The Tulip Cake Design

(photo editing courtesy of Ben)

This is my school project to make a 3 tiered fondant wedding cake all by myself. The size is really not that big - a 9, 6 and 4 inches. Coming up with the design of the cake took a bit of time to figure out what would be fitting to make the cake a stand out. I have to say I am very formal and minimalist when it comes to design. I prefer clean lines and shapes and well chosen decor. The cake becomes a reflection of your personality. The downside with highly elaborate cake design is that you have to be able to pull it off and the proper execution is there. All the elements on the cake should tie together. The cake should come out clean.

The inspiration of this cake is the abundance of tulips this time of year. I bought myself a bouquet of tulips and just looked at the flowers and see how they are. I was basically studying them. The challenge was how to replicate the blooms as close to natural looking flowers. I went to see a friend who owns a cake supply store and got myself tools and learned a few tips, as well. In class, I grew interested in making the pearls for decorations. But the possibilities were endless as to what you want to put on your cake. 

So for 2 weeks it was all thinking about what to do, what to make and how to execute. I started molding the petals and drying them overnight. I used color mist to spray each petal and then bonded them together to form each flower. They were like jigsaw puzzle pieces, 6 petals I had to pair together to get to its individual shape. And then dry them again overnight to harden. This required a lot of patience and timing.

So here comes the day in class to finish the fondant cake, but 4 hours before coming to class I had to assemble a cake order. Between layering and frosting and putting the cake in the freezer I rolled out gum paste to form the smaller flowers that I just thought urgently I had to make to add to the decor. Rush.. Rush. Those were the missing pieces of decor for the fondant cake. 

I arrived in my class on time and started assembling my cake. 2 hours later my cake stood and came to life and it came out what I exactly envisioned it to be. It was a fun and memorable day for me and the rest who were in that classroom assembling their own cakes as well.

I always feel that the simplest things are the hardest to execute properly and taking time to really plan and picture the design of your cake in your head as if you already have a very clear picture of how it's going to look like and what goes with it and staging its assembly, is a very good creative process and exercise.

P.S. Thank you, Ben, for the photo edit :)