Archive for category Wedding Cakes

UPDATED:

Today I had a chance to try making this Marshmallow fondant myself so I thought I would post a quick update and repost this. The fondant actually tasted quite good. VERY VERY sweet (its sugar and marshmallows after all) so you probably don’t want to eat to much at once, but since it’s just a thin layer over the cake – it’s not bad at all.  The fondant was fairly easy to make (though it gets to be quite thick which makes it quite the workout for your hands lol) and was very easy to work with once it was made as well.

For those who want to know – here is what I was making. It’s a zoo themed birthday cake for a friend’s son and the hills are covered with the pale green marshmallow fondant that I made.

ORIGINAL POST

Fondant is a popular choice for wedding cakes because of the smooth, clean look it creates but it doesn’t usually win much praise in the taste department. Marshmallow fondant is a great alternative that you may like better taste-wise.   Check out the Austin Wedding Blog for a great DIY tutorial for making your own marshmallow fondant!

Are you planning to have fondant or buttercream for your wedding cake?

As I mentioned, the cake was not a top priority of mine. A basic cake came included in the price of the reception venue. I wanted to be committed to the basic cake, I knew it technically wasn’t “free”, but I didn’t want to have to fork out too much extra moolah for it either. … I mean, ya get a couple pictures of it and then it gets EATEN.

That being said, I met Sylvia Weinstock once at a bridal show and fell in love with her AMAZING non-budget friendly masterpieces.

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I watched a Cake Boss marathon once. I fell in love with Buddy’s AMAZING non-budget friendly creations.

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I did some google searches (how did brides plan a wedding pre-google?!?!?) and I fell in love with THIS

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I adore the glitzy-ness and the simplicity. I thought it was “the one”. Then I did a little MORE research and discovered that for the price of glitzy-ness and simplicity I could practically buy a whole other cake!!! Wow! That crystal cake banding is a fortune. Like $75 a yard! Wow! Talk about a budget buster! If you’re not concerned about breaking the bank, or if you’ve made the cake a priority in your budget, you can check out THIS crystal cake banding. It’s gorgeous and you’ll have a stunning cake.

BUT if you’re looking to plan a platinum wedding on an aluminum budget, like we are, get thee to the nearest fabric store. My mom and I found THIS ribbon for $19.99/yard.

Still awfully expensive considering we’d need 3 yards just to go around half of our four tiered cake. THEN we found out that JoAnn Fabrics offers a 50% off coupon in the Saturday morning newspaper (sorry ladies, I looked for one online but couldn’t find one… check your newspaper’s circulars). So for $10/yard we could have the look of the glitzy cake for 1/8 of the price! Woo hoo!!! But, just to make life complicated, we also found THIS sequins ribbon for $4.99/yard ($2.50 with the coupon). It sparkles WAY more, but I am a tad afraid it looks too much like a dance costume. What do you think?

Last weekend my husband and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary by renewing our vows in an intimate ceremony with about 70 or so of our friends and family. I’ll be posting lots of details and pictures over the next week or so – but I wanted to start by sharing our dessert table with you.

We decided early on that we wanted to have a dessert table rather then a wedding cake. My sister, who is a talented baker, agreed to help out. We choose black forest cakes (my husband’s favorites) and chocolate raspberry cupcakes (my favorite).

If you’re looking for an affordable alternative – a simpler cake style like the ones my sister did for us is something you can do and it still looks amazing! The cakes were iced in whipping cream icing with dolops of icing along the top rim for effect. The little chocolate hearts were made by piping melted chocolate onto wax paper. Once the chocolate hearts were hardened, they were placed on the cake with cherries for a gorgeous finish.  I think these cakes would also have made fantastic centerpeices if you placed them on pretty little cake stands at the center of each table. Gorgeous – and practice since it saves you the cost of centerpeices.

We also added a few jars with our favorite candies – Jelly Bellys, Chocolate Covered Pretzels and mints for after dinner.

For those of you considering doing your own wedding cake, take a look at this gorgeous damask wedding cake stencil from Designer Stencils! You can purchase stencils for each layer individually if you want a smaller cake or want to mix and match your favorites. You can also get the entire 5 layer set together.

They also have a great selection of other culinary stencils available.

A year and a half ago, my brother-in-law asked his girlfriend to be his wife: and I began a mission to learn how to make a wedding cake. It was a wonderful experience. I took a local cake decorating course to learn how to work with fondant, and then proceeded to use my new-found skills to produce a half decent, three tiered white wedding cake with silk flower accents.

So can you do it yourself? Is it possible to make your own wedding cake? Well, yes it is but it takes some time and commitment. And of course, a simpler design is a smarter project for a first time cake maker. If you are considering making your own cake, or making a cake for a friend or loved ones wedding – here are some great books on the market with recipes and instructions for basic, beautiful wedding cakes for beginners.