Antique Jeweled Wedding Cake

I have to say that this was a really fun MacGyver project and I was so happy with the end result. This cake was the culmination of months of shopping, experimenting, and playing with designs. And since the couple getting married was so stylish and fun, it made it fun for me. My mission was to design a 2 tier square wedding cake and incorporate antique jewelry to reflect the bride's antique brooch that she would wear in her hair. The bride brought me magazine pictures and jewelry for inspiration. So I gathered some of my own jewelry, plus some old brooches that belonged to each of my grandmothers, and I pressed them into a special molding clay. (See bottom photo). Once I had impressions of the pieces that I wanted to use, I baked the clay molds in the oven, which turned them into a thick (latex-like) flexible mold. Then I pressed white fondant into the molds and trimmed them to look like jewelry pieces. Once the pieced dried, I painted them with an antique silver ("moonstone") luster dust paint, leaving white spaces where I wanted my gemstones. To make the gems, I used isomalt sticks (way easier than making my own) and melted them down to a sugar syrup. I poured the clear sugar into gemstone molds to create diamond-like sugar gems. Once the gems cooled, I attached them to the silver fondant jewelry pieces to create my own brooches.

Once the jewelry was done, it was on to the cake. The bride and groom were chocolate lovers (my kind of peeps) so we did layers of chocolate chocolate chip cake, chocolate malt cake, cookies & cream cake and vanilla cake with fillings of chocolate butter cream and chocolate custard. Both tiers of cake got a base coat of chocolate butter cream covering the whole cake, which helped the antique white fondant stick to the cake. Once the fondant was smooth and the cakes were stacked, I piped on some simple details with vanilla butter cream in the same shade of white. The designs were inspired by a dress detail from a magazine photo that the bride liked, and I kept it clean and simple with designs just in the middle of each side of the cake.

Finally, I added my edible jewelry to the piped designs and accented the designs with silver dragees and sugar pearls. Only the front of the cake got the antique sugar brooches; the other sides were studded with sugar gemstones but no silver. The overall look was dramatic and classy, if I do say so myself. I love it when a cake turns out great, and I get a couple new techniques under my belt at the same time. It was secretly special to me since the main features reflected a little of my family as well (thanks Grandmas!) The bride was over the moon and I'm so glad! Congratulations Molly and Ryan!