Periwinkle is blue right?

Okay, this is a cake that didn't turn out quite right that I did. Not because it didn't look right, but because the bride asked for periwinkle blue fondant, which when I was trying to get the color, started to turn a weird grayish color. Oh no. Of course, dork that I can be sometimes, didn't try the color in the fondant until the day of making it for the cake itself. And did I try it on a small amount first? Oh, no. I went full force into the whole batch. Well, you have to make it all at once, or you might not get smaller batches to match in color. Bad, bad, bad. The fondant started turning this grayish blue color. Ugh. Time to stop before it gets really ugly. Okay, so let me back up. The bride asked for a cake with periwinkle fondant. She saw the cake in Martha Stewart and wanted to make it match her colors, which she adamantly claimed were periwinkle blue and then some lavander and purple colors. She sent ribbons to give me colors (mostly light purples that matched the purple flowers that I put on the cake), but insisted, periwinkle blue for the fondant. Okay. My cabinets in my kitchen are periwinkle BLUE. They are blue. Not purple. Okay, so I get to the wedding, start setting up the cake, and notice all the flowers there and the bridesmaids dresses are purple, different shades of purple. No periwinkle blue anywhere. What a nightmare. I did what she asked: periwinkle blue. Anyway, she said the cake was pretty, tasted wonderful, but unfortunately didn't match the colors. I was deeply sorry, but didn't press the point it was what she asked for. Maybe she was thinking periwinkle was a different color.

Fresh fruit heaven

Okay, talk about a little pressure here. How about doing a wedding cake for another professional chef? Well, here it is. It is based on a Martha Stewart cake, with the basketweave being done with a large leaf tip. Unique and striking. The fruit was piled on high and I didn't envy the person having to cut the cake. The cake was chocolate and vanilla layers with raspberry mousse as the filling. yummy. I love it when brides want to experiment with flavor. Beats a plain vanilla cake anyday. Makes it more personal too. I did another cake like this for a friend whom I "taught" in a high school Bible study/discipleship class.

The tackiest cake I have done

I promised myself that I would never do a fountain cake. Never!! Well, you know what they say about never saying never. This was a unique cake in so many respects. The bride was marrying someone whose beliefs don't allow them to eat eggs. Well, who knew you could make an eggless chocolate cake. I don't think anyone had, because nobody she had contacted about making a cake for her would do it. She found a recipe for an eggless chocolate cake, so I said I would give it a try. Well, dilemma number two: no eggs meant no meringue based buttercream. I would have to do the butter and powedered sugar thing. Ugh. That icing is so hard to work with in smoothing it out on a cake cause it gets crusty so fast. This cake was the bane of my existence while doing it, but it turned out pretty well. The whole construction of the stairs and fountains was a pain too, but alas we got it worked out. So here is an eggless chocolate wedding cake with a fountain. I hope to never do another one.

This wedding cake was done based on a magazine photo a bride brought me. This was one of the more "decorated" cakes I had done up to this time. I arranged the flowers on the cake as well on site.

My first fondant cake

I love just buttercream only iced cakes, and was a bit skeptical about doing a fondant cake. I think most commercial fondant products (Wilton and others) are horrible. They are pasty and sugary and not very good for anything but looks and I would advise peeling it off before eating the cake. In my limited experience with it in tasting too, it was always a very thick layer on top of the cake. But I found a product called Choco-Pan that was so great. It is actually a chocolate based fondant that you are supposed to roll thin to cover the cake. It was a winner and so I could then offer fondant covered cakes. This is my first one. It is a challenge, and again, I taught myself on this cake. It turned out quite well. It is based on a Martha Stewart cake from one of her Weddings magazines. I love her simple, elegant style, at least it was at that time. I had a customer request this cake. It has her new monogram on the bottom tier. It is hard to see in the photos. I am not a photographer, so my photos for this blog are not the best. But the cake was beautiful, simple and so elegant. I also made about 150 lemon and orange sugar cookies that looked like wedding cakes for her to give as favors to the wedding guests.

My best friend's wedding cake

I made the cake layers (almond) for this and froze them briefly to transport them to Maryland for my best friend's wedding. I have known Dana since the 7th grade. I was in her wedding as a bridesmaid, and offered to do her wedding cake. About a month or so earlier, my mom and I transported several kinds of petit fours to her house for a bridal shower too. That is in one of the pictures too. Italian espresso squares, lemon curd tartletts with raspberries on top, linzer hearts,
and mexican wedding cakes. Yummo. They were so pretty and elegant. Anyway, I assembled her cake in her kitchen and transported it to the reception site before the wedding. Talk about stressful. That was nothing compared to what I would do a few years later for my husband's cousin. Anyway, I make cakes and will travel for friends and family to deliver. It was a different kind of cake for me, and the tuille swags were a challenge. Dana was so happy with the cake though.

My first try at Gum Paste flowers

This was actually my first wedding cake customer outside of family after I started my business here. The bride was a resident at Roanoke Memorial and their wedding was at the resort past Blacksburg, Va where they filmed the Dirty Dancing movie. I can't think of the name right now. Anyway, no air conditioning in the lodge, but it was so nice and cool. We had to transport the cake in separate layers, then I assembled them and arranged the flowers on site. I also made petit four desserts for the wedding too: lemon butter bars, raspberry filled cookies, and some other stuff that I don't remember anymore. This cake I taught myself how to do gum paste calla lilies and some other small filler flowers. The greenery and the purple flowers are real, but the rest of the flowers are handmade by me. It was gorgeous and I was so proud of the way this turned out.