Hi everyone, I just got off the phone with a bride who wants a traditional wedding cake with accent colors of chocolate brown and pastel orange. Call me crazy but I am drawing a blank here. She likes the swag look of the picture on my avatar but I just can not visualize this cake. She would like the cake to be a four layer stacked cake. HELP PLEASE!!!!!!! The wedding is in July so I really need to start getting ideas together.

an ivory cake with orange flowers with hints of brown in them would look nice..

missnnaction discribed exactly what came to my mind when I read your post. The ivory would be a must I would think! Sort of an odd request for wedding cake colors but I bet the combination would be very beautiful!! I'm willing to bet this bride favors earth tones and natural tones! Just like me!!!!! (Oh, and I love purple, violet, lilacs, etc..!!!) Can't wait to see this one!
Best of luck to you!
elly
=o)

I would love to do ivory fondant with pastel orange brush embroidery but I don't know how to incorporate the brown. I've never seen brown flowers although I could certainly make brown roses from fondant or gumpaste.

Can you just do chocolate leaves for the flowers by painting chocolate on rose leaves and removing the leaves once cooled? That always looks pretty!

The first thing I thought of was like cherry blossoms - brown branches and peachy flowers. I guess that would be peach blossoms

(edited to add links)

Here is a photo a bit like what I had in mind, the 2nd is nice too.

http://www.jacquespastries.com/gallery4/birds.htm

http://www.jacquespastries.com/2005/wed26.htm

"The first thing I thought of was like apple blossoms - brown branches and peachy flowers. I guess that would be peach blossoms"

That's what I thought of as well. I have seen cakes where the "brown" branch travels up the tiers, sending off smaller spiral branches with the flowers dotting the branches here and there, very elegant and simple. The sort of cake designs I like.

I just love ya'll to death. I'm going to start working on a dummy tomm. Will post pics as soon as I'm done. Thank you all. I love those pics!!!!!!

Yup - here's one more like that - had to look for cherry blossoms, not apple.

http://www.elegantcheesecakes.com/wedding-cakes/cherry_blossom-product.html

I have a similar problem. The bride wants brown of a shade slightly darker than the color of hot cocoa mix from a pouch (you know, like swiss miss). I gave it a lot of thought, then went searching for flowers. Azaleas are blooming right now, and there are so many shades that would go wonderfully with this particular brown.

There is an orange azalea that has brown spots near the center of the flower. Tiger lilies set the standard for orange flowers. Begonias come in orange, and they are only slightly different from a rose. Arizona roses (the breed name) are a fantastic shade of orange.

If you decide to do the chocolate leaves, make sure that the leaves you use are pesticide-free, and that you paint the chocolate on the back of the leaf, so you get the veining detail.

Let us know what you decide.

Theresa

Hi everyone, thank you all for your wonderful suggestions and the photos. I made a dummy tonight. What do you all think?

Wow, amazing color combination, very pretty. Since this is a dummy and you want feedback I would suggest two things. It looks like you did the stems in fondant cutouts. How is your hand at painting with coloring gels?

I think the branches need to be more refined, not sure. More like this cake which I think the branches are brushed on by hand. If you zoom in, they have a couple of different browns on them, darker for highlights.

http://www.aboutthecake.com/11808cf00.jpg

The other thing is your borders around the cake bottoms are a little uneven. How are you cutting your fondant? Try using a straight edge and a pizza cutter for a more precise and even cut.

Overall, good job, I really like it.

That looks really nice. I could never come up with something like that. Very now. love it!

Since you asked, I would make the branches 3-Dimensional, using chocolate clay that is textured to look like bark. Have the smaller branches stand away from the surface of the cake. Instead of just going straight up the cake, I would do two matching branches, one on front, one on back, running horizontally from the lower left to the upper right of each tier.

If you would like the recipe for chocolate clay, it is on page 10 in the Recipes section.

Theresa

have you maybe shown that to the bride? She may just say it's perfect and exactly what she wants... I think it looks great.

Thanks everyone. I used mmf for the borders that I cut with a straight edge and pizza cutter. I think that the mmf was kind of too stretchy that's why you see the uneveness. I'm going to try again and see how it comes out. I thought about making the branches out of chocolate that has hardened so that they could extend out from the cake. I'm going to play around with it a little and see how it comes out. Very helpful suggestions!!!!!

Great!!! Yes, the chocolate piped branches would be perfect (and tasty). NOw that I zoom in on the picture I posted, there is a 3D quality to her branches, probably either chocolate piped or bc.

You might also try putting the MMF in the fridge or feezer for a few minutes if it is to soft, just test until you get a firmer fondant to cut and place.

Have fun!!!

I think it is a beautiful cake. I'm sure that the bride will love the way you used the orange and brown so creatively.

Just wanted to show everyone the updated dummy. I painted on the vines and added fabric ribbon. One of the lines on the top layer actually looks like a much different color for some reason. Not sure if it was just the camera or lighting because it looks the same color in person. By the way, I think the bride wants something with a bunch of flowers. Kind of like the photo on my avatar.

All I can say is, yes it is all about what the bride wants, but I think this cake is stunning!