Kara and Greg's NYC Films Wedding ACT ONE

So this is the first of what will hopefully be several blog entries chronicling the progress of Kara and Greg's wedding cake. Their exciting theme...films shot or set in NYC. Each of Kara and Greg's centerpieces will depict a different film - is that the coolest idea or what? They're not having boring old table numbers, they're using their favorite movies!! I will post as I'm able to...but obviously I'm a bit busy with the actual cake ;-)

The part I'm showing a glimpse of now is the seemingly endless construction of the edible (technically) but non cake parts of all of their 16(yes, SIXTEEN) centerpiece cakes each with film canister cakes (not shown since I bake fresh and we're not there yet) and then on top of each a pastillage film reel with filmstrip matching the movie poster on a pastillage plaque that will be positioned on each reel. There will be a little bling and a bit more strip than shown in these photos, but that's all in due time. A little tid bit of info client's don't know about is that for every cake order there is at least one piece of decor that can and will be done ahead of time, but there are so many that just can't be done until the cake is baked. Whether it's hand painting on a fondant covered cake, or in this case, positioning very fragile strips of fondant "film" with printed icing sheets to duplicate a favorite scene from the movie, many things just can't be done ahead. Because we want an unwinding effect, the last strips of film for each cake will have to be placed when the cakes are done while the fondant film is fresh and pliable; this means I can't make that part until the cakes are ready for it. It's this type of work that usually leads to very late nights and sometimes very long set up on site when cakes are delivered.

Want to see just how much was involved in making the parts for that centerpiece above? I've been taking just a few photos of some steps that were necessary to get there. And yes, that means I actually left out some steps!! Pounds upon pounds of pastillage had to be made, drying forms had to be constructed, dough rolled and cut, dried on forms, parts painted, "glued" with icing in sections, more parts added...each step with significant drying time allowed...

click to see a larger view of the shots.

I'll try to add some shots of the "film" being made when I make those additional strips toward completion of the cake.The centerpiece cakes are not the entire order, but you'll have to check back for the rest of this exciting wedding cake story! Until next time...