Wedding cakes – 2018 highlights!
As 2018 draws to a close I thought I’d recap on my year of creating wedding cakes and share my 2018 highlights. Being my own worst critic, and a typical Brit not prone to self-congratulation, I didn’t find this task easy as I am never 100% satisfied with any of them! That’s okay though, as I think it’s best not to be complacent and to always strive for improvement.
2018 has been a busy year so, to narrow it down, I have selected the wedding cakes which…
- I found most challenging;
- are just ‘me’ (although, of course, first and foremost fulfil my clients’ design preferences); and
- feature my favourite decorative elements.
Most challenging
Claire
Purely due to size. In my nine+ years of creating wedding cakes I have typically catered for, and tend to attract prospective clients who are entertaining, 70 to 130 guests. So this wedding cake, for 220 guests, was the one which caused me to heave the greatest sigh of relief when my work was done. Whilst I do receive many enquiries for larger cakes, they are generally requests to incorporate faux (polystyrene/styrofoam dummy) tiers to give the appearance of a large cake – but not the portions. Not wanting to contribute chunks of polystyrene to landfill (it just doesn’t sit well with my business ethos) I’m happy to say that in all these years every tier of my wedding cakes has all been delicious cake! So ‘Claire’ has five tiers of cake in five different flavours – Champagne & Strawberry; Stem Ginger & Lemon; Almond & Cherry, Belgian Dark Chocolate Fudge, Madagascan Vanilla – and not an ounce of polystyrene!
Claire Rose: Elegant white wedding cake crowned with a sugar rose bouquet and decorated with hand piped lace inspired by the bride’s Enzoani ‘Pippa’ wedding dress.
Fione
Purely due to the Delphiniums. I’d never made them before and, whilst not daunted as a flower hasn’t beaten me yet, I grossly underestimated and was far too optimistic about how long it would take me to create a stem of 12 delphinium flowers and a few buds. I tend to joke that anyone requesting a ‘new-to-me’ flower always gets a bargain. I estimated three hours but they took far longer. Conversely, though, to avoid breakages I also had to try to work really fast to ensure I got around to assembling them into a stem whilst the sugar petals were still pliable. So, almost nine hours later, some pretty blue delphiniums…
Fione: blush and dusty blue design with sugar delphiniums, lisianthus, and roses. Lace piping to match the bride’s dress.
plus a lovely capture by Joel Skingle Photography…
Just ‘me’
Jessica
Purely due to the colour… and all those leaves! I love blue and I love green and this cake featured both. I also love foliage… sugar flowers look so much more lifelike when accompanied with foliage. With garlands of sugar olive leaves, this bride-to-be was initially inspired by my ‘Esmée’ design…
Esmée: An opulent boho design inspired by Claire Pettibone ‘Notre Dame’ wedding gown, with hand piped jewels and lace, gilded lace brush embroidery and garlands of sugar foliage.
…but during the design process we worked together, making many changes to ensure the cake was unique to Jessica and her groom-to-be, adding sugar eucalyptus leaves interpersed with sugar sea holly…
…plus a ‘pop’ of contrasting pink in the pompom dahlia crowning the top tier…
Jessica: Botanical meets opulent! Decorated with garlands of sugar foliage and sea holly and 24 carat edible gold leaf accents, topped with a pompom dahlia/sea holly arrangement.
Namrata
Purely due to the colour. I love a vibrant palette so am thrilled when couples are brave with colour, such that I just had to blog this cake when I returned from the venue!
Namrata: Vibrant sugar flower bouquets of ranunculus, Miss Piggy roses and gerbera decorate this rose quartz pink wedding cake. Bespoke hand piped lace brush embroidery inspired by the bride’s dress. (Read lovely words from the bride on our Comments page.)
Favourite decorative elements
Rebecca
Purely due to the lace and the petals. I love a lace wedding dress and I love to replicate that lace for the bride on to the cake. Favouring sugar flowers with many petals, I was happy with the delicate sugar ranunculus. Rebecca’s dress was beautiful so I loved creating the pretty hand piping on the bottom tier too…
Rebecca: decorated with pretty hand piping inspired by the hemline of the bride’s gown and finished with a pastel sugar flower and foliage arrangement.
…and the curve of the stems and those speckledy leaves…
Professional photography
I do try my absolute best with photography but, not having any expertise, I’m generally not satisfied with my venue shots, so was thrilled to receive this stunning professional image of the cake in situ at Crathorne Hall Hotel by Stan Seaton Photography too!
Bespoke wedding cake design
So that was a teeny slice of 2018! I’m looking forward to the start of another creative year… if you unwrapped a sparkly ring this Christmas, or perhaps you will be popped or are popping the question on New Year’s Eve, feel free to get in touch!
With love, Amanda x
