The Great Wedding Cake Project. . .

Images Courtesy Martha Stewart Weddings

Well, it's official: the great Wedding Cake Project has begun.

I must be out of my mind. What makes me think I can do this?!

A little background: my sister is getting married. On a shoestring budget with caviar tastes, she wants her wedding to be fabulous (who wouldn't?) but can't afford a lot of the extras that she covets in the bridal magazines that are slowly taking over the apartment (you think I exaggerate? Try going through any room and seeing if you can find a bridal magazine. It will take .2 seconds, I guarantee it. They are everywhere.) So, after a lifetime of tinkering with cake decorating, I offered to make my sister's wedding cake.

I'm not a slouch when it comes to being creative, but this is a whole new ballgame; I may love watching Ace of Cakes and Food Network Challenge, but that doesn't make me an expert. I'm fairly anxious at the prospect of doing something that belongs on Cake Wrecks, but with enough practice and a suitably simple style, I think I can pull it off. I certainly have ample sources of inspiration:


This is just lovely for a winter wedding. The snowflakes look like royal icing, probably piped onto silpat and then allowed to harden, and later applied to the cake. A little delicate, but I could probably practice and get it right;)

I love the shape of these tiers! While very fiddly and laborious, the decoration is nothing more than a profusion of tiny piped dots; the dificulty is in smoothing the fondant over the cake and making sure it doesn't wrinkle or tear.


Ahhhh, to dream. This would be a cake for my best friend B; he and his husband have a collection of Wedgewood in their house. Maybe if I quit my job and decided to be a cake decorator full-time . . .

There's always real flowers too. I'm kind of from the If-You-Can't-Eat-It-Then-It-Shouldn't-Be-On-the-Cake School, but putting real flowers on a cake can cut down on cost and look truly lovely. I'm no Ron Ben-Israel, so real flowers is the closest my sister is going to get;)

This is so sweet! These daisies were either cut and assembled petal by petal or cut as one piece and shaped with tools to give them the texture they have. A very simple style, but one with lovely impact because of how many flowers there are here. Time-consuming to be sure, but with the right cutters and ball-ended tools, doable.




I love the idea of multiple smaller cakes in complementing colors! The freesia blooms are very springy and fresh, and the different sizing and spacing on the polka dots is so cute.

My favorite cake. Wendy Kromer did the original for Martha Stewart Weddings a few years back, and it was so popular that she sells kits on her website so you can do your own. I showed this to my sister, and she seemed to like it; again, with three different size cutters for the flowers, shaping foam and ball-ended shapers, and a lot of patience and time, this cake is acheivable.

So, it looks like I'll be heading over to Joann's to pick up a bunch of Wilton supplies in the next few months, and I'll be sure to post about my experiences here as I start experimenting with the Great Wedding Cake Project.

What about you, dear readers? What crazy project have you taken on, and how did it turn out?