Caulene Jones Burke 1.26.2013 - Cherry Blossom Cake

Caulene's colors were purple and green.  She wanted lavender fondant with a cherry blossom branch.  She absolutely did not want pink on her cake so we did white blossoms with yellow shimmer.  Would you ever guess that the bottom tier is fake?  Sneaky sneaky.  Having a fake tier saves the bride money and saves the mother of the bride the hassle of having tons and tons of cake left over.  This cake was a blast to do.  The gumpaste blossoms took about three hours or so.  Some people would hate that kind of thing but I really enjoy the time consuming detailed projects.  A lot of people ask me if I make my own fondant.  I actually just buy it.  I used Satin Ice Fondant for this cake.  Did you know that if you color your own purple fondant that it could turn blue?  There was no way I was going to risk that one.  So it's safer to buy your fondant already pre-colored.  I have learned a lot of tips and tricks along The Cake Way.  Below are a few tips and tricks to frosting and stacking a cake.

A little bit of the process..

Middle tier, first layer.

Middle tier stacked and frosted with a crumb coat.  Do you see the crumbs?  Yeah, so do I but guess what?  It's not a big deal because fondant goes on top.  The purpose for the crumb coat is to keep the crumbs off of the fondant and on the frosting.  So don't spend too much time on the crumb coat.

The dowels (sticks that you put in a cake) help to support the weight of every layer.  This is an important aspect if you are stacking layers.  The little time that you spend on measuring and getting it right will really affect the whole outcome of the cake.

This is the top tier.  The cake that is already frosted looks much shorter than the unfrosted cake because it is leveled.  You end up taking a lot off the top of the cake so that you can get that nice leveled, even look.  I would recommend buying a cake leveler to ensure that you have a level cake.  The white stuff on the side of the cake is flower.  The best way to make sure that your cake doesn't stick to your pan is to spray it with Pam or cover with vegetable shortening and then give the pan a flower dusting.

Middle tier covered with fondant.

Cake stacked and ready to decorate.

All completed and ready to be transported to the reception.

The cake made it safely thanks to Aaron's help and my slow driving (and someone flipping me off)

This cake was so FUN to do.  I enjoyed every minute of it.