J&A's Wedding Cake

Jesse & Annie's Wedding cake (grrr... the lace is wonky!)

I just received these "low rez" wedding cake photos from Annie the bride nearly three months after their wedding. Perhaps it's about time I wrote about the wedding cake commission/challenge although it seems like years have past since I last embarked on this crazy baking adventure!

the newly weds ready to cut the cake

When Annie and I originally met up to discuss about what she wanted for her wedding cake it was all pretty vague. She showed me a few photos of her wedding dress on her iphone, I noted down the colour theme and the overall mood that the wedding would be - at a winery, lacy dress, mauve and champagne, cake needed to be durable as it was going to be placed outdoors (that was what she told me hence the fondant icing, but it wasn't the case on the day)... In my mind, the cake would be modern yet elegant (like the bride) but I had no idea how it'll turn out until the morning of the wedding, like most of my art works in the past. Annie put her trust in me, she didn't really care what I came up with so I just wing-ed it... (where do you find such a carefree bride?!)

some rough sketches

I started with some rough ideas in my mind, sketched a few out (at work lol)... and tested out the flavour combinations beforehand, the rest was just actually putting everything together the night before the wedding. It was a long night...  adrenaline kept me pumping and I enjoyed not knowing how the cake would turn out, it somehow did come together at the end. From the sketches, there were intentions of making the sugar flowers but they didn't dry in time so I had to do without :(

Anyway, basically this was how the cake turned out on the day. A lot of the last minute detailing by hand with royal icing, my hand was shaky as hell after being up for 24+ hours... so I just went with the "rustic" whimsical look... and painted bits with edible luster dust mixed with vodka! The colours were deliberately left uneven, and I didn't mind the look of it.

I thought the cake looked like a plastic model when I was done with it... 

Getting the cake there in one piece was also a challenging task. Thanks to A & M and me in the backseat, we managed nearly an hours drive of hilling and super bumpy roads and sharp turns... I had the cake on my lap as it wouldn't fit in any boxes I had, the cake must've weighed more than 10kg! Very robust tiers... loaded with cream and sugar!!!!

... and I didn't have time to make the cake toppers (I didn't know flower paste needed a week to dry!). So luckily I was able to find these cute handmade orange centered chocolate penguins at a chocolatier near the winery as replacement, and I just piped a wedding veil on one penguin's head. I think I might have picked the wrong penguin to be the bride though...

and here are some process photos... a bit yellow coz it was taken at odd hours throughout the night, I can't be bothered to photoshop. The cake flavours were yoghurt, chocolate fudge and white chocolate with dark chocolate and white chocolate ganache. I got some tips about not using buttercream in our hot climate from the lady at the cake equipment supply shop, so I was pretty much limited to using ganache as filling as it won't go rancid without refrigeration. I also made the cake tier combo unconventional heights for fun.

  

more playing around...

purple or white?

It took me hours to roll out and apply the fondant icing and figure out what I wanted to do for decoration... was all a bit of trial and error...

I was shocked at how strong food colouring was, that purple blob of dark purple fondant icing was created with only a tiny dab of powdered violet food colouring! So I really had to lighten it up significantly.

then the sun crept back up all of a sudden! argh........

I thought I was done with the cake at this stage, and I HATED IT.. it looked like an unresolved composition. So I thought I'd try the luster dust, and got a bit carried away.

cake before I decided to paint the purple bits with luster dust and added champagne highlights

look how wonky the royal icing piping are lol... and the last minute luster dust colours gave it some depth

took this photo with my phone camera... 

I stuck on the lace and ribbons around the rim of the cake base... and wala, with some fresh flower petals and romantic candles, it didn't look too bad on set :) Annie was really brave to trust me with their wedding cake as this is my first ever attempt on making a multi-tiered cake, also a first with fondant and royal icing and all the new gadgets/toys I acquired for the decorations.

The wedding was sweet and fun (even in my zombie state). Before serving, Annie made sure the guests were informed about the background of this cake and the work of charity:water and wellwishers.

Thanks again for letting me be a part of your special day.