To Dream of Cake

There are cakes you dream of for months. The anticipation of creating them, bringing them to life, is delicious. I couldn't get the design for this cake out of my head and couldn't wait to tackle the challenge.

The bride contacted me requesting a special flavour - pistachio cake with cardamom buttercream - and looking for an "absolutely nontraditional" cake. We spoke about colours and styles and I asked about things she liked and didn't like and my dream began.

Using the colours chosen by the bride - gold, oxblood red, and ivory - I sketched a design that included a golden cage made entirely of sugar. A challenge that made me just as excited as it did terrified! But I'm always up for a challenge.



Once the sketch was approved I just had to wait for the big week to arrive.

I created the blueprint of the gates for the bottom tier and scanned them in so that I could reprint them for each side of the tier.



I then set about creating the gates, sculpting the cake, and constructing the silhouette.



Once the gates were dry and reinforced they were each hand-painted with gold dust and then assembled around the bottom tier of the cake.



Also a challenge for this design was the golden spire that was to rest on top of the cake. I created a styrofoam mold and piped the design, let it dry, and painted it with gold dust. I assembled the spire around a dowel and gumpaste shape in the oxblood red colour.



Finally it was all completed. I was so pleased with how my vision on paper translated to sugar. I hope the the bride's vision was realized as well.




Photography courtesy of J.thier Photography