Demo: Making a wedding cake at home

[JamericanDiva]

First of all, a great big "THANKS" to K8Memphis for sharing her step by step demo. That's what encouraged me to post mine. I am not a pastry chef, just someone who shares a love of baking and cake decorating... or desserts, for that matter. This cake is being made for my church as they're having a wedding reception (and ceremony) for the couples of the church to renew their wedding vows. I'll be taking part as well. Anyhow, while I've made 2 tier wedding type cakes for family and friends before, this is my first full blown wedding cake. It will be 4 tiers in total a stacked 14", 12" with an 8" and a 6" at the very pinnacle, with each cake on their on set of pillars. I've decided to make a coconut cake with a passionfruit mousse filling. All tiers will be covered in fondant and then a fondant lace. Currently I am in the flowermaking process. I decided to share some of that with you for now as the coconut cake won't be baked until tomorrow. The cakes will be baked tomorrow, then iced and decorated on Saturday, to be served on Sunday. I live in a tiny Manhattan apartment, so space is a high commodity.

On to the flowers... the cake will be decorated with crimson and cream gumpaste roses, rose leaves, ivy leaves, and filler flowers such as stephanotis and pulled blossoms. I didn't photograph the flowermaking process, but will as I'm sure that I'll want more flowers. I want the cake to look lush. Here I demonstrate my way of doing leaves.

I start with a small bit of green paste and a green wire. This grooved (see the lower edge) CelBoard has become my best friend. It embeds the wires so easily into the paste and helps me save time.

I roll the paste down onto the wire.

I then place my "sausaged wire" onto the groove.

I then lay a piece of gumpaste on top of it.

I flatten it out with my rolling pin.

It is now ready to be cut with a leaf cutter.

Making the cut!

Time go give that baby realistic veining... I use a silicone double sided leaf press.

Lay the leaf on the top...

...cover and apply pressure...

Presto! It's starting to take on life...

The veined leaf.

I thin the edges with a ball tool and add a slight ruffle to give the leaf movement.

More life!!! I add a dark green down the center with petal dust...

I accent it with a red along the edges and top of leaf.

Various leaves... the same goes for the ivy I'm making.

I dip them in leaf glaze for that waxy, shiny look.

Here are some loose gumpaste rose petals. They will be coming down the side of the cake as if they were falling off the roses.

Here's ivy. These will be taped together and hanging down the side of the cake where the flowers are clustered.

The following are some of my flowers that I made during the week.

Imagine me doing all this while while my 15 month old is constantly tugging at my legs, "Ma, Ma, Ma, Ma!" ... and no, it doesn't matter if Daddy is home. Humph! The saga will be continued!!!

[fou de Bassan]

What beautiful flowers! I think the presence of a small child doubles my admiration. Looking forward to checking back for more.

[prasantrin]

Wow! Those are absolutely beautiful! The amount of patience you (and others who engage in similar activities) must have amazes me! And it's not just the patience that amazes me, it's the talent, too!

As an aside...nice manicure, too!

[LCS]

Your flowers are beautiful and wow! Doing it with a baby tugging on you. That's skill.

*thumbs up*

[K8memphis]

Diva, thank you so much--you are very kind.

Your flowers look like you just picked them in the backyard!!! Wow you are off to a great start. A coconut cake with passionfruit mousse filling sounds soo good. And for a renew the vows celebration, those are rare--neat that you get to do the cake.

[DianeB]

thanks for the step by step on leaves (now why didn't I think of the sausage trick!) - and your roses are gorgeous!!!!! Can't wait to see more photos -

[JeanneCake]

What gorgeous flowers - the cake is going to be *stunning*! Can't wait to see the rest (and so true about mother and child ... I once made my husband switch sides of the bed with me so my son would wake *him* up in the middle of the night if need be... didn't work. He toddled around to where I was, claiming that Daddy wouldn't get up!!!! )

[divalasvegas]

Oh JamericanDiva I agree with all of the above.............. kudos to you and with a 15-month old too!? Just how are you going to keep your little one out of those beautiful creations? Your work is gorgeous and your cake/filling choice sounds luscious. Out of curiousity, are you using bagged coconut or making it from scratch? Either way, I'm sure it will be delicious. Also, would you please share how/why you decided to venture into such intricate cake baking/decorating? Personally, I've never had the nerve myself, although I have turned out some pretty good tasting, but homey looking, desserts.

And as for your screen moniker, great choice; but, then again as you can tell from mine, I'm a little biased.

[racheld]

Just GORGEOUS!!! Can't wait for more, though I think you must live with a camera in one hand and flowers in the other.

Wish I lived next-door...I'd help take care of that sweet baby, plus I'd let you store all those beautiful flowers at my place, just to give you more room to work, of course.

