2nice-2slice
Projects
Wedding
Y. Angela-Duncan August 16, 2014
It’s been a while now, since my last post. Reason for that was, I was quite busy with a big wedding project. I had an appointment with this lovely bride-to-be. Eneida introduced herself and informed me of her upcoming wedding.
Unlike other weddings where the brides would ask me to assist and help design the project from scratch, this lady knew what she wanted. We went through my collection of wedding cakes. She liked all of them, but was not going for any “traditional” wedding cake!
Instead, she wanted “One” square - single - tier rich fruit cake (8”x8”x3”h) with a life-size cluster of flowers. (Hydrangea) and would like to have it hand-painted at the side of the cake. In her own words, “it should be colorful, I like colors”!
From time to time I would get customers asking for one single tier.
Well, that was no big deal! But now comes the part that really freaked me out!
The assignment.
She said: “In fact, what I want is, having the single tier positioned on top of a tiered cake- stand and below I would like to have “150 mini replica’s” of my wedding cake”! The mini rich fruit cakes should measure approx: 2.5”x2.5”x1.5”h to perfectly fit in clear plastic boxes the bride would provide herself.
Oh nooo, I said, I’m not the right person for this job.
I’m used to making traditional wedding cakes! So I tried to talk her into it.
But she had her mind set to these mini-cakes and she was not going to be swayed! I new from the very start that this project would be “painstaking” and a “fiddly job” and I was not sure I wanted to get into it!
Believe me, looking back, I don’t know what made me accept the challenge. I remember my husband telling her, how lucky she was, for getting me to accept this project.
After I agreed, I kept telling myself, I must be crazy :-) !!!!!
The challenge.
The first challenge was, trying to get mini cake-boards for these cakes. The measurement had to be very precise in order to fit in the clear cubic box when finished. The cake boards were covered in flowered aluminum paper to match the cake board of the 1-tier Wedding cake.
As I couldn’t buy them anywhere on the island, I had to make them one by one.
Now for the second challenge, making 150 mini flower clusters for the mini wedding cakes. The life-size hydrangea had to be “scaled” down in proportion to the mini-cakes. Each cluster consisted of 6 flowers and 3 leaves totaling 900 flowers and 450 leaves, not counting spares in case of breakage. Needless to say that this tallies up to allot of work. The 900 little flowers were handmade – shaped and attached to those 900 little stems. The flowers were hand-painted one by one, in different layers of colors, which included different procedures while hand-painting. Try to multiply 900 times all the procedures to get the mini clusters done, to get a feel for all the work that goes into it.
You can find a video here that demonstrates the techniques that go into making a single leaf: YouTube
Let me share a nerve wrecking incident, while working on this project.
I remember listening to the news, one day, while I was working on the mini cakes. They broadcasted it was one of the hottest days of the summer, about 36 degrees Celsius, and I could certainly feel it too. I was shocked to discover that my mini cakes which were covered with fondant were reacting to the heat and started to “sweat”. I had to rush them to an air-conditioned room to keep them intact! That’s the way I had to preserve them up to the wedding day. I guess living on a tropical island also has its downsides.
The final result
The 1-tier rich fruit wedding cake was covered with a layer of marzipan after which it was covered with a layer of white fondant.
A cluster of hydrangea was hand-painted on the side of the cake and it was topped with “Life-sized” sugar hydrangeas & leaves.
The 150 mini rich fruit wedding cakes were covered with white fondant and finished with an edible “Greek-motive” trim as decoration.
On top of each cake there was a cluster of hydrangea with corresponding leaves.
This project took about 3 months to complete and pushed me to extend my limits.
The “viewing” day arrived! The bride was excited and very happy with the results. The smile on the bride’s face made all the difference in the world and made worth all the hard work! It is with great pleasure and feeling of fulfillment that I can look back to another comprehensive successful job and a satisfied customer!
Finally I would like to thank my husband for his undivided patience and support in this project.
