When Sarah asked me to make her wedding cake I was so excited, but similarly petrified. I wanted it to be perfect! Luckily, Sarah let me dictate what would and wouldn’t be within the scope of my capabilities and we sketched up a design. Three tiers; round; top and bottom tier chocolate mud and the middle lemon madeira cake with lemon buttercream filling; roses in pinks and deep purples; pearls; navy ribbon and ivory fondant.
I started the roses 12 weeks out and aimed to make 2 per week. Unfortunately this was the wettest summer and autumn in a gazillion years, so I had to borrow my Mum’s dehumidifier so that the gum paste would dry. I’ve usually used Cake Art: Flower Modelling Paste, however it just wasn’t handling the humidity and moisture. This led to much re-sculpting and also needing to move the flowers around the house until I found the driest location for them.
Each bud was moulded on a wire then left to dry before countless petal were cut, frilled, embossed and powdered to create natural textures and colours.
These two were my favourite, so they got an individual portrait:
I must say that by the end of this exercise I was like the Scrooge of all things rose-related. Luckily for GD, on Valentines Day whilst I was in the midst of flower making he gave me a dozen baby fish instead of flowers. Roses would have been a bad choice. In hindsight though, I’m pleased with how they turned out.
As for the end result?
Having known the bride for 20 years I was eager to make the cake of her dreams – she was so happy. Mission accomplished!
alana cooks 