Vintage Lace Cake

I recently purchased some cake lace mats and cake lace to try out on some cakes and to practice for an order. I also needed to create a display cake for the lovely Annabelle Jane Cake school. So I decided to combine these 2 things and create a 3 tiered cake with lace. 

I used the Claire Bowman lace and mixed it up to the instructions, filled the mats and dried it in the oven. I found the cake really easy to use and it cake out beautifully, it's a simple way of creating really intricate detailing. 

Lace

I covered the dummies in blue icing, piled the cakes up and placed them on the board. Using water I stuck the lace around each layer of the cake. I carefully joined the lace together to form a a smooth join and the pattern matches up on the edges. 

To decorate the cake I made some 5 petal flowers, in white, and stuck these on the cake. I would have liked the flowers to have more shape to them but I'm having a bit of a trouble getting my flowers to dry at the moment, the dining room is too cold, so I just used them as is. I used some royal icing to stick them on and to fill the centres. 

Finished cake

Overall I'd say this isn't one of my most detailed cakes or most intricate, however, I think the effect is simple and elegant. It gives a good example of the lace and I'm pleased with how it turned out. This cake will be going up to Maidstone on Tuesday for their window display. I'm really pleased to have been given this opportunity to display at the Annabelle Jane Cake School, I've done all my courses at this shop and have learnt so much from their expertise. I'm honoured to be able to display these skills there. 

Simple White Roses

For my final display cake I went back to the flowers theme but decided to make it much simpler. I wanted to introduce a little colour, but subtly, so I covered the 3 tiers in a pale blue icing. I used 3 dummies, 10", 8" and 6", on a 14" drum. I covered the drum in pale blue icing as well and trimmed everything with cream ribbon. 

I made some cream and white roses for the top and side of the cake. On top I created a topper with rose leaves as the base and then 3 large roses on top of this. 

Roses on the top

Part way down the cake, on each tier, I added a small rose bud and then on the board at the bottom I placed another full rose. 

Roses on each tier

Finally I placed some rose petals scattered over the cake, these were cream with a hint of pink at the tips. 

Petals scattered on the cake

Overall the effect of this cake is very simple but effective. I like making cakes like this and I hope that it'll inspire some brides in the coming weeks. 

Finished Cake

3 Tiered Flower Cake

For my sister's 30th birthday I decided to make a 3 tiered cake with flowers on it. She asked me to make lemon, chocolate and ginger cake. So I did. 

8" Lemon Cake

400g Butter

400g Self Raising Flour

400g Caster Sugar

8 Eggs

2tbsp Lemon Juice

6" Chocolate Cake

160g Butter

160g Plain Chocolate

25ml Coffee

1tsp Vanilla Essence

160g Plain Flour

1tsp baking powder

1tsp bicarbonate

240g Light soft brown sugar

3 eggs

150ml Soured Cream

4" Ginger Cake

50g Butter

50g Caster Sugar

50g Self Raising Flour

1tsp Baking Powder

1tsp Ginger

1 Egg

1tsp Golden Syrup

Once all of the cakes were baked I left them to cool and then cut them, using cocktail sticks as guides, at an angle. If I did this again I would cut the cakes at a much more of an angle. I then covered each of the cakes in butter icing and then sugar paste. 

I didn't have dowels, next time I'd use them, so I placed the cakes on boards and then put them on top of each other. The cakes sunk slightly but managed to hold pretty well considering there was no support. 

I cut out flowers and placed them on the side of the cake. I also rolled out a 30 for the top of the cake. Finally I made a Gerbera flower for the side of the cake.  

Gerbera Flower

Slightly Wonky Cake

Balanced Layers

Overall, considering the time restraints and lack of certain items, I was quite pleased with how this cake turned out. If I was to make it again I'd change certain elements and give myself more time to focus on it. I hope that my sister liked the cake and enjoyed the left overs.