Wedding Cake Topper: NYC Skyline

So many of my couples talk about incorporating something about NYC in their cake toppers. NYC is either the place they met, or the place they intend to forge their new life together. There is something magical about the music of the streets of NY and the romance of a growing ember of love in the midst of a rough and tough town.

At Gail Watson Custom Cakes I make a beautiful custom sugar topper and love to incorporate important buildings and addresses- such as the location of the first kiss, or the couple's favorite Thai restaurant, first apartment together etc. But those toppers can get costly and are not for everyone.

 When walking past MUJI on 40th Street, I spied in the window a cute display that read- "City in a Bag- New York". It is meant to be a child's toy, but the clean and simple lines make the pieces very cool and elegant. And at $14 for the set I couldn't resist.

Inside the bag were several recognizable buildings- The Empire State building, The Chrysler building, The Statue of Liberty, The Guggenheim Museum and a few cars, including limos.

I glue gunned the pieces to one 6" Wilton separator plate (buy here) on the smooth side. The notches for the plastic columns sinks down into the cake make it stable without gouging the cake too much.

I could see someone going to town (pun) on this by adding street signs, and I was even tempted to add "just married" and miniature tin cans to the back of a limo. But just as it is lent a beautiful simplicity and grace to our concrete jungle.

Wedding Cake Stands: the Rustic Look

Tree Slice

Properly presenting a wedding cake can make all the difference to the ultimate feel of the design. It's the final touch after putting so much thought into the design of the cake, or making A Simple Cake more elegant and revered. I have never been a fan of just plunking a cake down on a white clothed table- the cakes always look so adrift and solitary and just too stand alone.

But as it is with so many wonderful things these days, there has been a growing market of very interesting and very beautiful alternative cake stands.

Today I've decided to focus on rustic or earthy feeling cake stands, which I absolutely adore. I can easily imagine one our our cakes decorated with fresh flowers or fruits.

Magnolia Floral Moss Stand

This idea of moss covered stands I fantastic.
So earthy and natural. I also really like how you can add in some other materials that are on your cake to the stand- imagine some of the fresh flowers and leaves from the previous post. This conjures up ethereal thoughts for me. Imagine our Wavy Stripe cake with just leaves and tiny blossoms....

True Connection Rustic Box

The Rustic Box tableau reminds me of the weather beaten wood near the beaches where I grew up on the East End of Long Island.

Our Sugar Sea Shell decorations on the Raining Dot cake would spectacular on this stand, with some shells scattered along the base as well.

Cake Stand Boutique

Lastly, this pedestal stand is just gorgeous. It is hard to find a solid pedestal that has a platform large enough to accommodate a large wedding cake. Perching a large cake on a small stand can look great for photos- but when sitting on a table for the duration of a wedding with (hopefully) dancing guests potentially bumping into a top heavy balancing act- it makes me shudder with anxiety.

This stand comes in several sizes and this one is 16". The quiet simplicity of this stand could easily be used again and again after the big day.

Wedding Cake with Fresh Flowers- From Trader Joe's

 

It's nice to think that everyone can afford gorgeous flowers for their wedding. Everyone has a budget, or a place where they feel they would like to prioritize spending. At my first wedding (many moons ago), the bulk of the budget went to fantastic champagne. As a lover of the bubbly, I wanted to delight my guests with the best wine possible- and what suffered? my flower arrangements. I did simple potted plants (for a late summer outdoor tented wedding)- which got something on to the table- however in retrospect, I wish I had gone just a little further. For my upcoming wedding the decor will certainly be much different.

But here we are now decorating cakes- and living in NYC there is not a day when I don't walk past a deli with buckets of flowers outside on the sidewalk. In the Winter months there are usually rows and rows of Carnations and various Mums and, of course, the ubiquitous Rose- but now that Spring is here, Lilacs are singing to me and Peonies and bobble headed Tulips.

We've been having a lot of rain here the past few weeks and if not wet, it has certainly been gray. This morning there was a bit of a reprieve- the sun has finally muscled through, and with that a lilt in my step and a flush of inspiration.

Ducking into Trader Joe's to collect a few groceries, I spied along the window a huge row of fresh flower bouquets! Not just clumps of cellophaned single variety- but lovely arrangements. Pretty mixes in hot pinks and reds, oranges and yellows and some bright green and burgundy. And even better- They were $3.99 a bunch!!!

