Wedding Cake Half & Half

The finished cake

I was asked to make a wedding cake for a young lady who had seen my last wedding cake made August a year and a half ago.  The bride and I met several times to make sure that I knew exactly what the couple wanted their wedding cake to be, including meeting with the groom as well once.  They chose a simple yellow cake with caramel filling topped with cream cheese icing.  They asked about doing camo on one side with a wedding dress on the other.  I convinced them that anything that we might use to get a camo look would not taste good.  We all agreed that taste was the most important factor. So they decided to go with the look of a log on one side and wedding dress on the other.

The Base for the cake

I had several people question whether it would look funny, but I was able to show them several examples of various aspects of the cake idea.  I spent a fair amount of time trying to figure out the best way to accomplish the look of bark without having to pipe it at the location.  I knew that I would only have a limited amount of time to put the cake together and decorate it.  I didn't want to have the wedding finish and not have the cake finished.

Pinecones from modeling chocolate

I started by getting the base for the cake.  My brother lost a lot of trees to a tornado 2 years ago.  Those tree trunks have been stacked in a pile and have had time to dry.  I asked one of my brothers to cut a slice off of the end of one log and he very sweetly agreed to do so.  I tried to use a belt sander to smooth it out and broke 2 belts due to moisture.  After buying a new belt for the belt sander, my husband very sweetly agreed to sand it for me.  After he finished sanding the top and bottom smooth, I used Danish oil and put multiple coats on the wood.  Unfortunately it didn't dry an much as I would have hoped.  I compensated by covering the top with a layer of plastic wrap.

First layer of the "bark"

My first steps for the actual cake was to make the chocolate "bark."  I took my chocolate to my parents house.  My mom has a granite counter top and I knew it would make a difference.  I melted the dark and milk chocolate on two sides of the same plate.  This allowed me to mix the two without loosing the color difference.  I used a small icing spatula to spread the chocolate in strips in a large piece of parchment paper.  By the time I had the paper filled up, the first one I placed were already cool and ready to pull off the paper.  This gave me thin strips of narrow chocolate.

While I was at my folks house I also made some modeling chocolate.  Fir this I also needed the granite counter tops.  I will post on this soon.  I used the modeling chocolate to make the pinecones for decorating the tree side of the cake.  I will post on these with the modeling chocolate.  

Cake topper made from chocolate

              The couple also needed a topper for the cake.  I thought it would work with the design of the cake to make it look somewhat like initials carved in the side of a tree.  I started by melting a couple of ounces of chocolate and pouring them into a heart shaped cookie cutter that I had lined with parchment paper to make removal easier.  After I had a good base I carved out two channels in the back of the heart and inserted trimmed skewers to be used for placing the topper on the cake.  I then poured more melted chocolate over the back to make the skewers secure.  After the chocolate cooled I used a piping bag to pipe chocolate around the edges a little at a time, after each addition I sprinkled finely shaved chocolate over the fresh chocolate.  I repeated this all the way around the edge and on the back side.  After all of this had cooled I used straight dark chocolate to "carve" the initials of the couple and the wedding date.                                    

Close-up of tree side

I spent two days baking the the different layers, giving them a light coat of icing to keep the crumbs from mixing with the final icing coat.  I then wrapped them tightly in plastic wrap before freezing them.  When Friday came around I pulled out the layers and filled them and iced them.  I did not stack them because I knew that I would be delivering the cake on my own and I didn't want to worry about ruining it.  I put each layer in a box and put them in the fridge until Saturday morning.

Saturday morning I loaded everything up and took the cake and everything I thought I might need for decorating the cake and took it all to the location.  Once I arrived I started by placing the wood on the table and covering it with plastic wrap.  I started stacking the layers.  I had already placed the posts the night before so it was just a matter of stacking them.  I did however decide to stack the layers offset.  Since the layers were 6", 8" and 10" I decided to give myself a little more room on the front side to decorate.

Tree side of the cake

As soon as I got all of the layers stacked, I got started on the decorating.  I started with the tree side of the cake.  I placed a layer of the chocolate 'bark" all the way around the side of the cake on all three layers.  Once the first layer was in place I started adding the second layer.  I used a piping bag to pipe a thin line down the center of the pieces of chocolate before placing the pieces offset from the first layer.  After the "bark" was all in place I piped some of the filling on the top of each layer and dragged a toothpick through the filling to simulate tree rings.  Then I placed the pinecones on the side.

To cover the dividing line between the two sides, I planned to use a fondant drape.  I took the fondant and the rolling pin with me so that the fondant would not dry out.  I laid out wax paper on the table.  I kneaded the fondant until it was smooth, then I rolled it out on the wax paper.  I rolled out a 4" wide strip that was long enough to go from the middle of the cake all the way down the side.  I crimped it down the length before placing it on the side of the cake like a drape.

Close-up of gown side pearls

After I finished the wood side, I placed the topper in the center of the top layer.  I placed the pinecones on one side and the gumpaste flowers that I had made around the base to hide the support skewers.  I used my piping bag to place a string design on the top edge of each layer.  After all of the piping was finished, I started placing sugar pearls.  I started with a short row at the top of each set of strings.  Next I place little groups of three all over the sides and top of the dress side layers.

Last but not least I added a row or icing pearls at the base of each layer.  I used the cream cheese for the dress side and I used the filling for the tree side.

Close-up of fondant divider

The cake received rave reviews from those at the reception.  And of course that totally follows my theory of what is important in any cake including a wedding cake.  If it doesn't taste good it is not worth making.  As usual I made the cakes and icing from scratch.

I am linking with the following blogs:

http://back2basichealth.blogspot.com                                http://www.bystephanielynn.com

http://blackfoxhomestead.com/                                          http://www.iamannekehn.blogspot.com

http://www.hopeineveryseason.com                                  http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.com

http://littlehomesteadonthehill.blogspot.com/                      http://www.sewcando.com/

http://www.campwander.com/                                          http://www.savvysouthernstyle.net/

http://coloradolady.blogspot.com                                      www.aboverubies.net

http://abidingwoman.com/                                               http://www.besimplybetter.com/

http://www.deeprootsathome.com/                                   http://proverbs14verse1.blogspot.com/

http://raisinghomemakers.com                                          http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com/

http://www.52mantels.com/                                             http://www.the36thavenue.com/

http://www.create-with-joy.com                                       http://teachingwhatisgood.com/

http://www.the36thavenue.com/                                       http://seevanessacraft.com/

http://katherinescorner.com/                                           http://cupcake-n-bake.blogspot.com

http://alifeinbalance.net                                                   http://www.hopestudios.blogspot.com

http://thediydreamer.com                                                 http://www.the-chicken-chick.com

http://lavendergardencottage.blogspot.com                       http://www.flusterbuster.com

http://www.time-warp-wife.blogspot.com                        http://www.adelightsomelife.com/

http://www.growinghomeblog.com                                 http://nourishingjoy.com

http://momstheword--livingforhim.blogspot.com/              http://trayerwilderness.com/

http://timeforseason.blogspot.com                                     http://mylampisfull.blogspot.com/