Classic meets contemporary wedding cake

Classic meets contemporary wedding cake

Having recently attended a masterclass with Suzanne Thorp at The Frostery I thought I’d share my classic meets contemporary wedding cake I designed!

I’ve wanted to attend a class with Suzanne for many years and finally got the opportunity in February 2022.  We had some initial chats to discuss what I’d like to learn.  I explained that I specifically wanted to learn classic royal icing techniques, so I could incorporate them into my work to create classic meets contemporary wedding cake designs.  And also to become more confident with piping monograms directly onto a cake.

The Masterclass

So on a foggy, drizzly Tuesday morning I travelled to Uppermill, Greater Manchester.  I spent seven and a half happy hours with a piping bag in hand, practising the techniques.  I love piping.  It gives me the same ‘flow’ that pottery used to do.  It enables me to create bespoke cakes for my couples, taking inspiration from all the elements of their wedding.  This can be the texture or embellishements from the wedding outfits, invitations, venue decor, flowers – anything!  As such, royal icing piping features a lot in my work.  But this has typically involved plain nozzle piping and lace brush embroidery and it was the architectural 3d scrolls I wanted to add to my repertoire.

This blog post is going to be image (as opposed to word) heavy as I’m not going to give all Suzanne’s teaching away.  But I learnt so much!  Even down to the basics – discovering I’ve spent almost 13 years not even making my icing correctly!

Practising

Suzanne is so skilled and the most patient of tutors.  After a whole day of practising I was allowed to decorate a dummy cake…

Classic meets contemporary wedding cake inspiration

The following day, at 4.45am, a new design popped into my head… I was staying away from home with only an envelope to hand and sketched it immediately.  Then, on returning home, I sketched it again a little neater…

And here’s the definitive sketch… which you can watch me creating on instagram.

Sugar flowers

I’ve wanted to make sugar gladioli for ages, having cut and dissected some from my garden to make some templates around 3 years ago.  Plus, when I think of a gladioli I immediately think of (Greater Manchester-born) Morrissey.  So, for a cake dedicated to (Greater Manchester-based) Suzanne, I just had to make them for a cake inspired by her teaching!  I found this glorious bouquet online ….

and made these sugar gladioli…

Assembled into a bouquet, they looked wrong so I promptly took them apart and reassembled them into a spear…

Then I made some foliage, hydrangea blossoms and some pink stocks…

Classic meets contemporary wedding cake – complete!

After 20 minutes or so of more piping practise, I went in!

I tackled that monogram…

The full cake – meet ‘Suzanne’!

Close-ups…

Some aerial shots…

 

After so many years of waiting it was an absolute joy to be taught by someone with such skill, artistic talent, patience and humility. I wish I could have stayed all week. Thank you Suzanne xxx

Bespoke classic meets contemporary wedding cake design

By sheer coincidence, I was delighted to be invited to collaborate with a fabulous creative team on a Bridgerton inspired styled shoot at the stunning Rise Hall.  Being a classic meets contemporary design, my ‘Suzanne’ cake was the ideal choice!  Here’s one teaser image by Anna Beth Wedding Photography of the shoot…

And a fabulous film shot by Lucy Sayers Photography & Film.  For more details of the inspiration and team behind the ‘The Social Season’ Bridgerton inspired shoot check out Bride Magazine.

Bespoke wedding cake design

Would you like me to incorporate royal icing piping into your wedding cake?  If so, please feel free to get in touch!  Many wedding venues I attend have fabulous architectural details to inspire your cake design – the possibilities are limited only by our imaginations!

With love, Amanda x