Cake with the Daring Little Separator

My most recent cake reminds me that there is an awful lot of editing that goes on behind the scenes before you ever see a television show.  Let’s give you a little background before I show you the wedding cake from somewhere south and red and very, very hot where people have little horns and carry pitchforks.

I’m sure at some point in your life you’ve watched one of the numerous cake decorating shows that are on the Food Network or TLC channels. I’ve watched several of them – my favorites are the Food Network challenges. I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to take a class from the wonderful Kaysie Lackey! She is one of THE MOST energetic and creative people I’ve ever met! The class was so much fun & I was super shocked that she taught us to put together a cake (real cake – not just a cake dummy) that made it all the way home from Nashville, TN – A 5 HOUR DRIVE!!!!  Here’s a picture of the cake before we left:

Kaysie & Casey - KC squared!

And here’s a picture after it’d been traveling for 5 hours in the car.

Totally amazing that it survived right? I thought so.

So, this brings me to the cake from H. E. Double Hockey Sticks. All of my wedding cakes up to this point have been tiers stacked on top of tiers. Ever since I went to the crazy teapot cake in Nashville, I’ve wanted to step up my game as far as cake design goes. I’d gotten very tired of doing the same ole thing, but that’s what everyone seemed to want. FINALLY, I have a sweet friend that’s getting married and said I could do what I wanted.

This is my chance! I can do finally do something out of the ordinary. YAY!!!! Or so I thought to begin with… The cake design is fairly simple. Round cake, ribbon roses, and buttercream piping. The part that gets tricky is the 6x3 cake dummy covered in fondant that separates the center tiers. I really think that if I had not insisted on stacking the entire cake at home before I left, I wouldn’t have had a problem. They do it on TV all the time, so why wouldn’t it work for me?

Purple and Black Round Wedding with Separator & Ribbon Roses

The car ride was MURDER! I thought it would be a good idea for someone to sit in the back of the car with it just in case it tried to topple. I didn’t make it to the end of my short little street before I was hyperventilating in tears and made my hubby pull over. He graciously sat squished up in the back with it and let me drive. I think I held my breath the entire way there. Just before we pulled into the parking lot, we hit an unexpected BUMP & my hubby’s hand smashed a small part of the bead border. No worries though – that’s what the emergency kit in the front seat is for. We got it set up, I fixed the border only to realize that the cake is sitting on a table that is slightly crooked L I guess it could have been my cake, but all the tiers would have had to be crooked in order for it to be the cake I’d think. All the tiers seemed to line up to me. I guess it doesn’t matter though – the bride said she loved it & I’m fairly certain she would have told me if she didn’t like it. I am just thankful it made it there in one piece and she was pleased.

If I ever do another similar cake, I will just have to put on my big girl britches and stack it in front of people. I’m thinking I won’t do another one of these though. I don’t know if I nerves could take reliving the memory of this one again...

Closeup of some details (I know this looks crooked because of the camera angle - LOL)

Damask & Stenciled Bridal Cakes

I was so scared when I ordered my first set of cake stencils. In fact, it took me about 3 months before I got up enough nerve to use them. The first attempt wasn’t all that pretty. (I’m not even sure I took a picture of it – I couldn’t find it when I was looking. If I come across one, I will add it here) I simply had to get better though! I had a bride that knew exactly what she wanted & I just HAD to make it happen for her special day!

Another friend was throwing a bridal shower for a friend of hers & asked me to do the cake. She wanted me to try the stenciling out again because she just knew I could do it! So I tried it. This time I tried a different stencil. This one turned out better, but I learned that I need my hubby home to help me hold the stencils when dealing with a round cake. I know it isn’t perfect, but I absolutely loved the sweetness of this little cake.

So after having a successful attempt, I felt so much better about doing the wedding cake. I stenciled on alternating tiers of this 4 tier square beauty. I used black royal icing for the stenciling and satin ribbon on the non-stenciled tiers. The super talented bride and groom made the gorgeous cake stand along with the cake topper. I loved the set up of this cake table! So elegant! A pretty table setting does wonders for an already pretty cake – even helps out ugly cakes too!

After doing these cakes, I started getting asked for more stenciled cakes. The next opportunity I had to use it was for one of my very best friends! She was throwing a wedding shower for a super sweet girl and she wanted a cake with some WOW factor. This is what I came up with. I used the “princess damask” stencil again around the bottom tier, tiny black piped dots on the top 2 tiers, gumpaste flowers (first attempt at anemones – without the stamens), and black satin ribbon around the base of each tier. I have to say, I’m not a pink person, but I absolutely loved this color combination on this cake. I thought it turned out so delicate and striking all at the same time.

Last month, I was honored to make a wedding cake that just screamed SPRING for an awfully sweet girl! This was based on Abbie's GORGEOUS Navy Damask Wedding Cake. Similarly, I mixed square, hexagon, and round tiers. This time I used coral buttercream icing to stencil on top of a buttercream cake. I piped the monogram to look similar to the stencil on the second from the top tier & added various piped details on the sides. We used thin yellow satin ribbon at the base of each tier and sprinkled rose petals to give this one the “pop” that it needed. Isn’t it amazing how just changing the colors can make such an awesome difference?

Navy Damask Bridal Cakes

I was so excited when I was asked to do Abbie’s wedding cake! She was an absolute dream to work with. She basically let me do what I wanted to which is always the most fun for me! Her colors were navy blue and apple green. In the beginning, she thought she wanted a lot of piping with ribbon around the base, but it evolved into using the most wonderful stenciled damask cake I’ve had the opportunity of creating! I know I said the other one was my favorite, but that was before this even came close to entering my mind!

I combined square, hexagon, and round tiers to put together the shape of this beauty. The sides are stenciled with navy blue royal icing on top of a buttercream iced cake. I used the Elegant Cakes cartridge with my Cricut Cake to make the monogram from navy blue gumpaste. I’d finished the cake the night before the wedding but when I woke up the next morning, I decided to add the swirly piping to the top of each tier. I really think this took the cake from pretty to a little over the top – in a super good way! I hope you enjoy viewing the pictures!

I was also honored to make one of her bridal shower cakes. Again, I was just given the colors and was told to do whatever I wanted! I decided I wanted to use my Cricut Cake for this project. This is similar to the prior Cricut Cake post, but with a few differences, of course. I think if you look at my first attempt and this one, you can see I’ve come a long way. I used navy gumpaste for the damask design & then apple green buttercream for the solid side. I added what seems like my signature scrollwork to the sides because it just needed something to make it pop! The flower is also made of gumpaste.