I have a request from a daughter for a surprise reproduction of her mother's wedding cake for their 50th wedding anniversary. Sounds great, right? The bad thing is she never could get her hands on a picture of the darn thing. She has a newspaper clipping that describes the cake as white with a bottom and a top layer & chantilly lace. Anyone know what they considered to be chantilly lace? I know what cornelli lace is, I am thinking she might be misreading it?

TIA everyone!

If you go to Google Images and search for "chantilly lace" you will see what it looks like. It's been around for eons. Not that I've been around for eons but I remember seeing pictures of chantilly lace wedding dresses from the 40s, 50s, 60s......

If you have a Joann's Fabrics near you, I'm sure they will have it on a bolt in several colors.

Let's see if I can attach a picture....

Nope. Didn't work.

All the pics I googled for Chantilly Lace looks like Cornelli lace to me...must be one and the same?

Do an image search for cornelli lace and you will see the difference. Cornelli lace is a piping technique for baked items and it much simpler--a simpler design, not necessary simple to accomplish. As far as I know (having haunted fabric stores and cake web sites), cornelli lace is never a fabric, whereas Chantilly lace is.

depending on where you want to go with this, I would consider SugarVeil's confectioner's mat...Or perhaps it's just me desparate to try this lace on fondant

http://www.sugarveil.com/mat/sugarveil-mat.htm

or perhaps you could stencil lace on the cake. I doubt if the wedding cake of 50 years ago had fondant but you could update the cake and still pau homage to the original cake


http://247bestshop.com/?q=Designer+Decorating+Cake+Stencil+5+tier+Lace+Set

in any event we can't wait to see what you do

I think the terms have gotten mixed up. I just found a tutorial for a "Chantilly lace cake" but it was definitely cornelli lace. I know Chantilly lace was around 50 years ago; I don't think that's true about cornelli lace, but I don't really have anything to base that on.

These are pictures of cakes described as having been decorated with Chantilly lace designs:
http://www.sharicakes.com/images/cakes/116/ChantillyLaceGift007.jpg
http://www.layers-cake.com/wp-content/gallery/wedding-cakes/chantilly_lace.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oK_EBI0PQX0/TWz7K2TaAyI/AAAAAAAAAro/kFNwaCAftc0/s1600/Wedding%2Bcake%2BChantilly.jpg
This one wasn't called Chantilly lace, but someone commented that it looked just like Chantilly lace.
http://media.cakecentral.com/gallery/23624/normal_1259788974.JPG

Since she can't provide you a picture, sketch a design that you think she will like (or show her some pictures of other cakes) and if she okays something, then go for it! Without a picture that's about all you can do.

Shanter....i believe the first pic is chenille, the second pic is alencon lace style made with a stencil and embellished with pearls, the third lace style is called hardenger (a lace that is actually embroidery work) and probably done with royal icing, and the fourth is Chantilly done with brush work...very nice selection of pics

I disagree. The first doesn't look at all like chenille to me. This is what I would call chenille:
http://cn1.kaboodle.com/hi/img/c/0/0/25/f/AAAADMN56OQAAAAAACX6vg.jpg?v=1231570524000
like an old bedspread.

As to the second one, you could say the top part looks like Alencon but the bottom part looks like Chantilly.

The third one is definitely not Hardanger. I am half Norwegian and have done Hardanger embroidery and it doesn't look like that. It is done on an even-weave fabric or canvas, so one couldn't get a 5-petaled flower. This is a Hardanger design:
http://www.lynxlace.com/images/h103.jpg

Anyway, I don't really care. I'm sure whatever cake the OP comes up with will be a success.

50 years ago, the cake was undoubtedly a fruit cake covered in royal icing. Chantilly lace originated in France. I don't think the cake would have actually been covered in real lace, just some piped version...perhaps matching the lace from her wedding gown.

50 years ago, US weddings didn't have fruitcake as did my cousins in Ireland, England and Scotland. I'm old enough to have had a US wedding cake 50 years ago.

I agree that there wasn't real lace on the cake. Everything here was butter cake with buttercream frosting. I'm not sure the OP meant that the news clipping described a two tier cake that was decorated with a chantilly lace design in buttercream or whether there was actual chantilly lace around the base of the cake in a ruffle....I remember those cakes.

The buttercream designs of long ago weren't as sophisticated as they are now...lots of swags and such and . Today we see various laces replicated in intricate designs with brushes, impression mats, etc.

50 years ago the cake would have been white cake. Definitely not fruit cake. 100 years ago fruit cake might have been the choice but definitely not in the 60's. The idea of using a stencil for the lace effect sounds good to me.

Here is a picture of Chantilly lace

I can't get the pic to upload. dagnabbit. I used to be able to do it.. but is not working for me.

Royal icing chantilly lace wedding cake:

http://lusciouslayerscakes.blogspot.com/
(Have to scroll down.)

Chantilly lace, Irish crochet, Sotas and Cornelli cakes:

http://lusciouslayerscakes.blogspot.com/

HTH

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chantilly_lace