Weddingbee Blog

At last. I finally did a trial run of my wedding cake. Here’s a reminder of what I was aiming for:

I decided to just make one tier just to get an idea of what it’ll look like on the big day. I’d say it was a success. Sure, there are some adjustments that need to be made, but overall, a success!

I started the night before by making royal icing for the detail work on the cake.

I used four different shades of blue to mirror the various shades of my bridesmaids’ dresses. As a reminder, the pattern mimics the lace pattern on my own dress.

I piped these the night before so that the royal icing would have time to dry overnight.

The next morning I whipped up some French buttercream. If you’ve never tasted French buttercream, you must make it immediately. It’s the only kind of buttercream I can stand. It’s completely unhealthy for you as it is mostly egg yolks and butter, but it’s to die for. (Seriously, if you want my recipe, PM me.)

Using a dummy cake (it’s Styrofoam), I iced the cake. It’s definitely not a great job, but it’ll be clean the day of, I promise! Another awesome thing about French buttercream is that it’s light yellow in color, due mostly to the egg yolks. It works perfectly for our cake since our colors are yellow and blue!

And voila, one complete mini cake. I used the topper version of the Willow Tree figurine I originally planned on using. Weddingbee reader mrstilly graciously sent me hers to use. You’ll also notice the gum paste flowers I showed y’all in a previous post.

There are two things I am definitely planning to change on my day-of design. For one, the lace detail design needs to be smaller. I piped them too big. I am also toying with the idea of moving the flowers up to the top edge of each tier instead of being at the bottom edge of each tier.

I have a secret to tell y’all. Yes my cake trial was a success; however, I’m not making that cake for my wedding. I know, you’re probably thinking, oh lord, she changed her mind AGAIN! Yes, I did, but I have a good reason, promise!

After making this mini cake, I had an epiphany. I was making this cake for my guests, not for me. I don’t like fancy, elaborate cakes. I love to decorate them, but for me, I like simple. I didn’t make this decision lightly. I argued in my heads for days and then talked to Mama Plaid and Sister Plaid and now I feel like I’ve got a clear vision of our cake in my head. It only took me 14 months to find it.

I think because I’m a cake decorator by trade I’d been putting all this unnecessary pressure on myself. I think I thought all of our guests were expecting some over-the-top masterpiece. I’d love to give them that, but it just wouldn’t be a wedding cake for us. So, yes, I’ve changed my mind yet again, but this is it. There will be no more changes and I couldn’t be happier.

I know this is kind of a long post, so if you’re still with me, thank you for listening and hopefully understanding. And I’m sorry, but y’all are going to have to wait until after our wedding to see the newly designed dream cake.

Have you made any wedding decisions that you realized later were more for your guests than for yourself? What did you do?