Seafoam Blue and Blush Ombré Wedding Cake with Horizontal Striping

Was HONORED to make the wedding cake for Ben and Carissa Clare, June 10, 2016! Their wedding at Still Water Hollow in Nampa, ID was so BEAUTIFUL.  I was glad to get to be a small part of it! Lemon cake with buttercream filling and icing. It's iced in an old-fashioned style with horizontal striping and ombré colors of seafoam blue and blush. I didn't know I'd be arranging the flowers on the cake myself (had thought they'd arrive "ready to place") but that didn't stop me and I thought they turned out quite well. 😊 On a side note, I was surprised to see local celebrity KTVB anchor Dee Sarton come out to direct where we could park to deliver the cake (I believe she owns/runs the venue). She laughed when I told her my husband hadn't listened when I tried to direct him there and said "they never do!" Ha! She also told me the cake was beautiful, and added "and I've seen a lot of wedding cakes!" What a nice compliment, right?!!

Wedding Cake with Burlap and Gerber Daisies

 can't tell you how happy I was to make this cake, how happy I am that these two people found each other and have begun their life together. The bride, like a sister to me and dear to my heart, gave me few instructions, just burlap, gerber daisies and she pinned a few pics on Pinterest. Love her confidence that I'd make something she'd love. 

If you're interested in knowing how this cake came together, see the photos below. Keep in mind this is how I do it, but there are a few ways to put a big cake together.

1. Bottom tier is 3 14" layers (vanilla and chocolate marble cake). Filling is vanilla creme. Below, it is stacked, filled and crumb coated with buttercream icing.

2. Big cakes are heavy and need dowels. I used 4 wooden dowels cut to size for support and 1 for the center, which helps keep the tiers from sliding.

3. Next I added a 10" cardboard cake round, for the next tier which is, coincidentally 2 layers of 10" marble cake. 

4. Some people put their tiers together and then set them on the cake. I prefer to assemble them on the cake: bottom layer, icing "dam," filling, then next layer, and a crumb coating of buttercream.

5. I chose to use shake straws as support, 4 of them cut to size. They are strong enough to hold the 6" tier. Then I added a 6" cardboard cake round.

6. Add the 6" layer and follow the same steps as #4 above.

7. Next step was to frost the whole thing with buttercream.

8. Then I just smoothed it( I use the viva towel method, google it if you're curious) and decorated as below. I used the cornelli lace and dot techniques, burlap ribbon and live gerber daisies (complements of the bride). VOILA!

Small, Simple, Elegant Wedding Cake

This cake was for a very special couple with a very special love story, several years in the making. It was last minute but I was very excited to be able to make this for them. The bride surprisingly enough allowed me to design the cake myself! I went with her colors of ivory and deep red and tried to keep it as classy and simple and elegant as I could. The cake is vanilla with buttercream frosting, raspberry filling, and the flowers are marshmallow fondant.The other accents are silver draggees. 

Colorful Wedding Cake with Clothespin Doll Cake Topper

Those who know me well, know I really DON'T like to commit to wedding cakes. Why? Have you ever looked at the badly done wedding cakes on Cake Wrecks? I have this fear that my cake would look like one of 'those'. Or have you seen the Sunday Sweets section, also from Cake Wrecks? I look at those and wonder how I could EVER measure up. And do you know how much time it takes to do this? We're not talking a leisurely afternoon of batter and frosting. It takes DAYS to plan and complete a wedding cake. However, on rare occasions, I have said yes to a wedding cake. Always under some amount of peer pressure, and never without a worry that I might be the undoing of some brides childhood dreams of the perfect wedding.

I received this text today, regarding yesterday's cake:

"Cathy!  The cake looked amazing and all the clothespin people too! People were raving about how wonderful the cake tasted! I can't thank you enough! "

Can you hear my loud, resounding "PHEW!" ???

I now feel empowered to be able to post the photos here. It was a simple cake, really. It's not "Sunday Sweet" worthy, but it made the bride happy and that really was the only goal. It's really just the size that I hate to do, as delivery is not as easy as those of you who have never done it might think . . . But I digress. 

Here's the cake:

Yes, those really were the wedding colors, all of them. :-) And as an overall theme, they worked! The reception was decorated tastefully, bright and fun, perfect to party the night away and celebrate.

The top and bottom tier are red velvet, the middle is butter pecan. All boast the amazing white chocolate cream cheese filling that I recently discovered a recipe for. The frosting is my own buttercream.

The design was simple, as the bride chose a scrolling I've done several times and that I'm quite comfortable with. I also made the cake topper, and thought it turned out really well. I made bridesmaids and groomsmen, but I hurried to finish them. With more time, I'd have loved to make them even better.

I also made 2 11X15 cakes to extend the number of servings. Nothing fancy, one is red velvet and the other butter pecan, both with the white chocolate cream cheese filing. Yum!

All in all, a happy ending. I'm happy the cake didn't topple over in my car, that the bride and groom had a great wedding, and that my cake was not a "cake wreck." This time. Lol!

Fancy Batman Wedding Cake!

What a fun time I had with this cake! It's similar to a couple of other cakes on the web, but I made the details my own. :) 

 

Top tier is vanilla cake, middle is strawberry and the bottom is lemon. All with French vanilla creme filling. Buttercream frosting, marshmallow fondant accents. I hand piped the scrolling, and did it first in navy blue, then ice blue, loved the effect. 

Hand cut the cityscape from mmf, then used yellow buttercream for the "lights." Batman is hand formed from mmf. The effect I was going for was that he was crawling out from under the flowered wedding topper. :) 

The wedding couple loved their unique cake, and it fit right in with their fun and creative wedding!

Elegant Small Wedding Celebration Cake

Made this cake for a coworker in December. . . She'd gotten married and we had a little celebration at work. Vanilla cake, raspberry filling and buttercream frosting. Lots of people ask me about the scrolling, it's freehand. Not difficult, anyone can do it with a little practice. :) And it DOES make for an elegant looking cake, don't you think?!!

 

Simple, Elegant, Chocolate Buttercream Frosted Wedding Cake

This was a somewhat last minute cake for a bride who wasn't picky and let me choose the design for her small wedding cake. It's yellow cake filled with a layer of chocolate fudge and a layer of chocolate mousse. Chocolate buttercream frosting. The little flowers are marshmallow fondant. I really liked how it turned out like old leather . . . Was really a pretty effect.

50th Wedding Anniversary Cake

This cake was made for a couple who eloped 50 years ago and never got to have their own wedding cake. With that in mind, I tried to make it pretty elaborate, with a lot of hand piping. The cake is golden vanilla with vanilla creme filling and buttercream frosting. The gold balls are made of marshmallow fondant rolled in gold pearl dust (edible). Was a lot of work but worth it to make a cake that helped make their event a little more special.

Small Old Fashioned Wedding Cake

Small wedding cake, with freehand scrolling and cornelli lace. Vanilla cake with raspberry filling and buttercream frosting. Has a sweet old fashioned look, don't you think? The couple added their own topper later.

These are the two sheet cakes for the same wedding.