to make silver RUFFLES!  There were also luster dust stripes on the tier with the flower and on top of the bottom tier.  They just didn't show up on this picture very well.  I also had to make this butter cream cake with no borders to keep the clean look the bride wanted.

For those other cake people out there, do you try to encourage new and different designs?  The right salesman could talk a bride into a pink wedding dress, but that doesn't mean she will be happy after the when she sees the pictures. I don't want to push, but I DO try to encourage.  I have a "scrap book" that all my brides look through.  Since they have seen most of my cakes from the website by the time they meet with me, I try to show other ideas from cakes that I would really like to make or just caught my eye. 

I want to pull every cake with the regular formulaic designs out of the book so they'll stop picking them.  Is that wrong?  Cause I feel it coming :)

Scroll Pattern Wedding Cake

When I met with Kelli about her cake, she had a very good idea of what she wanted.  She brought in 2 pictures that she had printed and really couldn't decide on which one she liked best.  During the course of our design consultation I was able to take the bits she liked the very best from both cakes to custom design the cake of her dreams.

On this cake, most of the decoration comes in the form of the wide piped border of all but one of the tiers.The design reminded me a lot of a fleur de lis.  The brooch and ribbon were made from gumpaste.

And today's backdrop experiment?  I actually took the curtains from my office and pinned them to my photo station wall!  LOL!!

Have a great week!

5 Tier Scroll Wedding Cake

How many different types of scrolls are there anyway?  These are kind of viney-esque.  Some are "C's", some are "S's", some are loose and some are tight.  I personally don't know of any official scroll style guide.  Would anyone like to make one?

This cake was smooth, straight, and yummy!  BUT it didn't really POP until the fresh flowers were put on by the florist.  It is really amazing to me how even a little bit of fresh or gumpaste flowers can really bring life to a cake.  If a cake is going to be all white (with no color or flowers) in my humble opinion it should be a very clean and modern design or have a lot of design going on. This type of cake pictured falls in between and just doesn't look finished.

It's like a nice outfit with no jewelry!   I wish we had the picture to show you, but we couldn't wait on the florist to install the flowers due to another delivery.  You can imagine it though!

Just in case you want to know, this was a 6/8/10/12/14" combo.  I rather do a 6/10/14" type combo but some brides really want extra height without adding extra servings.  Unfortunately, the center of gravity is way out of whack on something this tall and skinny.  I HIGHLY recommend running a wooden dowel (sharpen one end in a new pencil sharpener) through the entire cake before traveling.  We use one thick MDF board with a cake drum (around 5 pieces of cardboard thick) glued on top, then wrapped in cake foil.  The cardboard has to be on top so the when you push the dowel through ALL the layers it will lastly go into the cardboard for stabilization.  I always explain to the people cutting the cake that the top tier will need to be lifted straight up and off the dowel.  I know it's not as easy for them, but when I'm driving up a big mountain with a cake, it's going to get a rod!

Have a great weekend!

Scrolls and Red Rose Wedding Cake

The lesson with this cake you ask? Bring a tool box/repair kit on every cake delivery. I didn't have any cake tragedies here, but I did need several things. First, I had to cut all the flowers and install them on the cake. Then I needed my sticky roller to clean up some of the mess I made on the table. Then I needed a Shout wipe to clean a little buttercream off the table cloth. Lastly, I had to use green floral tape and skewers and rig all the letters so they would sit up above the roses. The small stake in the plastic letters was barely big enough to hold them if you stabbed them directly into the cake, much less towering 4" over. I'm just saying, make a tool kit so you can grab it on your way out the door. Always keep a little of the cakes icing in a bag in cake of a larger tragedy. Last lesson for the day, wrap your ribbon around twice so that it doesn't get soaked with fat from the icing (then secure with a corsage pin). Happy caking!

Piped baby shower with ?

If you don't already know, I am not personally a fan of using plastic on a cake. I'm not judging mind you, I do it. I just try to do it as little as possible. It sure would make life easier and you don't break copyright, which not breaking the law is always a good thing. I'm referring to Elmo and such, not these booties of course. The first tiered cake I ever made was a cake in a similar style of this one. Boy have I learned a lot! I've also learned that people don't always want to spend the money on all gum paste items like booties. Once a customer sees the plastic on a cake, it's hard to "up sale" them to handmade. Just keep that in mind if you don't want to ever "do" plastic. I have such a hard time doing cakes like this that aren't really my "style" anymore. I really do love it when the customers say "do whatever you want". That way you can try that great cake in your head and they get an awesome cake for less than you will charge next time!

Black Vine Wedding cake

There seems to be a lot of weddings this year with a black and white color scheme. I'm a fan, especially when it's done right! For this 3-tier wedding cake I used my house buttercream with some white color added to it. Most people know this, but just in case you don't make your black icing at least a day before. It will deepen overtime and you don't have to use as much color. This is especially important when you are mixing colors like red or orange that have to match ribbon or an invitation. Make it ahead and make plenty. The only tricky thing with a cake like this is making sure you "caulk" the seams in between the layers so that it looks very clean. When you pipe in black, you'd better mean it. It is hard to undo. This design was given to me by the bride. I tried to reproduce it the best I can, but piping is a little like hand writing, everyone has their own style.