Burnt Orange Calla Lilies. Wedding Cake: Gilly & Donovan

At the beginning of the month, my amazing Uncle Donovan married the beautiful Gilly...

and I was asked to bake the cakes! Woohoo!

 

We talked together about creating a cake to reflect their personalities. 

Something classic and beautiful but in an unexpected colour palette. 

Hence burnt orange, chocolate brown, gold and a hint of ivory became the colour scheme.

. 

A three-tier cake in a warm chocolate-brown. Each tier was tall so the layered cream and sheer gold ribbons stand out. 

Plus it's more cake! 

The bows were there to elegantly tie each tier (haha!) together. 

 

 

The flowers Gilly chose to complement her look on the day were burnt orange calla lilies. 

So we decided to make them a part of their cake.  They were chosen to provide bright accents in between tiers and on the top.

 I hand made them in different sizes and coloured them to reflect

 the individuality the flower has in reality. 

Brushed gold columns separate each tier - a hint of the classic but very contemporary - when paired with the chocolate coloured cake covering.

 I also baked them a vanilla sponge cutting cake covered in a matching but simple daisy pattern.

On the day before arriving at the church ceremony I was working hard to assemble the cake at the reception venue. 

I was piping and placing flowers and constantly checking the cake was level!

On the inside: Jamaican Rum Cake of course! A rich, blended fruit cake (it's not a fruit cake as you know it) with glugs of Jamaican rum.

On the outside: chocolate-coloured fondant covering. Royal icing piped details around the base of each tier with gold dragees to bring on the bling! Cream and gold bows are a simple accompaniment to the vibrant orange flowerpaste calla lilies on top of each tier. Gold columns and boards unite the design and the topper finished the whole look!

The cake looked amazing in the reception room tucked in beside the top table! You couldn't miss it. It was well received by all and I was very pleased to show them my interpretation of their design! A big cheer rose up as they cut the cake and tasted a piece! I was so pleased!

Congratulations, Gilly and Uncle Donovan, it was an amazing day, and thank you for requesting I be such a special part of it.

 

 

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Red, White and Blue!

 

Clarice's 21st birthday party was red, white and blue themed:

So with all the "Hooray for GB" events around this summer I had plenty of inspiration! I managed to cram in plenty of bunting and union flags before softening it up with some forget-me-not flowers springing up out of the blue.

Then a royal icing inscription.

You just don't see enough overpiping around on cakes these days.

 That's when colours are piped on top of each other à la the inscription. 

It's effective and really fun to do as well. 

Sugarcrafters: more overpiping please!

On the inside: vanilla madeira cake and vanilla buttercream.

On the outside: fondant covering, flowerpaste forget-me-nots, royal icing inscription and board details, modelling paste giant wobbly 21, flags and bunting (hand-painted union flags).

Sorry the photos are a bit shadow-y!

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Hummingbird and Hibiscus

A hovering hummingbird drinking sweet nectar from the vibrant hibiscus flower. 

I wanted to create a cake to elegantly reflect the paradise of Jamaica. 

After all it's the summer of 50 years of Jamaican Independence, an astonishing Olympics medal haul for the Jamaican Athletics team (4 golds, 12 medals over all, third place on the Athletics medal table!

 Yeah!), and the big birthday of the one and only Auntie Sharon!

This cake was part of an amazing table of desserts at a big old barbecue garden party. 

There was carrot cake, cheesecake, raspberry pavlova, fresh fruit salad and birthday cake. 

Yum!

 

It was Olympics time too, so periodically we went inside to watch the races. Oh what a night! First Mo Farrah then the Jamaican 4x100m relay team. Plenty of cheering, shouting and flag waving! 

Then more cake and rum punch to wash it down!

 

On the outside: pale green fondant covering; hand-painted hummingbird, royal icing inscription and hummingbird details; flowerpaste hibiscus; modelling paste candle spheres.

On the inside: Jamaican Rum Cake of course. 

It couldn't be anything else for this wonderful woman's birthday.

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60th Birthday Part 2

 Part two of the Pumpkin Patch theme from my last blog post. 

Same person, same birthday, bigger party in the garden with all the family and friends. 

So naturally, I kept the same theme: pumpkins!

 

 On the outside: green marbled fondant; modelling paste numbers, pumpkins and gardening tools at the corners; royal icing inscription and vines.

 On the inside: Jamaican Rum cake! A recipe passed down through the years, it's become my most popular cake flavour. Heavenly. You should try it!

