Wedding Cake - Aussie Style

 … with a Texas Touch!

Making a Wedding Cake during a Pandemic with Strict lock-down rules was always going to have it's own special set of challenges.  
Not having the tools or ingredients easily to hand was one thing - but the concept that I was making a Cake for a Wedding that might not be allowed to proceed was frustrating.

The Groom was Our Son, and he'd asked for Australian Native Flowers, Kangaroo Paw and Blue Gum Leaves.  To this, I added the Victorian Floral Emblem - Pink Heath as well.

The Bride - far from her home of Texas USA didn't ask for anything specific.  However, I knew that she wanted Texas Bluebonnets to feature somewhere on her Wedding Day and of course Yellow Roses.

Finding some Botanical Sketches of the Bluebonnets which gave me the correct size and shape helped enormously. 

Together with 3 perfect Roses and Our Aussie Natives, as well as some White Sakura Flowers I was able to make 3 beautiful Sprays.

How to arrange them into something that looked good was another matter.

What type of Cake? 

How Tall - What Shape?

Let the Flowers decide!

The top tier spilling out of a small pouring jug and some negative space between. And for the observant - a small ceramic Gecko peeking out of the flowers.

It wasn't what we wanted for them.  

It wasn't what we had planned way back in January.

At the end of a very Big Day, 
In a small Local Cafe (that opened just for us).

The Cake was cut and the Marriage Celebrated, in a Covid-safe way with a handful of (Legally allowed) Friends and Family.

Flowers for My Wedding Cake

 In Australia the THREE most photographed things at a Wedding are in Order:

1.  Bride

2. Wedding Cars

3. The Cake

Our Bride to Be doesn't understand the ritual of leaving home, Chauffeured to the Church in a Glorious Car bedecked with White Ribbons. 

All that see her on her journey wish her well. Often with a Toot of Horns or a Wave. 

So there will be no Vintage Cars this time.

However - There WILL be Cake!

I have been working on the Special Flowers for their Cake over the past few weeks.  

Cake decorators are pedantic about Botanical Accuracy when making Sugar paste Flowers and this time A LOT of research has gone into these blooms so I can get them as close as possible.

The Groom wanted Australian Flowers.  

The Bride?  Well of Course it would need to be Flowers from "Home" for her.
The "Yellow Rose of Texas" (Harison's Yellow Rose) and a certain little Wildflower that is close to her heart - The Texas Bluebonnet.

They haven't seen their Flowers yet so this is all I can show you.  I am happy with how they have turned out - Just hope that they are!

Laura's Cake

My DDIL's Sister is getting married (second time around) and asked me if I would make her Wedding Cake. This is something I was more than happy to do.

Only problem  - She has asked for a "Naked Cake".  As far as requests go this one is NOT my favourite

Do not be fooled into thinking that this is an "EASY" cake to make- There is NOWHERE to hide!
Layers need to be perfectly level, sides straight and just the right amount of Buttercream.

Making this one even more complicated - The Bride wants FRESH Flowers to be added on the day.
So I find myself handing over a Partially finished Cake...

 .. not knowing what it is going to look like on the Day was a Bit nerve-wracking


Saturday Night I received a Photo from DDIL

Not too shabby if I must say so!

I wish them all the Best for their Future.

Everyone Loves a Challenge - Pt 3

A big cake needs big flowers, 

or lots of flowers or BOTH !

So I set to making lots of filler flowers and coloured them in a very 'Bridal' White Satin and lemon. There were also dainty Rose Buds in Antique Cream with a soft Pink Blush and the big show-stopper the Peony in Coral.

I then started to wire the flowers into a sweet spray for the Bottom tier.

And the 3rd tier has a Half Peony, a Bud and the supporting cast of Roses and filler flowers

More for the 2nd tier, this time with a full Peony

Finally the top tier with one Full Peony, one half bloom and a bud to spill over the edge of the cake

and just so the Bride & Groom have something nice to look at ...
a small extra spray of Roses peeking out the back.

