'Masquerade' cake - 08 July 2011

I had the great pleasure of making Sian Owen's wedding cake on the 8th of July. Sian wanted a real statement cake which would be a centrepiece for her wedding day. We looked at lots of different possible designs but one particularly caught Sian's eye - I sketched a design which was based around the design of her wedding dress, Masquerade by Ian Stuart:

The one thing that Sian wanted the cake to be was big which meant it could take a lot of detail and intricate design which was great fun for me! The top three tiers of the cake were covered in swathed ivory sugarpaste hand brushed with pealescent shimmer to mimic the fabric of the dress. The back of these tiers was finished with a sugar paste 'seam' finished with 'pearl buttons':

I covered the bottom two tiers with over 300 hand rolled sugar flowers which were then dusted with pearlescent shimmer.

Sian chose a base tier of hot toddy fruit cake and remaining tiers of Jaffa (sumptuous belgian chocolate cake with orange buttercream filling), Lemon cake filled with homemade lemon curd and vanilla buttercream and madagascan vanilla cake filled with homemade raspberry compote and white chocolate buttercream.

I enjoyed every minute of making this cake, thanks so much to Sian for allowing me free reign! Wishing you every possible happinness for the future!

Claire and Roland's Wedding Cake

Claire and Roland were married on Monday on the most beautiful sunny spring day at Llangoed Hall, Llyswen. Claire had seen a style of cake that she loved in a magazine with the cake tiers separated by blocks of ribbon but wanted it to reflect a romantic country garden style. After sketching out a few ideas we softened the design by incorporating layered champagne and dusky pink ribbon, piped royal icing dots to the sides of the cake and used romantic free-form sugar roses in dusky pink and ivory to connect the tiers.

Claire and Roland chose a top tier of hot toddy fruit cake and two tiers of triple layered Madagascan vanilla sponge filled alternatively with white chocolate buttercream and home-made raspberry compote. Many thanks to Claire and Roland for being really fun to work with, wishing them every happiness for the future.

Kerry and Nigel's Art Deco Wedding Cake

Kerry and Nigel married on the 27th of December at the lovely Marriott St Pierre in Chepstow. Taking place in the late afternoon, the reception was filled with candles and sparkling shimmering elegance.  The couple's wedding stationery was based on a beautiful art deco theme and we decided to carry this through to the cake design.  I researched art deco patterns and fell in love with the simplicity and elegance of one in particular, when I sent the designs to Kerry and Nigel I was so pleased that they chose the same one! We decided that the pattern should be piped around the top edge of each of the three tiers with silver royal icing (in keeping with the main colour of the wedding), when the pattern dried I then brushed the design with sparkle using a tiny brush so the pattern would shimmer in the candlelight of the reception.  

 

Thank you Kerry for making the design process such fun!  Wishing you both every happiness for the future!

Helen and John's Winter Wedding

With Christmas and New Year keeping me busy I have fallen woefully behind with my blog posting!  Two days before Christmas I had the great pleasure of making the wedding cake and iced cookie favours for Helen and John's lovely wedding which took place at Peterstone Court Hotel near Brecon.  

Helen and John were looking for a dramatic yet elegant wedding cake which fitted with their winter wedding.  The three principal colours we used to decorate the cookies and the cake - shimmering oyster, white, and a foresty green - were mixed to match the swatches Helen gave me of her and her bridesmaid's gowns.  The cake, which was comprised of a base tier of hot toddy fruit cake, a middle tier of madagascan vanilla cake filled with blueberry compote and vanilla buttercream and a top tier of rich belgian chocolate cake filled with orange buttercream, was covered with dark green sugarpaste and hand piped with an intricate white royal icing design before being adorned with sparkling hand-moulded sugar flowers.  

  

Helen and John also asked me to make cookies as favours for their guests, they decided on shimmering oyster and white vanilla bauble cookies for the ladies and shimmering green chocolate christmas tree cookies for the gentlemen.

