Hi from a very rainy Lancashire England!
A few weeks ago, my niece recommended me to a friend who needed a small wedding cake. I subsequently met with the lovely Carole, after sending her a mountain of Pinterest images of single tier cakes! Carole is a very bubbly character, and soon picked out a heart shaped cake…..in purple! Now, although I confess that purple is my favourite colour, I hadn’t ever visualised it on a wedding cake, unless it was a steam punk or goth type affair. Carole definitely didn’t fit in either of those categories 😝 but her theme was purple, also her favourite colour, and gold. So why not? In my opinion, you should choose whatever you want on your wedding day 💜 After chatting, she also asked for some pink peonies with gold edged petals, chocolate cake, which was her groom to be’s favourite, and left the rest to me! Yikes! I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with Carole. She’s the sort of person you like instantly. Bright, bubbly, like a ray of sunshine on a gloomy day. Well she brightened mine anyway 😊 I sent her off with a sample for the groom to try, and once that got the thumbs up, I started thinking about creating a unique cake for this unique lady and her chocolate cake loving man! 💑 This is the recipe I used. It’s lovely and moist without being too dense. How to Cake it is one of my favourite YouTube channels 😊
I wanted to do something special, while sticking to the remit. Ages ago, I’d bought a silicone lace mat, which had never been used. It features hearts so it was perfect. I found a YouTube tutorial on how to make the ‘lace’ coloured it purple, and set to. It was actually very easy, I had all the ingredients already, and I was really pleased with the finished product. This is how I made it 😊
I used this 2 ingredient chocolate frosting to fill the cake after creating three layers. It is soooo good. I had to stop myself from eating it out of the bowl. And no icing sugar! My Cupcake Addiction is another favourite 😊
After carving the cake into it’s heart shape, I then ganached the whole thing, and popped it into the fridge. All good so far 😊
The following day, (Thursday) it was time for covering the cake with that lovely purple fondant. That’s when the problems started 😖 Stupid fondant behaving badly again! Has anyone else noticed that the darker colours are always softer? Black, red and purple specifically? Of course it was a scorcher of a day too, which didn’t help. No matter how thick or thin I rolled it, as soon as I tried to get it on the cake, it ripped…..well fell apart would be more accurate. After a minor panic, I decided to add just a little Tylose to firm it up, rolled a long strip to go round the edges, and a heart shape for the top, and panelled it instead of trying to get it all on in one go! Heat and humidity are pure evil when working with fondant! 😈 After that I applied the lace hearts, dusting them randomly with gold and hologram white lustres, added a purple ribbon round the top edge with diamante pins sterilised with vodka, then the gold ‘bling’ sequinned ribbon round the bottom edge. Another hairy moment transferring it to the board (there’s always that moment when you just have to let go!) And then I placed the peonies and the lettering.
‘Roy’ having only 3 letters, one side looked a bit bare, so I placed a small wired peony on that side. The butterfly was a last minute touch just because it was pretty ❤ Carole had supplied her own topper which was you to me bride and groom bears. I gave the groom a purple cravat and waistcoat button, and the bride a gold ‘dress’ and small fondant posy. I left a fondant shelf edged with gold on the back of the cake for them to sit on 💑
I have to say that I’m so grateful to Carole and Roy for trusting me to make this cake for their special day. I got the chance to put into practice the techniques I’d ‘learned’ on YouTube. Making a quilted board, peonies, cake lace etc, and if it hadn’t have been such a hot day on Thursday, it would have been a 100% pleasure. Still, it’s not the first time it’s happened and I’m sure it won’t be the last! Darn unpredictable weather! If there are any ‘cakers’ out there reading this, what do you do? Are there any brands which are better when working in heat or humidity? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter 😮
Anyway, many congratulations to Carole and Roy. I hope you had an amazing day, and a very happy future together.
Until next time
Stay safe and healthy
Debbie ❤
Baking for Therapy 