Cupcake towers grew to be quite the up and coming trend a few years ago and they’re still pretty popular choices right now. It’s a pretty stress-free solution to have lots of tempting individual portions of cupcakes or even mini cakes ready to be handed out! Plus we love how they instantly make any dessert table look like a taste bud tingling bakery counter! Last weekend we created this sweet and definitely fun wedding cupcake tower for a gold themed reception.
Every chocolate cupcake was drizzled with dark Belgian chocolate before being nestled with gold dusted edible fondant hearts which helped tie in the luxuriously elegant yet simple golden colour palette. For the Sicilian lemon cupcakes we drizzled each with Belgian couverture white chocolate and a sprinkling of tangy lemon sherbet crystals!
The cake itself was a crowd-pleasing strawberry and Madagascan vanilla flavour; soft vanilla cake filled with our own homemade strawberry preserve and whipped Madagascan vanilla buttercream and iced with fragrant marshmallow fondant.
This wedding reception featured 100 of our delicious and fresh baked cupcakes all created using quality ingredients such as Sicilian lemon oil, couverture chocolates and Belgian cocoa powder, premium fondant and free range eggs. Each cupcake was baked within 24 hours of the event to ensure the best quality and taste!
One of the best features of this playful cupcake tower was of the sweet (and edible) bride and groom figures perched on top! We used custom tinted gum paste / modelling paste to create both characters which we hand-coloured ourselves. We took down details such as hair colour, suit and cravat colour and even the style of bouquet and boutonnière and then set to work.
The bride was created first as we had to consider the drape of the dress and the positioning of her arms due to her bouquet and the fact that we planned for the bridge and groom to hold hands. Afterwards she was set aside for us to concentrate on creating the groom and his voluminous gold cravat and dark suit. To create the cravat we began by testing the size and shape out with a few measurements (we even created actual miniature cravat shapes from real-life patterns) and some parchment paper to get the proportions and form correct. We also added a tiny fondant cravat pin to finish off the look!
To add a little extra pun and character to this cake we concentrated on the edible couple each having their own personality and reaction to their big day and their wedding cupcake tower! The bride is happily surveying the guests, venue and activities whilst the groom is sat feeling excited and proud!
After a busy couple of days whipping up gold royal icing, piping 100 cupcakes and assembling the edible figures we had to see the 4 large cupcake boxes and cake box leave us to be enjoyed. It was rewarding work and with so many different elements (from different cupcake flavours to decorations and then a cake and fondant toppers) it’s wonderful to see a wedding cupcake tower like this make its way to its new home (lots of stomachs).
We based this design loosely on a stunning gold sequin gown in Elie Saab’s A/W 2012 collection. We simplified the design with plain ivory tiers and large sugar magnolia flowers featuring gold dusted centres. Originally, sugar Juliet roses were to feature perched upon each tier, however, we thought that a more structured floral would work better and also add a more sleek look to the end design.
To add a touch of the romantic we covered and trimmed the board with blush pink fondant and a gorgeously sumptuous liquid gold ribbon finished with our usual double looped bow held with a crystal tipped pin. The board itself ended up being somewhat reminiscent of the Miss Dior Cherie perfume bottles and packaging!
The ‘sequin’ look can be a fairly time consuming and costly process, but it’s certainly worth it if you have the time, resources and patience and if you’re looking for a show-stopping technique! We lost count of how many large bottles of edible gold paint it took to paint this.
We created the magnolia flowers ourselves, as with all of our florals. To begin the process of flower making we always sit down and analyse photographs making notes of texture, sizing, curve, petal count and colour. There are times, however, when a little creative licence is needed so that a particular bloom works with a design rather than against it. These white magnolias were inspired by the Milky Way variety, but instead of the deep pink centres we created them out of ochre gum paste and stamens dusted gold.
This is easily one of our favourite designs in the collection. It is a lovely clean design with detail featuring only on the front of the cake. We created a hand quilted frame inlay of white fondant brushed with glimmering lustre dust before applying pieces of ochre coloured fondant mouldings around the edge and finally hand painting this feature with edible gold paint.
The cake displays such a rich design from just the frame-work alone that we decided to keep the florals to a minimum. Originally, we had sketched this design with roses, hydrangeas, apple blossoms and cherry blossoms; however, we finally chose to stick to simple frosted fantasy berries, sugar leaves, and hand-made ruffled pink cherry blossoms!
The little pops of bright pink from the sugar cherry blossoms add another dimension to the cake and help liven and brighten up the white and ivory tiers. Utilising a more simple floral style helps keeps the main focus of the cake on the ornate gold frame as well as keeping the ye moving up and down the design!
Our entire collection encompasses inspiration from textural fashion (sequins, ruffles, quilting) and antique French elements found in lavish interiors (such as mouldings, scroll-work, and hand painted gold and silver touches). We’re, our course, excited to reveal the remaining cakes from the collection so keep checking back for more news and photographs!
