Winter naked cake

The trend of naked cakes continues......and I'm very glad as I love them! This one has a winter theme for a beautiful winter wedding.

The wedding took place at the stunning Bartle Hall in Preston. The Christmas tree was up, helping to set the scene.

The bride opted for a semi-naked look for the cake - meaning that buttercream was lightly 'smudged' around the side of the cake. This added a 'frosty' look but you could still see the cake and it's layers underneath.

 Among the flowers on the cake were thistles, red roses, gypsophila, red carnations and deep red roses. These tied in nicely with the floral decorations in the room.

There was the 'usual' mix of berries - bringing the deep colours to the cake. Due to the winter theme I also added in redcurrants which gave it a nice touch.

I lightly dusted the berries and flowers with icing sugar - for a light snow effect and the cake was placed on a 17" wooden board/log. I was pleased with this cake, which suited the venue and theme well.

Care bear Pinata cake

Jessica was being given her birthday cake from her Godmother who said she would like it in the style of a Care bear - in particular 'Cheer bear'.

They also opted for a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream. As Cheer bear has a rainbow on it's stomach it got me thinking about coloured chocolate. We therefore decided to include the surprise of making it a pinata cake.....one where a small section of the middle is cut out and replaced with goodies, in this case smarties. In order to do this, the bottom 3 of the 4 layers to this cake had a circle removed from their centre. I then stacked them as normal but filled the 'hole' with rather a lot of smarties! I then placed the intact top layer to complete the shape.

The rainbow, clouds and Care bear were all made from Renshaw flower and modelling paste - icing that sets quicker than fondant.

There is a great tutorial on YouTube to help you make the topper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NSBqVLRs0k

I don't normally follow other peoples vidoes, however when there is such an amazing tutorial out there that gives great results then it seems silly not to use it. Thank you 'Zoes Fancy Cakes'