The perfect way to round off a great year of celebrations. 

Everyone should have two birthdays!

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The Pumpkin Patch

This cake is for all the allotment people out there! We all know them. The species is often found collecting rare seeds (6 different species of tomatoes), constantly checks the weather forecast for rain and always has time to show you the size, weight and quantity of their onion harvest!

So to celebrate this allotment man's big birthday, I created a than a bumper crop carrots and a healthy pumpkin patch!

Very fun, very apt and very much loved by the recipient!

On the outside: modelling paste root vegetables and details. 

Royal Icing vines and inscription.

On the inside: Vanilla genoese sponge with raspberry mascapone filling.

Happy birthday Dad!

***

With fronds like you, who needs Anemones?

 
It's been a while, hasn't it? My laptop broke (boo hiss) , but never mind.

Don't worry, I have a few posts to put up so I can fill you in on what's been happening. In the mean time, here are some anemones I have crafted today.

They're so beautiful and a little weird looking. Not sure if they're spider-UFOs or anemone centres?

When they're finished though, they're incredibly striking. I also found them really enjoyable to craft. Would look great in any colour.

When will the rain end?

***

Tied Up With A Bow

Cynthia called again! This time her friend was turning 25. There would be a surprise party and my cake was gonna be a part of it!

So this time we worked with the idea of a beautiful gift wrapped up and tied with a bow.

Whilst I was forming the bow I was thinking about all the possibilities this design allows. Just by changing colour ways, it could be a Christmas cake (red and green with snowflakes), Halloween cake (black and orange with cats or pumpkins) or even Minnie Mouse cake (black cake with a red and white polka dot bow)! I could keep going...

On the inside: vanilla madeira with raspberry buttercream

On the outside: covering paste with modelling paste bow, twists and details. Floral wires in a posy pick with modelling paste heart "deely boppers" (not sure what to call them actually, but you know what I mean!)

Happy Birthday Anita!

***

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Here's a cake I created a little while ago for Shelby's birthday. Shelby's Dad asked for something uplifting and fun, and I came up with this beautiful rainbow cake idea. 

Each little rainbow coloured sphere around the edge was there to hold one of the seven candles.

I think the colours are great. 

On the inside: simple vanilla madeira with a raspberry buttercream

On the outside: fondant rainbows and modelling paste clouds

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p.s. it's the week of the rose cake! I'm off downstairs now to work on it.

See ya!

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It must be wedding season!

I love deliveries of fresh icing! Woo!

Although it is really really heavy. I mean it's "have a cup of tea and a sit down after all that unpacking" kind of heavy. 

Still great though! Now I've restocked it's just the making and creating to do!

Getting ready for weddings.

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Roses will Bloom

It's part 2 of those rose buds from a couple of weeks ago.

Ready for a cake to be completed in a couple of weeks. I'm getting excited now!

It's gonna sound ridiculous but I find it very therapeutic to mould them all. 

A calm descends on me when I wrap each petal. 

 Aren't the spirals beautiful? 

So within a few minutes of a rose making session, I'll be in the zone with Radio 4Extra playing or iPod on shuffle and won't resurface until I've run out of paste. 

They'll all be shimmered like the set of rose buds I have ready. 

Still got to make more though!

***

If life hands you lemons...

If life hands you lemons... you'd better make lemon cake.
Oh yes, make an elegant lemon birthday cake for Karen. 

Murna visited the other day and after a catch up asked me to make her

 sister's birthday cake and to decorate it with a yellow rose. 

The colour palette feels fresh and perfect for spring (even if the weather isn't) 
yet remains understated and refined.

On the inside: light and fluffy lemon Genoese sponge with a zingy lemon buttercream filling. 

On the outside: spring-like yellow sugarpaste, piped royal icing details and modelling paste roses and leaves.

 Anyone else's mouth water when they think about lemons? 
Just me? Ah well. Happy Birthday Karen.

Of course, if after all that lemon cake baking you still have lemons left, then maybe make some lemonade.  You know, to quench your thirst after all that lemon cake baking. You deserve it. 

Arty shot!

 ***

Can't make cake without breaking eggs!

Been cracking a few eggs this week.

I'm not frivolous enough to crack eggs straight into my mixing bowl. Respect if you do, though.

 These all went into a beautiful Lemon Genoese Sponge

 which eventually became a birthday cake. I'll tell you about that tomorrow morning.

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