Wednesday, November 14, 2007

My First Wedding Cake

This is the most elaborate cake I have ever made. For someone that has no formal cake decorating lessons, I am pretty proud of how it came out. Looks like my years of Food Network tv watching paid off. This cake took about 5 days from start to finish. There is a lot of prep work to be done before the cake can be made. I am glad that I took my time.
All the swirly vines were done with Royal Icing. My right hand aches now from piping, but I really love the affect.The bride had told me that her center piece flower arrangements were Fall colors, yellows, reds and oranges. I added the green and brown leaves. The cake matched perfectly with the 2 huge flower arrangements that sat on each side of the cake. Lucky I guess, since she gave me no photos to work with.I thought that she would have a cake topper, so I left the top of the cake unadorned. I made a lot of extra gum paste leaves and brought that along with 2 piping bags of royal icing just in case anything should fall off during transportation. Everything stayed in place during the car ride, thank goodness. Then DH had to carry the cake a block and a half through the crowded streets of Little Italy and Chinatown. It was heavy, 20-30 lbs, but we made it there.

Turns out that there was no cake topper, so I took the extra leaves and "glued" them on top of the cake. I don't have pictures of that because the restaurant lighting was really bad and the photos came out horrible. The pictures you see above were took during the day before I left for the restaurant.

I am exhausted!
(For people reading about this cake thing for the first time, I posted about the wedding cake here and here.)

37 comments:

Kristy said...

Beautiful job! Congratulations on doing so well on your first try :)

Rebekah said...

this cake is absolutely beautiful! If I had a fall wedding, this is exactly the cake that I would have dreamed of.

So so pretty!

Bee said...

its absolutely gorgeous!!! Great job;)

Unknown said...

The cake is beautiful! You did a wonderful job!!

Natalie, the Chickenblogger said...

Stunning! I love it. I hope you enjoyed doing this a lot, because with results like this I think you are going to have a lot of new orders. I would like one to serve at Thanksgiving!

Micki said...

So, so pretty! You may not have formal training, but you're certainly no amateur.

Anonymous said...

Oh Angela, that cake is drop-dead gorgeous. Any bride should be thrilled to have such a display grace their wedding reception. You deserve some serious kudos for this one!

Julie said...

It's every bit as fabulous as I imagined it would be. Nice job!

Cindy said...

Wow, so beautiful! Now I want to go take cake decorating classes! :)

Jackie said...

wow, what a beautiful cake on your first try. Congratulations on being doing such a fine job.

knittish said...

What a gorgeous cake! And I will wager a bet that it tastes even better than it looks!

Danielle said...

It's just beautiful! I bet your right hand does ache, but it's so worth it. You should work for The Ace of Cakes :)!!

BTW: those little scissors I used on my sweater were bought a long time ago at wal-mart. I don't know if they carry them anymore or not. They are what I've used forever for knitting, etc.

opportunityknits said...

My goodness, it's such a fabulous cake. You did an amazing job! I'm in awe.

Anonymous said...

Wow - that is really beautiful!


blissfulknitter AT gmail DOT com

Anonymous said...

Looks great, I really like the squiggly bits.
Shame that I live in Sweden otherwise I would order a cake :)

Allyson Hill said...

A work of art! Very good job for your first cake too. How nervracking that must have been to carry it through crowded streets, like a bad dream. Glad it turned out wonderful!

Marianne said...

Wow, that weddingcake is really stunning ! You had a lot of work at it but is was totally worth it !
BTW if you are looking for the Tulip Baby Cardigan kit try Socktopus.co.uk, the lady running the online shop is very nice and I guess the shipping costs will be fair. They have both girl and boy kits :-)

Ivete Tecedor said...

It looks stunning! Can I hire you to make my wedding cake? ;o) (not that I'm even engaged yet . . .)

Misty Rain said...

so intricate and beautiful. very impressed!

maryse said...

wow, that is awesome. good for you! lovely job.

Anonymous said...

Oiyi forgot to mention that while I was carrying the cake from the parking lot to the restaurant, some idiot on the street pointed at the cake and almost poked it. I told him to get away from me and he was wondering why I was so rude. LOL.

Sarah said...

How gorgeous! That looks like so much work, no wonder you're exhausted -- get some rest while we admire your masterpiece!

Anonymous said...

woah...i'm speechless. i can't believe you've never made a wedding cake before. amazing.

Amanda Jean said...

what a success! very nice job....so impressive! are you glad it's over and done?

Christy T said...

Oooo! That turned out sooo pretty! Great job :)

Corrie said...

wow but please tell me you and your lovely belly did not carry that cake!!!!! I still can't believe you've never had a lesson....not that you need them! great job!

Unknown said...

that's one wicked cool cake!

Allegra said...

Bravo on the cake! It is beautiful and I'm sure it tasted great!

Anonymous said...

Absolutely beautiful! You should be very proud, this is a work of art. No formal training?! Wow. I hope you were compensated well, because you deserve a lot for all of the hard work that went into making this. Congrats!

Octopus Knits said...

The cake turned out so well! The dimensional colored leaves and white icing squiggles combine to give the effect of leaves dancing in the wind - just lovely!

Anonymous said...

This cake is amazing! I bet your friend was delighted with the finished results - this is such a special wedding present. I'm sure it tasted as good as it looks too :)

Vyvyan said...

I bet you couldn't knit for a day or two after all that piping! It turned out so lovely--too lovely to eat. Your DH gets points for safely delivering the cake without poke marks!

Jannie aka Chickengirl said...

I am in so awe with this cake!!!!

Angela said...

Oh my gosh! You are sooooooo talented! Holey Mackeral!!!! And with no cake training, that is just unbelieveable!!!

savannahchik said...

i just found your blog and had to comment on your cake -- it's gorgeous!

ps - a belated happy thanksgiving!

teresa fsw said...

Wow! Your cake is so beautiful! Great job! ^_^

Stephanie said...

holy smokes, that's stunning!
Congratulations on such a gorgeous cake! (and your thanksgiving feast looked delicious too!)