Here it is, folks, my crowning achievement: my wedding cake. 
I spent the month prior to the wedding making snowflakes on the backs of cookie sheets out of royal icing and storing them in parchment-separated layers in a box marked "Fragile".
The cake was baked 1 week before the wedding, wrapped in plastic, and stored in the garage (thank you Jack Frost for cold temperatures). Monday, I filled the cake with layers of cordial and strawberries and raspberries (my groom likes raspberries, and I like strawberries). Adding nothing more than Knox gelatin to the fruit set up remarkably well; I was impressed with the texture and stability of the filling when it was completed. Crumb coat on, and back out the the garage for another day. Tuesday, I started decorating... white chocolate icing covered the cake; white on the top, but I decided to tint the sides blue for contrast (it took almost all of the blue dye I had because I tinted the entire mass of icing at once for consistent color). Still using white chocolate icing, I piped the lines, beading, shells, and swirls, then attached the snowflakes to the cake in the void beneath the line work. I sprinkled the tops of the tiers with edible cake sparkles to give it that "just snowed-on" effect and called the tiers done.
Construction with standard 1/4" dowel for support and stability, and my sweet groom made the separation using 1" dowel and rounded hexagon plates.
Over all, this cake took about 30 hours to complete (if I condensed it down), but if I do say so, I am rather proud of this work, and it tasted as good as it looked.
With the extra snowflakes, I scattered them over the ruffle and around the cake on the table to carry the theme and decorations over. 
** Note: These pictures courtesy of Sonja's Photography in Winchester, VA. Check out her website at http://sonjasphotography.smugmug.com/galleries
I spent the month prior to the wedding making snowflakes on the backs of cookie sheets out of royal icing and storing them in parchment-separated layers in a box marked "Fragile".The cake was baked 1 week before the wedding, wrapped in plastic, and stored in the garage (thank you Jack Frost for cold temperatures). Monday, I filled the cake with layers of cordial and strawberries and raspberries (my groom likes raspberries, and I like strawberries). Adding nothing more than Knox gelatin to the fruit set up remarkably well; I was impressed with the texture and stability of the filling when it was completed. Crumb coat on, and back out the the garage for another day. Tuesday, I started decorating... white chocolate icing covered the cake; white on the top, but I decided to tint the sides blue for contrast (it took almost all of the blue dye I had because I tinted the entire mass of icing at once for consistent color). Still using white chocolate icing, I piped the lines, beading, shells, and swirls, then attached the snowflakes to the cake in the void beneath the line work. I sprinkled the tops of the tiers with edible cake sparkles to give it that "just snowed-on" effect and called the tiers done.
Construction with standard 1/4" dowel for support and stability, and my sweet groom made the separation using 1" dowel and rounded hexagon plates.
Over all, this cake took about 30 hours to complete (if I condensed it down), but if I do say so, I am rather proud of this work, and it tasted as good as it looked.
With the extra snowflakes, I scattered them over the ruffle and around the cake on the table to carry the theme and decorations over. In case you're wondering, my groom picked out the cake topper... she started out as a blond, and he started out as a light brunette. I dyed her hair red and his black to more accurately depict us as a couple.
** Note: These pictures courtesy of Sonja's Photography in Winchester, VA. Check out her website at http://sonjasphotography.smugmug.com/galleries
1 comment:
Oh my goodness, I can't believe you did your own wedding cake! It's gorgeous! I didn't really like the look of my mine, (it did taste awesome though) and I am considering redo it for an upcoming anniversary. Thanks for the tip on the snowflakes, I haven't done royal icing in awhile and had forgotten how fragile RI decorations can be! Happy New Year and Congratulations!
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