Brown and cream...nice wedding colors!

On Saturday afternoon, I delivered a wedding cake to Black Forest Community Center. This was the first time I had a delivery there, since the last wedding I had scheduled there was moved to another venue and time that I could not work with. The bride's wedding colors were chocolate brown and cream...very nice. The decorations and flowers on the cake were very simple, as well as the flavors...vanilla with vanilla cream and chocolate with chocolate mousse. The venue was kind of rustic, woodsy, and log cabiney...very different, but I liked it...an older building, but very usable for a wedding...good sized kitchen with very adequate facilities. One draw-back...no A/C, but in Black Forest, it doesn't really get all that warm, even in the heat of the day. They just had a fan blowing.

The quilt design on the cake is made with a plastic template that you press into the sides of the cake and then go over with a small fondant cutting tool. Chocolate buttercream dots were added where the diamond shapes came together. This design would not work well on a round cake, but turns out nice on square tiers.

Quilt template

Fondant cutting tool

Using whipped cream icing on cakes

I had a request for whipped cream icing on the last wedding cake I designed. The best whipped cream I have found to use on wedding cakes is a stabilized whipped cream made with Rich's whip topping base. You add 2 parts of the base to 1 part of heavy whipping cream and whip with the wire whisk attachment of your mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form. For this particular cake, I also added vanilla and some ivory color. This is a great tasting whipped cream, goes on smoothly, and holds its shape well. You can also add other liquids to this base for different flavors. I buy it by the quart size, and it comes frozen, but I believe you can get it in larger sizes also. The flavors for this cake were spice with cream cheese filling, chocolate with coconut pecan filling, and banana split (layers of whipped cream with bananas, pineapple, and strawberries, drizzled with chocolate syrup and sprinkled with nuts). The flowers were very simple, yet elegant, as was the design of the cake. I displayed the cake on a 22 inch round silver plateau, which I believe adds greatly to the presentation, making it a beautiful centerpiece. The wedding venue was the officer's club at Petersen Air Force Base.

Valentine's Day Wedding Cake

I did an interesting cake today for a Valentine's wedding. Actually, the bride and groom were already married, but renewing their vows. The cake was interesting because all of the decorations were done in fondant, even the borders. The hearts were all done free hand by rolling strips of fondant and then just forming them into different size hearts and putting them randomly on the background fondant, which, by the way, sticks together with just a little water. The bride also had beautiful roses to put on the cake, which finished it off perfectly. She had sent me a picture of this cake that she found on-line and asked me to duplicate it. I think it turned out pretty well for being the first time doing a cake with these kind of decorations. I always enjoy new challenges.

Fresh vs. Silk Flowers on Wedding Cakes

When discussing the topic of flowers on wedding cakes, both silk and fresh flowers have their advantages, but I always prefer the finished look of fresh flowers on a cake. The flowers the bride chooses for her cake can "make or break" the look of the cake. Also, a very simple, everyday cake can be brought to life with just the right flowers. The main advantage of using silk flowers on a cake is that the flowers can be arranged on the cake way ahead of time vs. fresh flowers should be arranged on the cake just prior to the reception. When using ivy as greenery on a cake, I always use silk ivy, because fresh ivy just does not do what you want it to when laying it on the cake. Silk ivy is wired so can be shaped and formed to fit the cake. This is probably the only time when I combine both silk and fresh flowers/greenery. Most of the time, the flowers are just pushed directly into the cake and then removed before the cake is cut. This does not present a problem. If, however, you are using some exotic flower/greenery for the first time and you do not know much about its characteristics, please check first to make sure the flower is not poisonous...not good for the bride or groom to die on their honeymoon!