I have been asked to do a wedding cake for a family member and I am going to do it as a gift. Problem... I haven't done much cake decorating in the last several years. We moved away from my established clientele and I just didn't have any desire to get back into it. When I was making cakes, I did mostly birthday and special occassion cakes. I did two wedding cakes and a couple of tiered anniversary cakes. Now I'm struggling to remember everything I knew about tiered cakes, etc. Plus, they want a fondant cake which wasn't so popular when I was doing decorating.
Posting the cake pic here. This is what I've figured out so far, please tell me if you think I'm off base on anything and any tips or advice you can give would be appreciated.
1) I think I'm going to use marshmallow fondant because of what I've read about it tasting so much better. If the cake is chocolate what should I put on the cake before the fondant? Can I use raspberry jam or would it's color leak through to the fondant? Do I have to put on a layer of buttercream first?
2) I'm ordering a diamond imprint mat for the sides. It looks like in the pic that the top is smooth, though. How do I do a pattern on just the sides and not on the top? Would I do this in two pieces (cut a round for the top and a long rectangular piece for wrapping around?
3) I would like to make my own edible pearls. I found some directions online (using a decorator tip to cut them out, rolling them, drying them a little, then putting on pearl luster) that I plan to use. Does anyone know that marshmallow fondant works okay with this? Can anyone guess how many edible pearls I will need?
4) I am using fresh roses, as in the picture. I keep reading in Wilton's wedding cake book.... don't let the flowers touch the cake, dont' let the flowers touch the cake, repeat, repeat. In this pic, it just looks like they are just laid on top. What do I do to keep the flowers from touching the cake and do the flowers literally just lay on top or should they be stuck into cake flower picks or something? How will they last in the summer outside heat? Also.... do I need to order my flowers from the same place as the bride is ordering the ceremony flowers from to make sure the match in color? They will be red, deep pink and light pink.
5) Any other tips or hints you care to give would be much appreciated!
Thank you!
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Dear mamaknozbest,
I think your gonna make a wonderful cake!
1) Raspberry jam will eventually color leak in the summer heat. So, try an apricot jam or sugar wash the cake then put a buttercream coating on before the fondant.
2) The diamond pattern I have is a 10' square. I press the pattern to the sides and imprinting the pattern in while rotating the cake on the turntable.
I move the pattern to the next section matching up the lines. I don't know how anyone else does it. So if anyone out there has an easier way of doing this I'm all ears!
3) Go to the site of Earlen's cakes, it gives you very detailed instructions on pearls and the amount you need and how to calculate it all.
4) The fresh roses should come from the florest that the bride is using to get uniform color. You can use fresh flower picks or put them on the cake at the last minute to keep them fresh in the heat. I lay fern down between the cake and the flower. Maybe a bit of wax paper will work if you can hide the paper. Use picks if you need to angle the flower to stand up rather than having the flower lay down. It all depends of the look you want.
I hope that you can use any of the tips that I gave. And good luck on a beautiful cake!
I'm open to any and all improvements on my suggestions!!!!
lilie 
Make up some MMF and taste it before you commit to using it.
This cake, btw, I found on cakesbysam website. It is beautiful and I am going to attempt to create something like it. Tell me... what size cakes you think these are in the picture? Do you think they are just two layers (they looks a wee bit tall to me.) I don't want to disappoint the bride by having a cake that doesn't look like the pic.
If I use a marshmallow fondant, do I need to put a glaze AND a buttercream layer before the fondant, or is just buttercream ok?
[quote="mamaknozbest"]This cake, btw, I found on cakesbysam website. It is beautiful and I am going to attempt to create something like it. Tell me... what size cakes you think these are in the picture? Do you think they are just two layers (they looks a wee bit tall to me.) I don't want to disappoint the bride by having a cake that doesn't look like the pic.
I think these cake sizes are a 6, 8, 12 inch cakes. I also think they are about 4 inches tall. Most wedding cakes are about 4 inches tall, so when you slice the cake you will see at least about 3 layers of cake. Then you can slice the cake about 1 inch over for a nice slice of cake for the guests.
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