Cake flower query...

So you've seen the red cake flowers... now imagine them in orange, and imagine them in yellow. If you had a four tier cake, would you:

A) put one color on each layer (and then the centerpiece at the top),

B) put all three colors interspersed on each layer (so yellow, red and orange flowers on each layer) or

C) would you jsut make the cake have only one color of flower on each layer?

Our colors are reds and oranges and yellows.

There will also be green leaves underneath the flowers.

THOUGHTS? Feedback welcomed. Very welcomed. Thanks!

Cake birds, placemats, dress rehearsal...

Last night was busy!

Finished cake bird #2. He has to dry. Then he'll get painted and an outfit made. I can't wait. I'm hoping to do it on Thursday night, but we'll see.

Last night I also made and finished all the dress rehearsal and dress rehearsal dinner invitations. I think most people already know the deal, but I wanted to send out official invites, you know?

Finally, last night I worked on placemats. I have the goal of finishing those tonight... but we'll see.

That leaves the gift bags-- to do this weekend. We already finished one round of biscotti. I will work on another round tonight. We're going to do the dipping at B's this weekend. Well, he'll work on that while I cook.

Next week I work on linens, and then... wow! We're nearing the end. I mean, LOTS of odds and ends, but it's really getting there!!

Cake BIRD!!!

I made my first cake bird last night. AND IT TURNED OUT!! We got two cubes of clay (one per bird). It looks so freakin' cute!

I put two LONG thick kabob sticks for legs. We can cut them down post-wedding, but for now, I need them to go deep into the cake so the bird can stand up and not tip over. I also used 4" long toothpicks inside so that there is extra structure to the bird (no heads falling off, please!).

We will need to paint them, then add the little top hat, beaks, maybe a few feathers, veil, etc. I will probably use copper wire and wrap that around the legs to make them look more leggish.

But it is SO CUTE!!! Photos to come (when I find my camera and find batteries...)!

Day off

Last night I took the night off. B came home (!!!), and we went for a walk. Gosh, it was so nice to have him home mid-week. I miss him so much! Once he gets his own place (and is no longer staying with friends), we'll do this every week, I hope, and we'll be able to take turns.

My dad is worried about the cake. I appreciate and understand the worry... but I really do think it will be easier than he makes it out to be. Since B will have his own apartment, EVERYTHING will be down there by the week before the wedding. EVERYTHING. I have the goal of being done with everythign by 2 weeks before the wedding, but at the very latest, 1 week before the wedding. I think the cake will work, but some convincing may need to take place. I had planned on making a 2-tier mock-up, but a larger mockup may be necessary to convince him (and me on my construction abilities....).

Hmm...

Dowels and cake

Ok, so I am not goign to be one of those people who thinks a tiered cake can support itself and not lean or tip. There WILL be an interior support system. I've done the research and heard of using everything from unbaked spaghetti noodles (ew! wouldn't they sog?) to straws (um... don't they bend?). All the "experts" though, use wooden dowels.

I get most of the dowel system. What I don't get is how they manage to poke those dowels through the cardboard/foam bottoms of layers beneath, but somehow they do. That I am still figuring out. I know I know, you can sharpen them, but I don't want super pointy because then they won't be as stable, and I'm sorry, I can't even punch a pencil through cardboard easily. Won't it mess up the cake with all that pressure??

What also worries me though, is figuring out the size of the dowels. We're constructing the cake (hopefully) in the reception hall the day prior. I suppose I could always bring along my hand-held jigsaw... but that seems a bit much. Shouldn't the dowels be able to be pre-made?

But pre-making the dowels requires that you KNOW how thick each layer will be. I believe the solution to this is the layer cake cutter, which will make each layer the same thickness, and thus, you can have each tier be approximately the same size too. I am going to pre-make the cake tiers and put them in the freezer. I think I will also cover each tier with a fruit glaze. These are all efforts to eliminate crumbs.

So, if I make the layers on Monday and Tuesday, I can construct the tiers on Wednesday and glaze, then freeze overnight before transport on Thursday evening? Hm. I'm not that worried, honestly about crumbs, so if they thaw a bit I"m ok (MORE ICING!). I've iced lots of cakes. I suppose I could cut dowels on Wednesday too... but I'm worried about adding ANOTHER thing to my busy plate, you know?

I may just cut the dowels after I make my 2-tier test run. Then, I will know how big each tier is,right?

As far as dowels go... the cardboard/foam board poking through still has me concerned. I WANT sturdy board so the cake will be sturdy. I'm thinking of cutting the middle out of each board and sticking dowels through that. That way, there will be a center "column" of support throughout the whole cake, and then the individual dowels for each layer will be supported by the layer beneath. I think that could work...

