I have a bride who I am currently talking with who would like to have her cake done exactly like the cake Jenna Bush had.

The picture I have seen isn't the best in regards to showing the detail. In doing buttercream, does anyone have any ideas on how to create the cake?

I can't tell if the lines on the sides of the cake are piped on single lines or if there is another technique to get the same effect?

Any ideas?

It's a gorgeous cake, and while I don't have any advice to offer you, was the top tier supposed to be crooked????

ETA: Conflicting stories on the top tier, but here's a bigger picture:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/05/images/20080511_p051008sc-1198-1-733v.jpg

looks to be either the rounded tip of the spatula or the back of a spoon just pulled through the icing to get the ridges and depressions.

The Ultimate Cheesecake bakery (where I'm getting my wedding cake!) made her cake and the top tier is supposedly tilted to look like it's sitting on flowers. Here's the link to the site! Maybe you could call/email the bakery and talk with the decorator?

http://ultimateweddingcake.com/index.html

Is it me or does the top cake look crooked?

nevermind......didnt see the previous post

I agree with Doug about the spatula techniuque. I really think having only the top tier topsy-turvy looks really odd. Maybe if it was a larger angle it would look better? They probably just used a wedge of styrofoam to prop the top tier up.

the is-it-sposed-to-be-tilted-or-not question has been discussed lots and lots. i dont remember if anyone found proof one way or another, but personally i think it was a mistake and they put the flowers there to try and fix it.

According to Martha Stewart's Wedding Cakes book, the look was achieved by pressing a large offset spatula vertically against the sides of the cake at one inch intervals to make swooping ridges after the cake has been frosted. Hope this helps and good luck!

what I want to know is how on earth did they stack a tres leche cake??? we wanted one for my wedding cake, and they said that it would "ooze" milk all over the place if it weren't in the pan.
Please help me, because I told my mom that they could and she insisted that they couldn't, and God knows that I want to be right!!!

I guess its suppose to look crooked, but it looks kind of odd to me, not sure if people would get it. It probably looks better from a straight on view though.

I thought the White House chef, Bill Yosses had made the cake.

I did find this interesting article blaming the florist for the tilited top tier...

http://mixmingleglow.com/blog/?p=367


so who knows maybe it was supposed to be tilted or maybe yet another florist error....

The real rip on that cake is that those spatula marks go over the edge as uniformly as they went up the sides there. I could maybe do two or three uniformly over the edge.

I mean I'm sure could do one uniformly over the edge.

But it looks like each of them are done in one continuous movement that goes from the bottom of each tier up over each edge toward the middle.

I don't know--I try to visualize doing that and I gouge my spatula in there somehow every time.

Ok how about a real real round soup spoon? Because then you could get the rotation you need in your wrist at the two different angles and not gouge out a chunk of icing? Not a regular oval spoon though.

Just a thought I had while looking at the picture - this thing is HUGE! Does anyone else think that those tiers are 6" tall? And the bottom tier is what, 20"? I'm sure it fed a lot of people (I'm sure it had to ) How do you serve 6" tall? Two 3" stacked with cardboard in between?

I personally think the top tier was supposed to be off-kilter. Being the President's daughter her wedding would have to be played very straight but this was just a fun touch she could add. The picture probably isn't taken at the best angle, but I think it's very cute.

Can you believe I havn't even seen it Does anybody have a pic

Crooked top tier aside it is a very pretty cake. I'm not sure if it the design was created with a spatula. The thing that has me puzzled is if you look at the bottom tier. The lines near the top edge of the base flowers are uneven. That makes me think of unsteady pipping. I would think that if a spatula was used it should remain the same width provided you don't twist the blade. Either way if you pipe or use a spatula the effect should be just about the same.

Crooked top tier aside it is a very pretty cake. I'm not sure if it the design was created with a spatula. The thing that has me puzzled is if you look at the bottom tier. The lines near the top edge of the base flowers are uneven. That makes me think of unsteady pipping. I would think that if a spatula was used it should remain the same width provided you don't twist the blade. Either way if you pipe or use a spatula the effect should be just about the same.

I get it that maybe whoever designed this cake wanted the flowers to look as if they are spilling out of the sides of the cake to give it that tilted look, but to me, it looks sloppy, and if they were going to give it that look, why not continue that look between the other tiers? I have seen cakes where they want to give it that look to where flowers are oozing out of the cake, and it is cute and all, but comparing this cake to those, it just does not look as if it was to be that way, who knows.

As far as the technique, your guess is as good as mine, LOL> I have never done the spatula technique, but to me I thought the lines were just piped on there. Either way, it looks nice, except the top cake.

Good luck with your copy!!!

Sincerely,
Veronica

I found this:

http://mixmingleglow.com/blog/?p=367

For what its worth...supposedly an explanation of what happened with this cake.

Jenna was on the Ellen show and I only caught part of what she said, because the phone rang. But what I beleive I heard was that they were laughing in the cake cutting picture, because the top tier had indeed shifted and they thought they should cut it fast before "anything hapened."

Any body else catch that episode?

I didn't catch that episode, but I do think that it was a mistake. If you look at the bottom, right corner of the top tier, it appears someone tried to correct a mistake. You can see it really clearly if your compute has a zoom feature.

Wow, thanks for the link. That is quite the cake, I like how it's iced. Very tall layers indeed

Upon closer inspection, it looks to me that the top tier is smooshed a bit on the right side. Anybody else see that? I wonder if the florist didn't force it up to put the flowers under it?

That's funny that she said to Ellen that they had to cut it quickly before something happened. It was a beautiful cake though.

its also bulging on the right side of that top tier.

Oh, just looked at the company's website. In their wedding cake gallery there is a lovely cake with staircases and satelite cakes, and the fountain. Too funny!

Hey everybody I posted a link to explain what happened to the cake....