Ivory, Gold and a bit of Blingity Bling.
Now I hate to say this out loud – but Wedding cakes aren’t typically my thing. Novelty is what I do more of but I do like to mix things up now and then though. Keep me on my toes, sort of thing. And I have to say I actually, truthfully, really enjoyed this one. An Art Deco and Gold themed Wedding cake was on the cards for a really cool bride to be. After a bit of thought, some inspiration and a good discussion back and forth we came up with a design.
(Things changed as they developed but the basic design stayed the same. In the end I didn’t stick with the feathers, with the Bride’s approval, of course. Things just looked better without.)
First off was to slice, ice and cover these beautiful puppies baked by the lovely Laura from O’Rourke’s Farm Produce. They were a 6″ chocolate biscuit cake, 8″ coffee cake and a 10″ lemon zest.
I wasn’t sure how to go about the gems so I dusted off the ol’ isomalt and got myself a nice gem mould and had some fun.
I wanted a mix of gems – so that they didn’t look all the same. The first batch was clear isomalt. Next I tried clear isomalt with gold leaf on the underside and flecks above so that it would show through the back. (This turned out to be my favourite)
Next I went with isomalt mixed with something new that I hadn’t used before. TruColor – Natural Food Colour Paint. When I first looked at it, it didn’t seem to look very gold – but when I added some vodka it totally popped. I mixed that up with the clear isomalt and it came out gold but more of a muted shade. I still liked it.
Then, after glazing all of the isomalt ones, I went with white modelling chocolate gems dusted with both gold and snowflake sparkly for an even lighter gold shade. Then when they’re all together – they’re shades of gold and all lovely and sparkly.
For the Art Deco shell pattern I scoured the internet hoping for a mould for it and didn’t see anything that was exactly what we were looking for. SO… back to manual drive with a circle cutter, grease proof paper pattern, white modelling chocolate, some good old Gold Sparkle and a bit of elbow grease.
Then over an hour of meticulously placing each one to make them look even. I also added bits of gold flecks to the lower ones for a bit more shine and bling. That gold leaf stuff is seriously fun, by the way!
And in the end I was really happy with! AND (more importantly) so was the bride!
Materials used:
Vera Miklas Modelling Chocolate
This is so beautiful and special. It must have taken hours and hours to get the perfect finish. Truly awesome!
Corinna I love reading your blog. And of course I am happy you were using my modelling chocolate even though I didn’t expect that until I read your blog. Thank you. Looking forward to the next one!