My First Wedding Cake

I have an amazing, laid back friend who asked me to do her wedding cake for her in January.  Why mention "laid back"?  A wedding cake is a HUGE deal to many brides - most of which would consider bloodshed as an acceptable thing for screwing it up.  But she was awesome and was okay with anything I was going to do, (although when I told her that I would prefer not to do pink, she expressed ample gratefulness!)

Anyway, here are a few pictures of of the cake as I was doing it - including the picture she sent me of her bouquet, which gave me all the inspiration for it.  As you'll be able to tell, I took pictures at every step as proof just incase a disaster happened along the way...

The bouquet:

The decorations:

     

It took me so long, and so much coloring (that I had to go out and buy more mid-mixing,) but I finally achieved the color I was hoping for.  You can see the scrap of fabric that I was trying to match hanging on the edge of the bowl in the top half of the photo.

I got so lucky with those pine cones!  I had an idea in my head that I could start with a rose base, then work on it like a chrysanthemum...and it worked!  

Making the cake:

While not my favorite flavor, red velvet always looks so pretty!

Initially I had planned to have to have the edge of each tier, where I filled in the gap with plain, piped icing, completely filled with the decorations I made from royal icing.  I was lucky, though, that I piped it as I did, because it ended up looking like piles of snow beneath the flowers.  Or that's what I told myself...

I tried to make the top as visually appealing as I could as there was no topper to add.

Like I said before: I expected disaster.  So I just kept taking pictures!  Only half are actually even posted...

The holes in the butter cream will always bother me, although people assure me it's not that bad.  But this couple especially expressed interest in a non-fondant covered cake, which I happily obliged to do.  I can make my own fondant, and eat it plain, but as soon as it goes on a good, it's just no good.  I don't like to feel like my cake has been taped up or a big band-aid has been slapped around it.  But then again, I'm weird about textures and my food - you won't find me eating sushi (or sashimi) any time soon.

Anyway...

I was horrified at what a person (not myself) could do to a cake just by not using a proper cake lifter.  So the last photo shown is not my favorite.  Even though I was basically told that I was being anal and paranoid, looking at it still bothers me.  And they left my non-slip mat underneath.  See it?  I do.

Ah...  Perhaps with more time and practice, I'll stop being that critical of my work.  Although, chances are, probably not!