Jamie and Niall's wedding cakescape

Ok, so I've said before, I get some pretty great brides. But Jamie; she takes the cake. (yeah, I went there) And I've also said before that I love it when I get to work in tandem with Erin; that rocks too. Jamie was awesome. One of the most - no scratch the "one of" - she was the most easy going, happy to be getting married, can't wait to party, puts her trust in the ones she's hired brides I have ever had the privilege to design for. And after a year of being booked, when it came time for final confirmations she (like most brides who book me a year ahead) had some changes in mind. She no longer wanted the huge, over the top cake that she thought she had wanted. That's so outdated, now is the time for simple elegance - I'm pretty sure that's what she was thinking anyway.

Well, so how do you do simple elegance on a grand scale? Still be over the top without doing waaaay too much? Let me show you! You do a cakescape. A display of complimenting cakes, tiered or not tiered, making up a beautiful table full of edible bliss. I love this look. And it really is a great way to incorporate several ideas when it's too hard to pinpoint a design.

For example, Jamie loved so many different elements but putting them on one cake would have been so busy. The scroll work would have really clashed with the petite dot to dot replicating the motif from one of her custom invitation suite items. And that would be where Erin comes in. She supplied me with the approved and 2nd choice pieces she designed for Jamie and Niall, and I reproduced them in sugar. The crissy-crossy ribbon straps inspired by her save the dates would have been too much to combine with the angular detail from the bodice of her dress...on one cake, but but doing 3 cakes I could incorporate most of the things she loved and as shown in the shots below, it totally works.

Thanks Jamie and Niall, for choosing me to be part of your memories...it was a joy!

From naked to furry, King Kong gets his features

So we had the awesome, rocked out styrofoam base for King Kong that Beth sculpted while she was here. After she left I was able to work that base magically into a thing of beauty - wait, this is KK we're talking about...hmmm, well I think he's very handsome!

The first thing I did was to sand him down a little around the edges to soften the shape up a bit, exaggerating it just a bit because icing would be filling the areas back up. After that, I started with his face. I used sugar paste to give him his features; his "skin", eye sockets, eyebrows/forehead, his nose, cheeks and mouth. The mouth, oh that mouth! I made him a tongue and some dentures and short little fangs. I even made some ears! So all of that went on first, applying and smoothing with my tools until I thought it was just right. Then I painted those parts. I love the tongue and mouth the best I think!















After painting his face I moved onto his hands and feet. I used a royal recipe with extra drying/hardening power and a small artist spatula to apply the icing on his extremities and then smoothed them with a dampened brush. I gave him the impression of toes and fingers and set him to dry a bit so I could handle him before moving on. I used a heat gun in between stages to dry him enough that I could handle him. I should say I used it sparingly...sugar does boil you know, even in icing form!











From then it was a matter of adding the "fur". Again, more royal and drying time. The icing was applied in a dab and lift motion to pull out the fur. The heat gun came in real handy here, very quickly I came to a point when I couldn't handle him much at all until he dried. All the while I kept "testing" the position of his bride in his arm to leave enough room to squeeze her in there later.













So there you have it, King Kong gettin' his fur on. Sweet!

Last season's cake displays for sale now...

Let's call this one "She Fakes The Cake"!

Every year I've made display cakes either for shows, photo shoots, mock ups, or just when the mood strikes to show a design fresh for the season. I am selling a couple of last season's displays now to make room for new displays that will be designed and created this winter, and will continue to create and retail faux cakes during the off season later this year.

This is a great way to have a one of a kind display that one may not ordinarily have a budget for. You can serve kitchen cakes from me if you are a local bride if you like, but it is not mandatory. Wouldn't this be terrific for a bride out of state? I think so too. Have your favorite local bakery provide your mouth watering dessert, and I'll provide the eye candy. These are not for rent, all sales are final. Shipping can be arranged. Email me today to inquire! You can fill out the inquire form on my site and mention fake cake purchase in the description area, or just email me directly at jen@shetakesthecake.com

4 tier winter scene, will ship with snowflakes packaged separately for you to place to avoid breakage in transit. Dimensions are 10"x4, 8"x4, 6"x4, 4"x4 tiers. This cake was featured in the Syracuse Post Standard in a previous season. Hand sculpted, hand painted fondant details on a fondant base. $150.00 plus shipping and packaging.







My "Red Acanthus" cake is a fondant covered display I carved, hand painted, piped and detailed in gold. It's rich tones and style leaning toward Italian or Greek will be fabulous at any ornate, formal wedding. The base tier is approximately 12" round diameter narrowing to a 6" tier at top, each carved subtly. This incredibly ornate cake display featured in the current issue of Well Wed NY is $400.00 plus shipping and packaging.






This delightful and lovely little cake is done in the still very popular chocolate brown and raspberry pink combo. With hand made and hand painted sugar hydrangeas adorning the hand carved tiers atop a plaid tier which is also hand painted. This cake wowed the crowd at The Wedding Salon in NYC and was called a "sweet little cake" and "very nice" by Sylvia Weinstock at the show. It's a very petite cake at 9" diameter at the bottom tier. Hydrangeas will be packaged separately to avoid breakage in transit. This favorite in my portfolio is $200.00 plus shipping and packaging.




This stunning white, yellow, and black cake is one of my recent favorites. Designed to compliment a custom invitation suite by Bride Design, it stands at about 13" high with a bottom diameter of 10". All piped freehand, as most of my cakes are, the center tier is a yellow base with striking white detail giving the impression of a floral like mums or spider mums. Tied off with a sheer black bow and detailed at the bottom with crisp black graphic icons. This display cake is $200.00 plus shipping and packaging as well.


I've a couple more that I'll post another time. For the past year I've been fighting the magazines' trend for couples to get a display cake that's fake and serve sheet cakes to their guests, but with the economy the way it is and all other wedding related costs on the rise, I think that the idea of a fake cake is going to be more than a quickly passing fad. In an effort to assist couples with their ever tightening budgets I've decided to branch out into the world of fake cakes as well. I've been creating them for years, why not make them available for you and your guests instead of just keeping them on a pedestal in my studio? Each of these cakes I'm making available to you would be priced at about $8-$12.00 PER serving if they were real cakes. We can all do the math. Now you really can have your dream cake and eat it (another cake) too.