All that was left to do now was carefully pack everything up -

Deliver it to the Wedding Reception Venue

And place it all together - 

adding some beautiful satin pearls at the base of each cake.

I think I can say that this challenge has been successfully completed !

Footnote - from the Mother of the Bride:

We ALL loved the cake. It got so many compliments on the night - so congratulations on a job well done. It looked amazing on the table surrounded by vases of fresh flowers of similar colours. It was lovely and certainly complimented a wonderful day.

Everyone loves a Challenge - Pt 2

It has been almost a month since I received THE stand for the wedding cake I am making.  In that time I have auditioned many different sizes of cake - starting with the size the Bride originally asked for. And it was clear from the outset that a 10 inch cake on a 20 inch cake stand was NOT going to look good!


Having been given artistic licence - It was up to me to make it work.  Fortunately this cake was only for display, and the true cake that the guests will receive was being prepared 'behind the scenes'.  So I could begin work on it earlier.

I settled on a 4 tier cake starting with a 14 inch base, then 12, 10, and finally 8 inches on top.  A request for some surface embellishment, saw me piping hundreds of small dots in Royal Icing around the sides.

The issue of the cake stand still had to be addressed - as it has a 1 1/2 inch deep bowl, the cake still looked like something from Alice in Wonderland.  The solution was found - in my Dad's workshop!
A 20 inch clear perspex disc that had been just waiting for an opportunity to be useful - fitted perfectly on the rim of the stand, with a little help from some mounting tape.

Filling the bowl with dry Rose Petals now gave me the perfect base for the cake to sit on.

Now all I had to do was make enough Flowers to decorate the cake . . .

Everyone loves a Challenge . . . .

I am at the moment up to my eyebrows in another Wedding Cake.  The design has been decided and I have made a start on the elegant small bouquet of flowers the Bride had asked for.

It needs to sit on a Cake Stand.

There are many lovely cake stands around at the moment.
This is one of my Cake stands ...

This is the Cake Stand the Mother of the Groom presented to the Bride.

It was very expensive.

Standing 10.5 inches high

and 21 inches across

 it is

Very

Big!

I think I am going to need more cake - and more flowers - a lot more flowers!

Another Wedding - A Perfect Day ???

17th January 2014

Temperature 46 deg Celsius (that's 114.8 F) 

The suit alterations had not been done ... 

And "all we had to do" - 

was to get him to the Church on time! 

The Bridal Party sat when they didn't have to stand

and Iced water was handed out with the Order of Service ...

The Groom had his own "Fan Club"

(not content to just sit and fan themselves my gorgeous Great Nephews decided everyone else needed cooling too.)

... now Husband and Wife.

Parents of the Bride - seem happy with the proceedings

(they don't know about the suits).

Then outside into the heat ...

Where we all scurried into the Sunday School Hall to try and cool down.

And the Best Man found he had other duties,

doing his best to keep the Maid of Honour cool.

The photographers decided to "work with what they had" and do some shots in the hall.

So Very Formal

But fitting to their "Retro" Theme

and not so formal

a bit more relaxed

Our Bridal Party.

Then On to the Reception where - - -

The Cake was cut...

The meal enjoyed

(especially Dessert)

They Danced ...

and danced some more...

Then time to say "Goodnight"

and Drive off into the "Happily Ever After"

Thank you for sharing their day.

How with Prayer and Perseverance it can be fixed.

Last week was one of those "Once in 100 years" weather patterns that seem to come around with remarkable frequency. A whole week of above 40 deg. C temperatures with no relief in sight until Saturday.

Our DS#1 was getting married on Friday and I still had to finish his wedding cake.
They wanted chocolate so making it well in advance was not an option.


The bottom tier, which was to be cut at the reception, still had to get it's 2nd coat of fondant.  I didn't have any option but to ice it very early before the temperature rose any further.

The flowers were finished and the first posy placed carefully on the top tier which was sitting securely on the 2nd tier, these layers were dummy cakes so I knew I could finish them beforehand.


