Black and White Photo Shoot Cake

We dropped this cake off last Tuesday morning at the headquarters of Minnesota Brides Magazine.  I was so nervous!  Good thing we left early, because Nick and I got super lost (there is a big difference between 3rd STREET and 3rd AVENUE) but we still made it there in time.

I'm second guessing my choice to put the black dots on – it was a last minute addition that I feel is somewhat distracting from the flowers, which should be the focal point. Maybe they could have been a little smaller? Or maybe I'm obsessing?

As a reference, it took me about four hours to decorate this cake, starting with the plain round foams that are underneath. This is called a "Dummy Cake" since there is no actual cake involved.   There is a very small amount of buttercream applied to the foams for the base layer of fondant to adhere to.  Most of my time was spend forming the flowers.

You can revisit my inspiration for the cake here.  I wanted the flowers to look like fabric. The stamens sticking out of a few of the flowers are from a gum paste flower making kit (inedible) and remind me of pins in a pin cushion. The textured edge of the bands at the base of each tier are reminiscent of  ric-rac. The black dots are button-esque. Someone has crafts on the brain....

Oh, and the dots are my milk glass. My goal was to create a cake using black and white that was sophisticated and chic, but still girly and approachable. I could see this design translated into many other color combinations, from neutrals and tone-on-tone, to pastels, to bright turquoise, which also makes it a great one for the magazine.

Thank you to Minnesota Brides Magazine and Tiger Oaks Productions for the opportunity to participate and try new things!  The fall/winter issue of Minnesota Brides hits stands in JULY and will be on display through December!

Love,

Rachel