I had the privilege to take part in a wedding shoot here in my area. A local wedding coordinator, Dani Ross, put together a shoot with another local photographer and asked if I’d make the wedding cake. They staged the entire shoot at a beautiful studio in downtown Portland and had everything from a model bride to a beautiful table scape to amazing dinnerware and silverware all set up. The sneak peek pics look wonderful! I can’t wait to see the rest of the shoot. The photographer and coordinator are sending it to a few publications, so I can’t show you the cake from the shoot or any other pics, but they said I could post my own pictures of the cake, so here you go! Now, something super funny happened after I put the cake together for the shoot. I had to get the cake down to the shoot and had limited time, so I glued the cake together, took pics, loaded it in the car and headed down to drop it off. The whole way there, I kept looking at the cake wondering what it would look like if I flipped the bottom tier upside-down. I liked the cake as it was, but there was something about flipping it that totally intrigued me. So, when I got the cake back after the shoot, I took it apart and flipped it. I loved it even more!!
Here it is flipped:
A few tips/tricks I learned from my first dummy cake experience…
1. I ordered the crazy sizes from this place: Dallas Foam. They were AWESOME to work with. They customized the sizes I needed and with shipping I didn’t pay more than $15! – and that included 6 little 2.5″x3″h dummies for each place setting.
2. I used crisco to adhere the fondant to the dummy. Worked awesome! Oh, and I used a fine sanding paper to smooth out any rough edges on the dummy before putting on the fondant.
3. Fondant dries INCREDIBLY fast on a dummy!!! So, I couldn’t take as long tweaking things, smoothing things, etc like I could normally! So, I got some cracking on the ruffles that I wasn’t expecting. So, work quickly!
That’s it! It was super fun and I have sooo many more ideas for wedding cakes! I might have to make some more dummy cakes just to try some more techniques! Stay tuned!
Absolutely GORGEOUS!!!
I love the flipped version!!
Awesome!!!
Great job and how fun is that?? I can’t wait to see the pics from the shoot!
Divine!
This cake is absolutely beautiful! I love the ruffles and how the cake looks perfect flipped either way. Great work!
This cake is beautiful and had inspired me lots! Can you tell me what sizes the dummies are as they all look nice and in proportion to each other. thanks
Suzy: Thanks! They are a double height 8″ round, a 2″high-6″ round and a 4″-high 4″ round.
Thank you for being so kind with your information, you are a true gem xxx
Beautiful, love it! Jessica, what do you use between the fondant and dommie?? It’s perfect!!! I have tried to cover a dummy with fodant before and it teared apart
D’maris: Thank you! I cover the dummy in a light layer of crisco/vegetable lard! Smooths the surface a bit and keep the fondant stuck on there. Best wishes!
The flipped version does look better. In my opinion, there’s just too much “space” in the non-flipped on. Nice cake though, better than anything I could do!
Hello Jessica,
If you cover the dummy cake with crisco and then cover it with fondant, once everything dried and you’re done with the decoration, does the fondant come off easily without damaging the dummy cake?
Thank you
YES!!! Love it!
Hi Jessica, I love this cake and was wondering how you did the frills and also what flower is that its gorgeous. Do you have a tutorial for this cake?
Hi Jessica,
Would you mind telling me what kind of fondant and tools do you use on your flower please? It’s beautiful and so realistic.
The cake is just simply beautiful.
Thanks in advance
Such a beautiful and simple cake. Love the colors on this cake.
Nice post! Your cake looks gorgeous! It’s sweet, addictive, festive and fun, with a subtle taste of birthday cake in every deliciously rich handful. Thank you for excellent post.
Birthday cake makers
Beautiful cakes! I love that it is just so simple yet so elegant. You did an amazing job. Keep up the great work.
Mia | http://www.oterisitalianbakery.com/menu-item-type/wedding-cakes/
Wow! That is one chic wedding cake. First of all, can I just say that I love your design aesthetic on that cake? I love your choice of sizes, as well as the way that you went on a more non-traditional route on creating the tiers. I love the flower on the side, which gave it an asymmetrical design and made it look very fashion-esque.
Kelsey Turner
Hi Jessica! I would love to know how you made the pearl look on the middle tier
I used a silicone pearl mold. Place the fondant in, pop it out, let it sit for a bit, then apply it on your cake starting at the bottom. Have fun!
Upside down cake! Wow! I think it looks much better this way and it super innovative. Something different but something brilliant.