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This unique bespoke 3 tier wedding cake is inspired by the day the groom proposed to his bride on a gondala in the romantic city of Venice.
Inspired by a Venice proposal
I was supplied with photographs of the bride and groom, flowers for the brides bouquet, colours and an idea of a gondala complete with the bride and groom to sit on top.
At first I sketched out a preliminary design that was 2 tiers for the bride and groom to approve. Eventually they changed it to 3 tiers as the wedding got bigger.
All the decoration was made in advance ready to be applied to the cakes which would be covered a few days before the actual wedding.
3D Gondala made of modelling paste
This gorgeous cake topper was made separately from the cake. I like to make it this way so it is detachable from the cake and can be kept as a keepsake of their special day.
When designing this topper, I focused on looking what a gondala really looks like in photographs, and in doing this I found out that if I created one true to an original it would be very large with very small people on it which wouldn’t work.
So this gondala is a stylised version to create impact and therefore characters that are a good size for the cake.
Making sure the figures and gondala are the correct size for the cake is important
‘Blue Moon’ roses, white roses, Lavender, Gypsophila and ‘Dusty Miller’ silver leaves (all in the brides bouquet) were hand made. The Lavender and Gypsophila were created using florists wire and was removed before the cake was cut.
The bottom tier comprised of an elaborate quilt effect on which the delicate flowers sat.
Roses, Lavender, Dusty Miller and Gypsophila flowers adhorn all side off the top of the third tier
It was safer to take the cake and topper in separate boxes so it was assembled at Woodborough Hall, Nottingham ready for the evening reception.
Wedding cake taking pride of place at Woodborough Hall
My original sketch outlining the design for the bride and grooms approval.
A sketch of initial concept
This 10 inch square sponge cake was created last week. It needed to have a clean and simple but intricate stylish design for Bill’s 80th birthday party.
Bagpipes, Canal Boat and Aeroplane 80th Birthday Cake
Firstly I consulted with the client about what kind of style, detail and colours they required which then followed with a computer generated design sent by email for approval.
It’s always best to ask about the person whose birthday it is; what do they like to do, follow, hobbies etc., and then it gives you an idea what to make for the cake.
Designed on a computer first.
To give you an idea of the scale (how small) this design is the plane was about 70mm long. All created using modelling paste onto a board covered with sugarpaste, this was produced a few days before covering the cake so it gave me plenty of time to get it right. The board was then attached to the cake with royal icing which meant that prior to cutting the cake, the design could be removed and saved for memories.
Bespoke 80th Birthday cake
Techniques used in this design involved hand modelling, hand painting and piping and therefore take time and care to reach the desired effect.
I will always endeavour to reply to your enquiry within 48 hours. If you have not heard from me in that time it suggests that there is an error with my mailbox or server which I am currently unaware of and I would therefore ask that you try to contact me by phone or text. Thank you.
This amazing cake was created last week for a lovely couples 25th Wedding Anniversary party. They do a lot of walking with their dog Minty who loves to chase squirrels and this is what the bespoke cake design is based upon. This beautiful cake topper is actually sat on a cake board so it could be removed before the cake was cut and saved as a memento of their special day.
These hand-made figures are sat on a log which was based around a photograph that was supplied to me when the cake order was placed.
This is their cute little West Highland terrier called Minty which is roughly around 1½ inch wide and 1 inch high. He is eyeing up the squirrel which is even smaller than Minty and holding an acorn.
Around the actual cake a meadow was hand-painted with edible food colouring featuring daisies, butterflies, dragonflies and ladybirds surrounded by bright green grass.
When designing and creating cakes it’s best to make sure the cake decorating looks good from all angles – even behind.
The result of all this hard and enjoyable work was a cake I was very proud of and was just what the couple had in mind – and they loved it.
This kind of cake decoration could be applied to wedding cakes as well as all the other varieties of celebration cakes too.
If you’d like me to decorate a cake in a bespoke style or something completely different for your special occasion then please feel free to contact me for a quote. Copper Top Cakes is based in Nottingham and delivers to the East Midlands area. Please feel free to leave me an email or a message and I will always get back to you as soon as possible.
This cake was designed with Ascot in mind. I basically wanted to create some dahlias for a demonstration I have coming soon and thought it would look fantastic on my exhibit table.
These subtle pink hand-made dahlias look stunning on the hat cake – it took a few evenings to complete them by letting them dry at different stages. A ruffled piece of modelling paste that looks like draped fabric draws the eyes to the delicate flowers sitting on top.
Mounting the cake on two sugarpaste covered boards with ribbon around the edges turns quite a simple cake into a stylish hat.
If you’d like me to decorate a cake in a bespoke style or something completely different for your special occasion then please feel free to contact me for a quote. Copper Top Cakes is based in Nottingham and delivers to the East Midlands area. Please feel free to leave me an email or a message and I will always get back to you as soon as possible.