I think what I may do is make a tiered sample, but just not have the cake. So, I'd be able to see the skeleton so to speak, of the cake support system. I REALLY don't want to try this for the first time the day before the wedding. That said, if the cake is a flop, big whoop. I still get to marry B.

Changing the cake...

So, I talked it over with B last night, and I think we're changing the cake style. I love that we can do this, and we only have to consult each other.

While the plumeria are pretty, B was worried that the white on white icing wouldn't show up well. Plus, with the exception of the yellow on the inside of the flowers, they don't really pull out our colors very well. Plus, the BRIGHT green leaf next to the white on white was really popping... good, but in a distracting way too.

So I think we're going to paint (food coloring) the flowers one of our bright colors (orange or red) and then have their centers be the opposite color (orange or red). So, we'll end up with orange flowers with red centers or red flowers with orange centers. We'll put a few yellow stamens in a few flowers just to tie it all together, or we'll have yellow ribbon dividing the layers. It will be a BRIGHT cake, but it will match us a LOT better. We'll still have some green leaves, but they won't pop quite so much because they will be under loads of flowers. And, we will still have the vanilla beans, but they will be sprinkled throughout, and in nest-like piles on the bottom and in a next on the top for the birdie cake-toppers.

We're going to play around with it this weekend, but I like the idea. Oh, and our flowers will be similar, but all different. I got some new flower molds so it won't just be plumeria-shaped flowers. We'll have big and small and in-between. I love it. I think B does too, because he seemed very excited. He was the one who brought some of the problems to my attention, and I appreciate that SO much. It's a joint effort, right? He told me what he liked and disliked, we realized I felt the same about some of them, and we worked together.

Photos will be posted when I have them!

Pretty cake.

I still like our cake idea, but I thought this one I saw today was gorgeous.

NOT a fan of all the pastels (our theme is SO bright), but i love how the flowers change colors. Thing is, the base of this cake is only 15"! That's a little narrow for SO many layers on top. Gotta have a good platform system built in there.

Things are really getting busy...

There are a lot of projects on the table right now... Thought I'd list the immediate ones, partially for my organization, and partially, well, to post.
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Invitations: B's finishing step 1 of the actual invitations down south; they should be ready to come up by next weekend. We'll work on step 2 and 3 the weekend of 4/3. I'm working on envelopes at home right now, and I'll get the outer envelopes from B this weekend so I can start labeling next week.
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Placemats: 56 have fabric on them, which means another 44 need fabric. We're planning 100 for now, and additional ones can be made if we get more than 100 rsvps. Then, all 100 need ribbon and backing. Goal to get this done: 3 weeks from now.
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Giftboxes: We've done nothing! Well, we have all the supplies. I need to cut and glue paper on to all of them, as well as make the contents. I think the making will occur the weekend of 4/3 because baking can happen while other stuff is happening.
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Registries: Will be finished up the weekend of 4/3. BBB's will take a while though... there's a lot to go through.
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Website: Needs: photos for a few things, hotel information, and registry links and info. I think that's it though!
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Centerpieces: My big project this week and next week during the week. I sit at home and cut and make paper roses. No joke. I made probably about 40 last night and cut probably about 70. Not very productive, especially considering each centerpiece needs about 200 roses. UGH.
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Lanterns: Our friend, Tiana, it cutting circles and folding, B is doing the same. Our friend, Jenn, is stapling and making lanterns. So, while I NEED to staple the petals I have, I have to work on centerpieces the next couple of weeks. Those take greater importance right now.
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Food: I need to do a test-run of the rouladin to double make sure the freezing/thawing process doesn't ruin the integrity of the item. This is more to please my parents than me... I've done this before! Ugh. But I suppose it will make me happy too. Food preparation should begin the first week in May. I figure 1.5 months frozen is an ok time. I plan on freezing the rouladin in gravy so as to keep it moist in the freezer. Spaetzle will be made probably the first week in June.
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Tablecloths: Need to be made. I have the material... but I think I will use the material I have on chair covers first, and then possibly use the remainder or buy thicker material for the tablecloths.
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Chair Covers: Need to be made. ASAP. We will be measuring the hall this weekend, as well as taking detailed measurements of the chairs. Then it will be a matter of cut and sew for me. I need to get these finished soon. Hopefully by mid-April.
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Yellow Lanterns: Haven't even begun to be made. Eek. I figure we'll probably need about 200 of these.... They will be easier than the regular lanterns because these only need to be hung on a vertical strand... but still.
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Hiring Workers: One has been hired, the other 2-3 need to be. This will occur in late April/early May.
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Flowers: Need to be ordered. Probably this weekend. I need to also order other items for the flowers, and that will probably happen online or I will call local florists.... that will probably occur next week.
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Menu Cards: Will occur late-April, once I do a test-run of the rouladin.
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Name Cards: Will occur mid-June, after we've hunted down all the RSVP folks.
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Church Decorations: I think we're going to do all-white. There had been the hope of doing color, but B and I discussed it, and we like the idea of lanterns in the church done in all white. Thign is though, white will show staples more, so we may glue these lanterns. 28 rows, each side, so 56 pews to hang on, times 3 lanterns each = 168 lanterns. I have beautiful white satin ribbon to hang them on. B & I think it will be a nice way to tie the church decorations with the reception decorations
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Dress Rehearsal: I need to fill out the card reserving things. UGH. I keep forgetting. B and I need to decide who will provide the meat... probably a local BBQ place.
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Cake Decorations: I have to get started on these. Maybe a day in the next week or two can be devoted to these....I will probably start after 4/3 weekend because I want to do a few more practice ones and get B's input.
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Rose Droplets: It depends on whether we get the centerpieces done with enough time. I'd like to have 3 rose droplets on the back of each chair at the reception, but if we dont' have time, these will become lanterns instead.
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Table runners: Need to be sewn. This shouldn't be too complicated.
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Wine Glasses: Need to be cleaned (they have logos on them right now... extras from an event) and have charms put on.

