"Wedding Cake"

I am not a baker and have never taken a cake decorating course but I have always had a talent for decorating cakes.  I baked, designed and decorated this cake all by myself and it took me a total of 75 hours to put the detail work in it and make the crafts for it.  This was indeed a labour of love ~ I made it for my oldest son's wedding on November 27th, 1998.

I made mini bouquets with quaze, ribbon, lace, small flowers and irridescant birds which I hot-glued onto the bouquets and then placed on top of the small round end cakes.  I got some wedding bells which I hot-glued underneath the small end cakes and used ribbon and lace to accent them.  In the bird bath I glued a pair of white doves and surrounded the bird bath with purple orchids made of royal icing sugar.  The entire rectangular cake top is covered with 'Queen Ann's Lace' done in white icing.  You can see the lace more where it has been done in purple on the sides.  I also made the center piece for the stairs and 'glued' the best men and bridesmaids onto the stairway with royal icing.  I made the little flower baskets and flowers out of royal icing sugar too.

The entire cake is quite huge and sits upon a small table set up exclusively for it.

The only problem I had with the entire cake was at the wedding banquet when the hot lights of the photographers and others began to heat up the cake and melt the royal icing and cause it to slide...  Not a good thing but everyone had seen it before the damage began to happen.  Next time I will make a total 'dummy cake' so that the cake does not get damaged and the guests can take home the little cake truffle boxes with their goodies in it without having it reheated. :)