Sketch to Cake: Anneke Hilligehekken’s Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi Bernini Inspired Wedding Cake

Anneke Hilligehekken

of Taartjes van An in Nunspeet, Gelderland, The Netherlands designed a lovely modern wedding cake for the Bernini issue of Cake Central Magazine Volume 8 Issue 1. Anneke’s charming wedding cake was inspired by Gian Lorenzo Bernini's Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi in Rome, Italy.

For me it was the first time to make a chance that my work would be published in Cake Central Magazine and I wanted to make something that represents my work. The ‘problem’ was that at first sight I wasn't attracted to the theme. I'm not the kind of cake artist who likes modeling figures and there are a lot of them in the photos.  But I have horses all my life so the horse caught my attention and that’s why I wanted to give it a try. And I like challenges and pushing my boundaries.

The Design

I wanted to do something with the horse and I was attracted by the water of the fountain and it’s colors. So that became my main focus in the design.

I had to translate this masculine-looking fountain with these incredible figures and lions into a wedding cake and I wanted a chic, classy one. So for a romantic touch, gold and flowers were needed. I mostly work on white canvas and add colors with using flowers. In this cake the base tier is representing the fountain itself and I added touches of gold and green to make it look wet from the water.

I mostly use the ‘sketch’ as a guideline. Sometimes I change colors or place flowers in another place. My drawing skills are not to good so I make a kind of sketches in Photoshop and I sometimes add cutouts from pictures which I find on the internet to make it clear on what I want to make.

As a cake artist you always see things that you would not do the next time, however I’m quite satisfied with the finished design.