For the final Wilton Course 3 class, we assembled wedding cakes. Everything was pretty much done at home - the roses, the icing and filling the cakes, bringing them in either covered in fondant or buttercream. We had been encouraged to do pretty much whatever we wanted but that if we didn't want to make 40 roses at home, we'd better be prepared to blow the teacher away, she warned. I made the roses over three evenings, because each layer has to dry a little before you put the next one on.
I'd come up with this design; nothing new or innovative, but it provided me the opportunity to learn how to stack the cakes (vs tiering), do a ribbon border, freehand scrollwork, and fondant drapes (which the teacher later told me we'd be doing in the Fondant & Gumpaste class).
I wanted the base to be an off-white, and I had ivory dye which I used. But I thought it came out still too white, so I used a drop of chocolate brown dye to try and speed up the process. To my dismay, it turned a shade of warm pink. I didn't have enough to start over so I ended up just covering the cake with it. Wish I'd taking a picture before I put the ribbon on, because my fondant work was pretty raggedy (>_<)
I'd left off picking the ribbon till the day of class. As it was held at a craft store, I figured I'd just get it then. I was thinking of a wide organza ribbon or narrower satin band, but could find neither. As luck would have it, I spotted a cotton brown ribbon with two narrow strips of pink in it! I could now pass off my fondant colour as not-a-mistake!
The scrollwork was choppy and difficult at the beginning but it got a bit easier and more flowing towards the end. I went with big loops because it got really tiring and I had to cover the whole cake before I did anything else. Next time, I'll try for a little more patience and smaller scrolls. For a first attempt, I think my draping was ok, but I'd like to learn how to make it a little more fluid. I thought it looked a bit stiff. I left the roses on their toothpicks to hold the fondant drapes in place and also to give them different heights and orientation.
p.s. The top layer was the Golden Butter Cream Cake from Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Cake Bible. It is the bestest, melt-in-your-mouth-est butter cake I've ever had. Go bake it!!!
2 comments:
OMG - that cake is beautiful!!!!!
Thanks (^_^) I was a little afraid at first I'd put too many decorative elements into it, but I was trying to cram as much learning into it as I could. I'm glad it turned out pretty nice.
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