...was the wedding cake. I like to start easy, work my way up to the big gigs, and this was certainly challenging. Being bridesmaid was a (oh I'm just going to have to use it, aren't I) "piece of cake" in comparison to making such a central aspect to a bride's perfect day.
Luckily, I wasn't alone, and a family member made the base tier fruit cake, so I only had to concentrate on the lemon and chocolate cake layers. I tried many recipes before settling on the two that would work best as small slices of rich cake, without being too sweet or sickly. My co-workers LOVED that aspect of the process - once a month at our research group meetings, I would produce a new cake. Sometimes a different recipe, sometimes a different design. I had 12 months to perfect it, and I needed every one.
What you see here took a day of baking, and 4hrs of decorating onsite. The genius of doing a scattered design like this, is that any defects in the white icing can be easily covered!
I used the celebration cake recipes from BBC Good Food for the lemon and chocolate sponge.
I used Renshaw regal-ice in white for the icing - but learnt the hard way that you must get it from a reputable source, and in the original packaging. This sounds strange, but I purchased some from a shop who sold 500g batches that had been cut from a larger block, and just wrapped in cling film. It was full of air, and all the kneading in the world didn't rescue it.
For the practices, I used ready-rolled icing, which was just fine for the sizes I was doing. I then used the plastic sheeting from the ready-rolled icing as a worktop sheet on which to do the colour and detail work. Saved many a worktop!
I used ivy and birch leaf cutters, then used dust to paint the colours on.
I also invested in a lot of kit - cake cutter (the wire that cuts flat surfaces), cake lifter, fondant smoothers, shape cutters, paintbrushes, wooden and plastic dowel rods (used the plastic).
Luckily, I wasn't alone, and a family member made the base tier fruit cake, so I only had to concentrate on the lemon and chocolate cake layers. I tried many recipes before settling on the two that would work best as small slices of rich cake, without being too sweet or sickly. My co-workers LOVED that aspect of the process - once a month at our research group meetings, I would produce a new cake. Sometimes a different recipe, sometimes a different design. I had 12 months to perfect it, and I needed every one.
What you see here took a day of baking, and 4hrs of decorating onsite. The genius of doing a scattered design like this, is that any defects in the white icing can be easily covered!
I used the celebration cake recipes from BBC Good Food for the lemon and chocolate sponge.
I used Renshaw regal-ice in white for the icing - but learnt the hard way that you must get it from a reputable source, and in the original packaging. This sounds strange, but I purchased some from a shop who sold 500g batches that had been cut from a larger block, and just wrapped in cling film. It was full of air, and all the kneading in the world didn't rescue it.
For the practices, I used ready-rolled icing, which was just fine for the sizes I was doing. I then used the plastic sheeting from the ready-rolled icing as a worktop sheet on which to do the colour and detail work. Saved many a worktop!
I used ivy and birch leaf cutters, then used dust to paint the colours on.
I also invested in a lot of kit - cake cutter (the wire that cuts flat surfaces), cake lifter, fondant smoothers, shape cutters, paintbrushes, wooden and plastic dowel rods (used the plastic).