There's more, but you get the idea....

Cake flowers and leaves

I am very excited this morning.
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Last night, instead of getting up to organizing (I put it off because I took the bus to work on Thursday, thus 80% of the boxes are at my office), I folded 1 basket of red petals for lanterns AND... drumroll... made my first batch of cake flowers!

It should be noted that my darn camera (we're hopefully getting a new one soon) flash totally heightened the yellow and made it look very bright. That said, I will be diluting the yellow in the future with water so it sort of melts into the white, rather than you being able to see brush strokes.

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Here's what the live ones look like:

I've never used fondant before, and that's what they're made out of. I have a silicon mold (the flower) and a plastic mold (the leaf). I've been reading up on working with fondant and molds, and I finally felt ready last night. QUITE FUN!

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The plastic mold was more difficult to use than the silicon mold. I eventually had to spray then wipe it to get the fondant to mold in and then be able to come back out. The silicon was much easier.

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Fondant is great because after it comes out of the mold, you can easily tweak it about, take off petals, make a petal flipped, roll a leaf, etc etc. And, for the most part, it stays in the position you tweak it to (unless gravity is really NOT on its side).

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Changes in future rounds... I think I will add a pointed backing to the flower (the real ones do anyway-- see below to see stems), which will give me more of a base to put a toothpick in. I think I will dry the flowers therefore on a cookie rack, that way I can stick the toothpicks in and have them danglign below and the petals of the flowers won't get mussed up. I think I will paint the flowers and leaves after they dry, but I have to experiment to ensure that the fondant will still take the paint after it is dried (for paint, by the way, I'm using food coloring... no wackiness in real paints, don't worry).

With all these changes, I think I will have a final product that is ready-to-go onto the cake and won't need tweaking. I will be able to not fret about it! The toothpicks on the flowers (and I think I'm goign to put a toothpick on the bottom of each leaf-- at one end) will ensure that I can work them into a vertical surface. I will have icing, but if it's warm, the icing won't always hold much weight on a vertical surface. Icing + toothpick will work. And honestly, if it doesn't, at this point there's not much else I'm willing to prepare for to make this work. It either does or doesn't, and if I can't use vertical surfaces, then, well, we won't! It will still look pretty.

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The green was still drying, so I couldn't take pictures, but I laid a few vanilla beans next to the leaves and flowers and moved them closer together. Oh my gosh! So pretty. The vanilla beans just hit the plumeria spot-on. They really look like branches!!! I mean, of course they aren't, but still. And oh gosh, they smell SOOO good. Right now I have the plate in my cabinet with two vanilla beans and the flowers, and whenever I open the cabinet door, this fresh vanilla sent comes out. Ahhhh....

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99 days left.

Vanilla beans, part II...

$15 for 150 vanilla beans, including shipping. Bird nest here I come!

Vanilla beans!!

How great of an idea is this: Vanilla beans for branches on a wedding cake. I LOVE it. LOVE LOVE LOVE it. 

And, if I can find them cheaply enough, they'd make great bird's nest materials for our cake topper:

 I suspect that might be too expensive, so I may stick to nest materials out of peeled/sliced chocolate. But still... VANILLA BEANS! Genius.