Beth's Cake

My little sister got married last week and she asked me to make a few cakes for them. The first one was for the getting ready lunch, all she said to me was that she wanted a chocolate fudge cake and I could practice whatever I wanted for it. So I found out what flowers she was having and decorated it to match, cream roses and blue hydrangeas. 

Hydrangeas and Rose

I made an 8" rich chocolate cake and filled it with chocolate ganache. I then covered the cake in white sugar paste, with 2 layers so I got a good finish on the cake. I made some cream roses for the top of the cake and over 100 hydrangeas. I had great trouble with these as the petals kept snapping off, I tried several methods and still wasn't overly pleased with the final bunch but it was the best I could do at that moment in time. 

Finished Cake

I trimmed the cake with a thick pale blue ribbon and then used a cream thinner ribbon to add another dimension. Finally I made a bow for the front of the cake. 

Ribbon Bow

Overall I was happy with the cake, the covering was good and I got a good overall finish. I would have liked the flowers to be more perfect and to have kept their petals but I'm glad that I didn't attempt it for a 3rd time. The cake tasted very nice and I got some nice compliments. Maybe some of those people could write reviews for my facebook page? 

Vanilla Sponge for a BBQ

I was asked to make a large vanilla sponge for a BBQ party with a text on the top and flowers around the side. Since I'm currently doing my PME Sugar Flower Diploma I decided to use these skills to decorate the cake. My first idea was to use a lily to edge the cake, so I made some Easter Lilies. 

Vanilla Sponge

However, once I'd made the cake I wasn't happy with how this looked so I decided to change my plan. I had a couple of Calla Lilies that I had made and some pink Carnations so I decided to see how these looked around the cake. 

Test Design

I thought they looked good so I decided to edge the whole cake with Calla Lilies and Carnations. This then resulted in me needing a lot of both so I was very busy. I also decided to edge the cake with Hydrangea flowers as I'd been practicing these too. 

Lots of Calla Lilies

Even more Carnations

Once the cake was baked and covered in white sugar paste I wrote the requested Bible verse on the top of the cake. To try and lay this out I write it on the computer and then copy it accross by eye. I wasn't very happy with the results as it wasn't central, or straight, but it was clear enough to read. I hope that I can improve my piping skills drastically over the coming year so that I can be much happier with this aspect of my cakes. 

Piped Verse

Finally I edged the whole cake with the wired flowers and stuck them down with royal icing. 

Flowers Bordering the Cake

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