So I grabbed a few and here is what became of them. Same cake- our Florentine Swirl design in buttercream- and the same flowers- but several different ideas.

The bouquets consisted of Roses in hot pink and deep red, and freesia in purple and pink. There were some green leaves in there too- a waxy long leaf- used as a filler. Altogether I purchased 3 bunches. Again- same cake, same flowers- different looks.

The first cake is only the roses- I made up easy, graceful groupings- not too ordered and a pretty mix of each type of rose. The stems were taped with florist tape and finished pretty. They may either be tucked into the cake, or laid alongside. 

The second cake is a generous grouping of the roses on top and then on the bottom a parade of heads around the base of the cake. The rest of the tiers were sprinkled with petals to add lightness and romance.

The third cake used the alstromeria too. A ring of the alstromeria ringed the top tier and then the roses were nestled in between as a topper. Then sporadically simple little groupings of flowers scattered here and there. Again- not too organized, just something that made the eye flow from one to the other.

Lastly- a bit more involved. I purchased at NY Cake and Baking Supply a few things- 

1. The first is a Wilton Crystal Look Bowl insert that is intended for placing flowers underneath and between column separated tiers. It's a clear, fluted plastic bowl in two pieces. I just used one half (it comes in two pieces). I then bought: 
2. 2 sets of Wilton Fresh Flower Holders (4 all together). They are white plastic cups that are semi circular and also have a long lip that you can tuck into or under the cake to secure them to it.
3. A pair of Wilton plain plastic separator plates, without the columns. 
4. A block of floral Oasis from Jumali Garden Supply
5. A small quantity of hot pink grosgrain ribbon 7/8" from Pacific Trimming Enterprise 

I then hot glued together the bowl half to the smooth side of the separator plate. The little knobs on the bottom help to secure the plate into the cake icing and anchor it.


I'm not a fan of the bright white plastic of the flower holders, so I glued on a strip of ribbon. I've also been known to paint these plastic things with a craft latex paint- you can even antique them up- it's stunning!

                                                                                        







                                                                                                                                  

The next step was to soak the florist oasis in cold water and allow it to sit for a good 15 minutes. You really want the water to soak in. Then the Oasis was trimmed and put into the cup holders.

The flowers were then arranged in the cups and bowl to my satisfaction. I used some of the filler leaves for this one too. The benefit of this method is you really don't have flowers touching the cake at all, and they make for easy removal when its time to cut and serve the cake. In addition the oasis offers the flowers water to drink, so they stay fresh throughout the reception.

These flower holders may also be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge overnight before putting them on the cake.

Please let us know what you think- and certainly if you try it!

Crystal decorations-More DIY bling

Like I said in the previous post, that was just the beginning of some of the things we found to decorate A Simple Cake at Shine Trim. As their business card says, "brilliant embellishments..." I wholeheartedly agree!

For this cake, which is our Ribbon Band design, I purchased 4" ivory satin ribbon from Pacific Trimming (see previous post for info), about 6 yards for this cake. Then using 3, 4" crystal buckles I threaded the ribbon through, leaving swallow tail ends. I positioned the ribbon to go at different directions, which was a secondary thought. At first I had the buckles lined up like soldiers in a row, but then didn't like the severity of that. A little more softness, a little more ease was needed. For the top of the cake I used a set of our Garden Rose decorations from our collection. In the end, a swanky and romantic cake.

When Helen and I first started talking she immediately brought up how much the rhinestone ribbon was requested. No argument, it's stunning. She offers several different thicknesses (rows of stones). At first I did the classic band around the bottom of each tier- ABSOLUTELY nothing wrong with that, but I wanted something a little more.

Using the rhinestone hairpins (not listed on the site, but she has them) I laid a second row of the ribbon on the top tier and then using a hat pin attached the large lacy brooch as an accent. For a little warmth I wrapped the bottom tier with 4" satin ivory ribbon- the next time I would add a thiiiiin ring of rhinestones at the bottom to give it weight- but didn't have any for this shoot.

One could easily be tempted to add feathers and such to the top of this cake. Floppy white calla lilies would be divine or even luscious peonies...

And now lastly, my beauty. 4" silvery gray ribbon wrapped the cake and then I got an accenting taupe ribbon (2") to enhance the top. The two Autumn Leaf pins are just so stunning and so graceful. I thought about how they could be representative of the bridal couple. I simply pinned them into the cake and then used another hat pin underneath to prop up the leaves so they hung nicely.

