A Very Modern Wedding Cake!

Ashley was a very brave bride who wanted something a little more modern than most wedding cakes I've done. Okay... a lot more modern than most of my wedding cakes :) This square cake was different heights for each tier and the cakes were not centered (on purpose, of course!). She showed me a pattern that she was using in the wedding of these black and white flowers and so I came up with a few sketches. I mimicked those black and white flowers in the design and then brought in 2 much larger flowers for pops of color.

The couple ordered Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Cup Cake, Tuxedo Cake, and Almond Joy Cake. It's all covered in marshmallow fondant and then I hand painted the black and white flowers. For the larger flowers, I used different sized round cutters, created petals by carving out pieces of the flower and then used a pattern tracing wheel to create the lines in each petal. When I painted the flowers (one in teal and one in red), the grooves of the pattern tracing wheel created deeper colors than the flower itself, which I loved! I made a rounded yellow center and then used round piping tips to create a pattern on the centers as well.

Thank you, Ashley, for trusting me with your vision!! :) I loved making this cake!

Animal Print Birthday Cake!

Zeth wanted a "super girlie" birthday cake for his wife. He knew it should be about shopping, purses, shoes and knew she wanted animal print, pink, and black. We came up with this design together. There are 4 separate cakes here and everything else is made out of sugar.

I made this high heel out of gumpaste and waited till it dried before painting on the leopard print. The box underneath was also cake with a hand-painted leopard design. The zebra print shopping bag in the back was so much fun because making tissue paper out of sugar is actually super easy! Roll out your fondant (marshmallow fondant in this cake) very thin. Cut into different size squares and rectangles. Bunch up some plastic wrap and place on a cookie sheet. Now, lay the squares and rectangles over the plastic wrap so that they are taking on the shape of the valleys and hills of the plastic. Let them dry over night and then you'll have  sugar tissue paper :)

This purse cake was covered in white marshmallow fondant and then I painted it black so that it would keep its shine. I dried the purse strap over a round piece of styrofoam until it was hardened and then it stood up on its own. I made the bow and flowers out of marshmallow fondant as well. I used a pattern tracing wheel to create the stitched look on the purse itself. So simple but gives it a really nice detail. The square cake behind it has a sugar bow and a stenciled buttercream design on the sides.

The cakes were 24-Carrot Cake, Brownie Lovers, Cookies & Cake, and White Raspberry Kiss Cake. Yum!

Red & Orange Cherry Blossom Cake

Rissa & Jasper were having a fall wedding but knew they wanted a cherry blossom flower cake so we joined the two ideas and came up with this red & orange cherry blossom wedding cake. The branches and flowers are all sugar as well! They chose Truffled Chocolate Cake and Tuxedo Cake with chocolate chips... yes, this couple loves their chocolate :) Since then, Rissa has ordered the Tuxedo cake a few times... sometimes, pregnancy cravings really need to be fed with cake! haha. Congrats on the baby, you two :)

Spring Garden Themed Flower Cake

 

I know it's winter but let's dream of warmer days :) This is a spring themed garden cake I made for Leah's birthday. Colleen had a set of spring themed decor for the party and I matched the cake to those design ideas. Everything on the cake is edible, made of marshmallow fondant including the bees, ladybugs, and sign on top. So much fun to make! The cake was chocolate on top and the bottom was Turtle Power Cake (Check out my flavor list at SaltCakeCity.com).

I made the clouds by piping really thick circles of buttercream on the cake. Once it set for a bit, I pushed in the tiny little point that comes when you pipe frosting. I made the flowers by layering different flower shapes on top of each other. Enjoy!

Black & White Damask with Lime Green Flowers

Anika was having a very elegant wedding and wanted a damask patterned wedding cake. We originally played around with the idea of having lime green design on a white cake but then determined that black and white was the way to go with accents of lime green and white flowers. The cake was 24-Carrot Cake, Coconut Macaroon, and White Almond Wedding Cake (flavor list at www.SaltCakeCity.com). It was covered in homemade marshmallow fondant and then the design on the cake was all buttercream.

This cake was huge! It doesn't look like it from the picture but wow! When we carried this in, we were SO nervous about dropping it. The reception was held in the backyard of this beautiful estate and in order to get the cake into the wedding gazebo, we went through the driveway, down the side of the main house, down a steep heel, over a bridge (not over a river and through the hills though), and into the gazebo. Phew! This cake was HEAVY! In any case, the wedding reception was absolutely beautiful and just as I put the finishing touches on the cake, the beautiful bride and groom came in. They were so happy with the outcome and therefore, so was I  :)

White & Black Separated Cake

Chanelle wanted a really unique but also traditional wedding cake. We spent a lot of time figuring out which details to include and exclude for this wedding cake in order to get it perfect for her. We kept it traditional by using the columns to separate the cakes but threw in a more modern design with the floral designs and using a black and white color theme. The top two tiers were hand-piped designs, the third tier down was a floral designer stencil and the bottom tier was quilted with black dragees at the corners. The whole cake was covered in marshmallow fondant. Half of the cake was Chocolate cake with strawberry filling and the other half was White Chocolate Dipped Strawberry cake.

I have to admit a major fault here. Chanelle wanted the whole cake to be shimmered, which I think is so lovely because it shines beautifully. So I completed each tier, then sprayed the whole cake with edible pearl shimmer. I had a total panic attack when I realized that the shimmer on the black piping turned the black into silver. AH! I spent the next few hours hand painting all of the piping back into black. I felt so silly afterward!

So I try to assemble most of my cakes, if possible, before I get to the venue. There's really nothing more nerve racking than assembling a cake with a crowd of wedding guests surrounding me. Makes my hands shake!! Haha. This cake, however had to be assembled on site. I brought all of the back up supplies just in case I had a cake-tastrophy on the way over. Luckily, it was smooth sailing all the way. I loved the lighting behind the cake table as well. I placed the bride and groom on the top, added the cute purple flowers and took off just in time for the wedding to start. Yay!

Red Anemone Wedding Cake

Airin's wedding cake was inspired by a cake she had seen and fell in love with. We tweaked the cake a bit to make sure it reflected her wedding feel and style. I made large red sugar anemone flowers to put on the sides of the cake as well as the top. She wanted the black swirls to cascade down the sides of the cake rather than be all over the cake. 

 The whole cake is covered in marshmallow fondant and I made the flowers and swirls out of fondant as well. The cake was Mint Chocolate Chip, Samoa Says Cake, and Raspberry Cheesecake flavored.

Aaron Despain Photography took these beautiful shots of the cake. You can find more of his amazing work at www.aarondespainphotography.com.
 Here is an up close shot of the flowers. Enjoy! :)

Swirls & Quilted Ute Red

Here in Utah, there are lots of University of Utah fans and Isabelle wanted to use Ute Red in her wedding cake. The cake was covered in marshmallow fondant and then I used buttercream for the swirls and dots. The middle tier is quilted with red dragees in the corners of the diamonds. Hmm.... I think that's all there is to explain :)

The top and bottom tiers were Tuxedo Cake and the middle tier was Strawberry Not So Short Cake. Yum!