I was commissioned to create this bespoke wedding cake with its cascade of hand-crafted flowers for a couple who loves owls. These cute owls sit on the branch of the delicately hand-painted bride and groom’s names in a beautiful script font.
A single tiered wedding cake with hand-made flowers, hand-painted names and owls
Small pink roses, purple pansies, pink hydrangeas and tiny lily of the valley flowers adorn this one tier fruit cake. All of them made from petal paste and some piped royal icing for the the lily of the valley stems.
Roses, Hydrangeas, Pansies and Lily of the Valley hand-made flowers
The owls were gently sitting with the names so it would compliment the design and add to the overall effect.
Close-up of the hand-painted detail
These hand-made owls are so cute…looking into each others eyes that they make this a special and unique wedding cake.
Overall view of the wedding cake
If you’d like me to decorate a cake in a bespoke style or something completely different for your special occasion then please feel free to contact me for a quote. Copper Top Cakes is based in Nottingham and delivers to the East Midlands area. Please feel free to leave me an email or a message and I will always get back to you as soon as possible.
Nottingham LocalCard have just celebrated their 2nd Anniversary and kindly requested I make them a cake with their logo to celebrate.
I recently added my business to their website www.nottinghamlocalcard.com so this cake will be featured in their January newsletter too! How exciting!
When designing a cake you need some inspiration so the best place to look for it in this case was their website. I needed to see what the membership card looked like, fonts, colours and any other unique feature to them that might make the cake special. Sometimes it can help by doing a very quick sketch.
Creating cakes has been in my life for over 3 years now and I never stop amazing myself at what I can do or new techniques I can teach myself – there is always something new to learn. I still like to be true to myself and produce a pleasing design out of my head rather than someones book or off the internet with as little cutters as possible (all hand-cut and hand-made; the only shop bought cutters used in this design is the flowers on the girls shoulders and a frilled circle cutter for the skirt). I still get thrilled when I am working on a cake and seeing it evolve as every cake is different and beautiful.
I decided on making a rectangle cake that I could place a plaque (credit card shaped) on top. Firstly, I started the membership card by mixing a similar colour referenced to the website colour (you are never going to match exactly) into some white modelling paste, rolled it out thinly and then cut a rectangle with round corners out of it. This was then left for 24 hours to harden.
The next step was to cut out the logo with a scalpel in white and black modelling paste, let them harden and hand paint a keyline in black around the white letters. After that they were attached with edible glue.
I kept cross referencing to the membership card to make sure I was getting the style correct and that the logo was in the right position before hand-painting the rest of the lettering directly onto the plaque in black and white again following the brand. When all this was complete I carefully lifted the finished plaque up and attached it to the top of the cake with more edible glue.
The website features members’ holding their membership cards so this inspired me to make characters doing the same. I created a man and a woman, both holding tiny cards, wearing the same colours to reflect the rest of the cake and make it all coordinated.
The characters were started from the feet upwards. For the girl the feet and legs were made separately then the skirt is attached on top of that. Then it was time for the body then the arms followed by the head. The man was created in the same way but obviously wearing a suit. The finer details such as the painted toe nails, buttons and small membership card were added last. Inside each figure is one plastic dowling which must be removed if the figures are to be eaten but the rest is all edible.
LocalCard loved the cake and took photographs for their newsletter to come out in January. I hope you enjoyed reading about this.
If you’d like me to decorate a cake in a similar bespoke style or something completely different for your special occasion then please feel free to contact me for a quote. Copper Top Cakes is based in Nottingham and delivers to the East Midlands area. Please feel free to leave me an email or a message and I will always get back to you as soon as possible.
This cake was inspired by my beautiful large lilac poppies that I grew from seed in my new garden. In the Summer they burst into these fantastic delicate flowers which only lasted one day before throwing all the petals around the garden like confetti.
I have never made these flowers before and do not have any metal cutters so I cut off a head and dismantled it. Sometimes they only had 4 petals and sometimes 6. I proceeded to make templates in card of the petals to keep for future use and took a photograph to cross reference with as well.
The center was made first and then the stamens were added after that. The white with a hint of pale lilac petal paste was cut and wires inserted to produce four large petal. Finally they were painted to simulate the patterns on the real flowers; I like my finished flowers to look pretty but not altogether too realistic to show they are handmade.
The cake was completed with a frill down the front that highlights the flower.
If you’d like me to decorate a cake in a similar bespoke style for a special occasion then please feel free to contact me for a quote. Copper Top Cakes is based in Nottingham and delivers to the East Midlands area. I am reachable between 1.00pm – 2.00pm in the day and evenings plus weekends. Leave me an email or a message and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
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