Helen was nice enough to lend me all of these pins and they have since been returned- but I think I really need to go purchase them for myself....

Crystal decorations-DIY bling

It was sheer serendipity that I stumbled into Shine Trim and met Helen. Fortunately for us the kitchen is on the fringe of the garment district and just about every day I walk past windows of goodies. I had been thinking for awhile now about using some of the beautiful trims I see around to decorate cakes with, and after wandering in and out of several stores I landed here. Helen's place, which is family owned, is a small but warm space on the second floor at 228 West 39th St.- just around the corner from us.

After climbing up the stairs I stepped into a space that was neat and teeming with glittery trims, brooches, hair pins, silk flowers.... and everything just so beautiful- including Helen.

We immediately got into a great chat about the wedding business. Shine Trim has very wisely put all their items online and have a productive online ordering system. I really wanted to be able to offer you, dear reader, the opportunity to easily get at anything you see here on the blog. They already do a lot of business with brides and therefore are very well versed in how to help put together just the right thing for you. I can only say that this is just a small small smattering of what they have- and if you have the opportunity I encourage you to climb those steps yourself. Helen is a delight for sure, but you'll have even more fun looking over the shelves and cases.

For this cake I used a beautiful silver/grey 4" satin ribbon that I got from Pacific Trimming Enterprises at 220 West 38th St. For a cake this size it's about 4 yards, I bought 5 to be safe. The feathers I had on hand for years, but they are available in the district as well. I taped the feathers in bunches to wire with floral tape and made a "bouquet" of them. I then tucked that into the cake. Then with a long hat pin I attached the long leaf brooch (Shine Trim) to the center and let it dangle down over the ribbon. I made another very small feather bunch and tucked that in along with two sparkling hair pins that complimented the brooch.

This is the same look but with a beautiful round brooch. Also very stunning.

I really became enamored with the hair pins. I love their simple sparkly understated glitz. I purchased the ribbons from Pacific Trimming in different shades and widths of both ivory and pale dusty pink, 6 yrds of each.

I pulled long lengths of the ribbon and folded them in half. I pinned the fold to the top of the cake and then teased the groups of the three paler colors into tumbling tendrils. Here and there I used the hair pins to snug them into place and then at the bottom cut the ends to land softly at the base. For the large bow I free hand folded and cinched the ribbon and then used hat pins to hold it together. If you wanted to you could do this in advance and sew a stitch or two to keep in all together. Once in place I took some more hair pins and highlighted the top of the cake and set it all into place.

Sadly the glints on the small gems doesn't equate in the photo- but I am so happy with the naive innocence and grace of this cake that I have kept it for display in the studio.

One Simple Wedding Cake, Many design ideas

We had fun today! We took our basic Satin Ribbon design, and on the same exact cake came up with 4 different design combinations. We used ribbons mostly, and some pretty paper flowers to decorate each cake.

Later this week I'll pull together a how-to make the bows, how to attach the ribbons and where to get the supplies, but for now I wanted to share the looks.

What's astonishing to me is how different they all feel!

Here is where we started. Pretty as it is in it's own austere way....

Added very simply are some flowers, but on the hip-a luscious group of paper hydrangeas.

For this one, again, the basic Satin Ribbon cake as it comes but in addition I created a ribbon bouquet using several colors of white and then accented with creamy ivory paper hydrangeas. Letting the tails hand down gives some soft movement and grace.

Originally this cake was created for New York Weddings- but after submitting several designs this one didn't make the issue but instead made the cutting room floor (many bakers had the same experience, *sigh* oh well!). This design was Lauren's inspiration off of a "crumb catcher" neckline on a wedding dress.
Lastly, we used different tones, widths and types of ribbons to create this design. Grosgrain, satin and paper ribbon were used. Nestled on the top is that pretty group of paper hydrangeas.

Stay tuned for the how-to and more of this type of posting. We've been researching crystals and bling! SOOOO much fun!

Sugar Drape Cake

Lauren and I wanted to share with you some of the ways that other brides are presenting our cakes.

This is our sugar drape cake with fondant icing and 3 sets of our sugar magnolias. A grouping of flowers was placed on the top and then a few on the "hip" of the cake. The all white, golden hues of this cake made is so elegant and romantic.

Look for some new design options coming up in the next few days.