[MeDeMi]

Your flowers and leaves are beautiful! My last job (before I went out on my own) I had to make leaves and my boss was extremely anal retentive. He had this really time consuming way of making leaves that not only took forever but because there were so many steps there were so many more chances of destroying the leaf as you were manipulating it through the steps. Plus, it took three of us to do it. It was really insane! If he was in the shop we would have to do it his way, but the second he left we were doing it our (much quicker) way! I wish we'd thought of your "sausage" technique!

[wordplay]

Your flowers are so beautiful! Would love to see photos of how you made them. And can't wait to see that cake too -- sounds delicious.

Thanks for sharing!

[Dailey]

beautiful job, the flowers are amazing! i would love to know which brand of cutter you used, if you don't mind sharing.

[Tweety69bird]

I have to agree with everyone, your flowers are spectacular and so life like. Very impressive. Thank you for taking the time to show us your work!!

[JamericanDiva]

Hey everybody!!! I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to respond to everyone sooner but as you know, the cakemaking went into high gear... I'm sooo tired. Not only did I provide the cake for yesterday's ceremony, I was one of the participants. I'm only popping in to say that "I survived!" I will come back and post pics and reply to posts. Thanks so much for your kind words. For now, here are some teaser pics. You will hear tales of terror and mayhem.... for instance.... what transportation disaster occured that transformed the cake from this

to this?

You'll hear all about the cursed 10"!!!

I was brought to the brink of tears!!! Here's the groom's cake that survived intact!!!

As you can see, I ended up modifying the design and it's it's different in that I stacked all the tiers instead of having some of the tiers elevated.

Right now I need some more sleep and to reclaim my house... I will be replying shortly.... bear with me!

[racheld]

OH, ((((Diva))))!!!

I hope you're having a good sleep and will tell us all about it. It is GORGEOUS!!!!

My Daddy always used to say that he's glad we got pictures cause all the beautiful things I made got "et up" anyway.

Just beautiful.

rachel

[freddurf]

Wow, those flowers are amazing! They look so real. Thanks for the demo, I always wondered how they wired the leaves. You make it look so easy. Can't wait to see the rest of the pictures. Get some rest!

[ladyyoung98]

yes id like a step by step pic demo of how u made those fabulouses roses too..bravo...great job

as to why part of the cake fell sideways....maybe somebody let the air out of the tire?

seriously though ..even lopsided it looks fabulous..ive actually seen cakes look that way on purpose

Edited August 8, 2005 by ladyyoung98 (log)

[BarbaraY]

I'm sorry to see that you had a problem along the line.

Your flowers and leaves are so gorgeous! Would love to see more.

[Genny]

Oh, Diva! I could just cry for you, how heartbreaking. If it is any consolation... these are still absolutely lovely and I'm sure no one else in the church could have done better!

Looking forward to the rest of the story....

[K8memphis]

Delivering! The bane of our existence. But it is still absolutely gorgeous. I have a fraction of an idea of the trauma you endured even though all the gorey details are not yet revealed--but I hope you can see it for it's stunning self. The workmanship is award winning.

And I hope you post more details on the making of the roses--mine kinda suck and where did you get that nifty leaf veiner????

You're so brave!!!

Edited August 10, 2005 by K8memphis (log)

[racheld]

JDiva, Dear,

I hope you've recovered from all that work, and will soon be on again, telling us all about the cake. We're looking forward to all your tips and directions, the fillings, the construction, and pictures!!! The cake was just stunning, and we'd like to hear about the ceremony and ALL the compliments you must have been receiving.

Please let us hear all about it. It was a masterpiece, and we're all ears. And eyes (did I mention pictures?).

[ladyyoung98]

im still looking for step by step pics for the roses so i can make some for my wedding cake.....

[JamericanDiva]

Hello my fellow eGulleteers!!! I am so happy to be back up and running. The computer was on the fritz. I haven't forgotten about my folks. I will be posting step by steps of my rose construction soon! My 11 year old daughter is back from her holiday, so I'll have her shoot the step by steps for me. I must thank all of you for your support and consolation....

I don't even think the people realized that the gumpaste flowers were handmade... I kindly asked the girls as they were cutting up the cake to save the roses to the side. I came back home with all of them... save one I gave to my mother in law. I am getting ready for a night out with the hubby, so I will post the story later... I will hopefully have the step by steps up and running by the end of next week!

I missed you guys!!!!

P.S. I guess they must be impressed with something as they've asked me to do a cake baking lesson for the Women's ministry at church. They want to do this the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, in hopes that they will have learned something so they can have a cake for their Thanksgiving tables.... ha! ha! ha!