 

We made two special cookies for the littlest guests - a christmas fairy for Leah and a Christmas dinosaur for Oliver (what fun!).

Thank you to Helen and John for being such a pleasure to work with.  We wish you every happiness! 

Little Blue and White Wedding Cakes

I made these pretty mini cakes for the lovely Lynne and Robin's wedding which took place on Saturday at Llangoed Hall. Lynne was such fun to work with as we designed her mini cakes. The cakes came in three flavours: chcolate fruit cake, lemon cake filled with home made lemon curd and vanilla buttercream and Madagascan vanilla cake filled with blueberry compote and vanilla buttercream. Each flavour had a different design in order to distinguish one from the other but we kept all of the cakes to the blue and white colours of the dining room at Llangoed Hall. I hand sewed tiny diamante buttons onto the ribbon which encircled each cake for a little bit of sparkly glitz! After the cutting of the cake in the evening the staff at Llangoed Hall boxed up each cake individually and placed them in the guests bedrooms!

The very talented Emma of Love Lily created the flower cake stand - isn't it beautiful?

Many thanks to Lynne for being so lovely to work with and for my lovely champagne! We wish Lynne and Robin every happiness for the future!

White Rose and Hypericum Berry Wedding Cake

This cake was made for a lovely couple; Sarah and Dave whose wedding took place on Saturday at the Miskin Manor Hotel. Their wedding colours were white and deep red to tie in with the white roses and hypericum berries in Sarah's bouquet. We wanted to carry both the white roses and the hypericum berries through to the cake and Sarah and Dave decided upon this romantic design of a loose garland of flowers and berries which trailed down the off-centre square tiers. The cake itself was comprised of a hot toddy fruit cake bottom tier and the remaining tiers with madagascan vanilla cake filled with fresh raspberry compote and vanilla buttercream! We send Sarah and Dave all of our best wishes for the future!

Sian and Chris' wedding

Sian and Chris' wedding took place at Celtic Manor a week last Saturday. Sian had spotted a design that she loved for her cake - three tiers separated by pillars, each tier vertically piped with royal icing and the gaps filled with white flowers. She asked Alison Bentley, her florist, to decorate the cake which we provided. The base tier of the cake was a retro fruit cake with glace cherries and walnuts soaked in brandy, the middle tier a lemon drizzle cake filled with swirled vanilla buttercream and fresh and zesty lemon curd, and the top tier was a Madagascan vanilla cake filled with vanilla buttercream.

Chris' grandmother was unable to attend the wedding and so Sian and Chris asked me to make her a miniature boxed version of their cake. They also asked me to make an individual fruit cake to a special recipe for one of Chris' and Sian's guests who has a dairy intolerance.

Sian and Chris also decided to have cookie favours to match the design of their cake and to bring in the cobalt blue which was featured in the wedding flowers and bridesmaids dresses. The cookies looked lovely and added a splash of colour to the place settings:

Many thanks to Sian and Chris for making the design process such a lovely experience!

Geraldine and Paul's Wedding Cake

I had the great pleasure of designing and making Geraldine and Paul's wedding cake this week. The wedding was held at beautiful Slebech Park near Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire. The inspiration behind the design came from Geraldine and Paul's wedding stationery by laser-cut specialists Chartula. Prior to our first consultation Geraldine had emailed me a number of images - of their wedding flowers, colour swatches and also a proof of their stationery design. The laser-cut pattern was so beautiful, incorporating the wild garden feel of Slebech Park and Geraldine and Paul's initials that I sketched out a design for the cake which involved replicating the stationery design on the middle tier of the cake using piped royal icing.

The cake itself was a trio of cherries: the bottom tier cherry almond fruit cake, the middle tier chocolate chunk cake filled with fresh cherry compote and chocolate ganache and the top tier madagascan vanilla sponge filled with fresh cherry compote and vanilla buttercream.