Gothic Wedding Cake

And yet another wedding cake.

'Any ideas what your daughter would like her wedding cake to look like? Is there a wedding theme?'
-'It's a Gothic themed wedding.'
'Ok. Which direction? Rather lolita-frilly, rather Victorian, rather Steampunk-y, rather ...?'
-'No, it's Gothic. That is ... black and skulls and stuff ...'

Later, I got to know that the bride's dress would be black and dark violet, so I chose those colours for the cake as well. Concerning the general style of the wedding cake, I went for the classics (roses, butterflies, ...) but adjusted them a little to the theme. 

And that's what I came up with ... 

The top tier:

By the way, it's not that easy to find black doilies 'round here ...


The bottom tier:

Top tier again:

At the venue, close-up:

At the venue, total:

After they cut it, the couple called me and my first thought was that something terrible must have happened, but they were just very happy and said they loved the cake so much, they did not want to destroy it at first, but were glad they did because ... nom-nom-nom ... 😁

So, that was my first go at a ... dark-ish wedding cake.

Tree Wedding Cake

Things that happen when people who work with trees (basically having them removed before they destroy anything within their surroundings) marry:

This was one of my more elaborate wedding cakes, though by far not the largest one, and demanded some more planning ahead than I was used to. How to make the treetop? How the trunk?

So, that was the first step of the cake construction; cutting several layers of vanilla sponge into a treetop-like form. Below the cake there is some styrofoam, glued to the cake plate, to get the shape more ... well ... tree-like.

On the table, in front of the cake stand there is a texture sheet. Pressed onto soft fondant it gives it the texture of a tree bark.

Covering the treetop in fondant is a bit demanding and I have no idea how to do it and get a satisfying result, but since I wanted to cover it in leaves anyway, it was not important how the basic cover looked like 😛

There are more than 600 leaves on that tree ^^

Oh, and since the couple loves hunting and has got two dachshunds, I had to include them in the cake as well, somehow.

The pic doesn't show it too well, but I carved a heart and the couple's initial letters into the 'bark'.

Other little details were the rabbit jumping into the burrow, the clutch of eggs and several butterflies all over the cake.

The cake itself (treetop as well as the meadow) consisted of vanilla sponge layered with cherries and vanilla buttercream. This is how the complete cake looked in my kitchen ...

... and at the venue:

The thing seemed so small, I was really afraid that it was not enough cake for all the people, but miraculously some people even got second helpings.

Skimming through my old laptop, I found so many more cake pictures that I have not blogged, yet, but that only means that there's a lot to do ;)

Red Velvet Cheesecake

A friend of mine got married and when she and her husband came back to Germany, they had a little party for her friends and family over her as well. So, of course, I asked her what kind of cake she wanted to have and she asked for a somewhat American cheesecake, since her husband is ... well ... American :-)

So, I came up with a red velvet cheesecake, covered in white chocolate ganache and sprinkled with red sugar and white chocolate.

Of course, I forgot to take a picture of the cake before they cut it. One day I will remember to do so beforehand.

And that's what it looked on the inside.

Oh, and as soon as I have finished posting all those wedding cakes, I might start posting recipes again ;)

Wedding Mini Cakes

Yet, another wedding cake. I've already made some mini-cake wedding favours, but this one was my first real mini-cake wedding cake.

Adding the final touches at the venue's kitchen:

The small cakes were decorated in three fashions, each one for another flavour. The ones with the small roses contained chocolate sponge and an orange infused chocolate ganache. The ones decorated with small hearts were a vanilla sponge with cherries and vanilla butter cream, and the remaining flowers concealed a lemon sponge with raspberries and lemon butter cream. All cakes were covered in marzipan and fondant.

And the cake finally arriving at the reception room:

Both, bride and groom, loved it and the bride's sister who works in a bakery still talks about the cake every time she sees me :)

Wedding Pinata

You know those friends who try to marry secretly? But somehow you get to know and talk the bride's maid of honor into delivering a cake because you cannot let that happen without baking a little something. Well, exactly that happened.

What I did not take a photo of is the fact that this is a pinata. If cut, the lower cake spilled candy and a tiny letter for the bride and groom.

I tried embossing, which I had not too much done before. So, I liked the floral-petaly boarder and felt like doing more of it to the remaining fondant, slightly brushing the surface with gold lustre powder.

Closer:

The top:

The side:

And the whole thing:

Gemini Birthday Cake

So, it's more than two years since my last post here. A lot has happened within the last two years, like buying a house, for example. Lots of cakes have been baked and while rediscovering my blog, I also found several half-ready posts that are still waiting in line.

I will end my blogging-abstinence with a birthday cake a colleague asked my to make for her elder daughter. Said daughter's zodiac sign is Gemini and at that time she has developed an interest for stellar constellations, so that's what she got.

I don't remember what kind of cake it was exactly, but it had two thin layers of vanilla sponge and a thick layer of yoghurt cream with tangerines. All that covered in dark chocolate. The stars are made of icing and ... well, sugar stars, whereas the stardust consists of self-made coloured sugar. Simply put some crystalline sugar with a few drops of blue and green liquid food colour into a small plastic bag and shake it until all the sugar crystals are coloured. Then, spread on a baking sheet and let dry. Et voila, ready to use 😊

Concerning further posts, there are even some wedding cakes I haven't yet blogged about, so those I will definitely share within the next ... (I don't dare to say days ...) ... weeks :-)

Pumpkin Cheesecake and Vanilla-Chocolate-Swirl Fudge

Since it is quite a while since I made those, I can only guess how I made them...

Ok, the base apparently consisted of the usual crumbled cookies and butter base plus some oats.

Add some left over pumpkin purree...

Whip up some curd cheese, sugar and eggs (500g, 100g and 2)

Bake for about 40 minutes on 175°C.

And there you go :)

 

For the fudge, melt marshmallows with sugar and condensed milk. Pour the melted mixture over chopped chocolate and stir, stir, stir. Pour into a prepared pan and let it cool for several hours.
For a more detailed description have a look here:
http://lockenwicklerundpuschelhausschuhe.blogspot.de/2012/12/marshmallow-mint-fudge.html

Well, I should definetely make fudge again... It's been way too long.