I placed the cake carefully on the footed stand and decided I could assemble it at the reception venue.
Packing it into a box and then into the car we then set off for a 48 km trip. There are several roundabouts on the way and after going around a particularly tight one, I started hearing some odd noises from the back of the car .
I decided to pull over and check.

OH NO!

The cake stand had tilted with every right turn and righted itself when I straightened up only to do it again and again for every roundabout we drove through.

The scene that greeted me was heartbreaking.

The icing that was way too soft because of the heat, was mashed into the cake where it hit against the top tier of the cake.

Flowers were broken - some beyond recognition, and the feature flower had 3 main petals broken. The pieces embedded in the bottom cake or scattered around the carton.


(At this point in time I was a wee bit overwrought!)
I had a little bit of my kit with me but not nearly enough to rectify this kind of damage, fortunately, we had pulled into a Bunnings car park and we were able to buy some super glue, artist brushes and a packet of coloured chalk.  Now to get to somewhere cool so I could work - and the only place close by was the Bride's home.

Should I say at this point she had NOT SEEN her cake?

We pulled into the drive - the outside temperature was stifling -
A cool drink, Empty table, a pair of Tweezers, Cornflour and some space was all I needed.
This is where the Prayer comes in - but then I think the Good Lord already knew I needed His help.

Cake Decorators have the same saying as Quilters -
If you can't fix it...
Embellish it!
or hide it - whatever works!

I was able to 'plaster' over the dent, glue one petal back together and hide the rest of the damaged flowers by taking a bit of Gypsophila from the second tier posy and placing it over the broken petal.


I had decided to wrap the cake in "Rustic Twine" - yes STRING of all things (to fit in with their country theme) and that saved the day to mask any other dents in the icing.

So here we have it -
In place in front of the Bridal table
with strategically placed posies and all wrapped in string.




And what did the Bride and Groom think when it was all finished?

I think they were pretty happy!


... and no one else knew anything had happened at all!

Making Progress

I can barely credit it has been over a week since I uploaded my last post and looking back I didn't have much to show for a Wedding cake that was required in just 2 weeks.

I am pleased to say that the flower sprays are finished and the Cake Dummies have their first undercoat of icing .  I have no idea if you are supposed to do two layers for these dummy cakes or just one thick one - but I prefer to err on the side of treating them as if they were REAL cakes.
(I still have to bake the actual cakes - a small problem as the Bride wants chocolate and they can't be made in advance like fruit cakes.)

As far as the flowers were concerned - I was given the list from the florist who is making the bouquets and left to work out what "Seasonal flowers which MAY include ..." actually meant.
I have gone with posies that include Alstroemeria, Blushing Bride Protea, Billy Buttons, Blue Gum, Gypsophila, Berries and Gumnuts. And if the bride arrives with a bouquet made of all the flowers on the list that I didn't use ...
I think it will still work - it is a Country Wedding.
(Now is not the time to try and learn how to make Spider Chrysanthemums!)

Flowers, Flowers and more Flowers

The Wedding cakes are now cooked and smell incredible.
Now they just need some flowers.

I feel that Ivory flowers on an Ivory cake can look very bland, and the photographer side of me is always thinking of how a cake will photograph and to photograph well - it needs colour.


So I made LOTS of filler flowers in 3 shades of blue.
Because all Brides need "Something Blue".

I made a dozen or so small Orchids
(because I really wanted to learn how to make miniature Orchids)
and dusted them a lovely golden yellow.

And I made lots of petite Calla Lilies.
That hung around the kitchen like a family of Field Mice for a week while they dried.
And then another week until I could get around to dusting them in the chosen colours.
(Using a Pasta Drying rack certainly kept them all out of mischief.)

And now the fun part starts...
Wiring them all into THREE bouquets to sit on the Three tiers of The Cake.

Will they come out OK?

I don't quite know -
But I was happy enough with the sample spray that I attached it to the cake knife and promptly ticked THAT job off the list!

Now of course, you all realize, that you are now sworn to secrecy and that none of this can get back to any of the wedding guests!
It is just between you and me... OK?