Calling expert M&S cake decorators!

Ruthie5

We are thinking of getting the largest size ivory iced M&S fruit cake for our wedding. We are only having a smallish do and it says this one will feed 55 people. Just wondered if anyone has any ideas for decoration, as still want it to look special. Have thought of getting a lovely ribbon to go around and then have flowers on top....but if anyone has any other creative ideas, to make it look a bit more special, that would be great.

Thanks in advance!

nichart20

it might be time consuming but I think the cakes covered in little flowers look good and they are cheap from here
http://www.cakecraftshop.co.uk/shop/6/313/253/index.htm

with some bigger ones on as well this look could easily be created at a snip of the £390.00 for this
http://www.bigweddingcakecompany.co.uk/gallery.php?picid=306

nichart20

what kind of style of cake are you looking at, have you seen any pics that you would like to copy

siren13577

What sort of flowers were you thinking of? Fresh and silk flowers always look pretty on top of a cake and can also cascade down the tiers. If you want a cake with sugar flowers decorating the tiers you can make them yourself with this:
http://www.cakecraftshop.co.uk/cgi-bin/trolleyed_public.cgi?action=showprod_KPMEDA631&url=http://www.cakecraftshop.co.uk/shop/2/77/150/468/index.htm
in the colours you want but you'd have to work quickly to keep your paste from drying out and cracking, you'd then fix the cut outs to your cake with a thick paste of icing sugar and you could ice the centre of the flower using a piping bag and yellow etc icing. Ribbon is very easy to use, again you just secure it with a few blobs of icing sugar and you could use the same colour to go around your board.

You can buy these flowers ready made if that would be easier but they would be more fragile also so you'd have to be very careful and make sure you ordered more than you needed in case of breakage, something that looks really stunning are couverture roses, which is a pliable chocolate and you can get it in white, dark and milk chocolate and they look fab together and your ribbon could be used to tie in your colour scheme, I personally think they go well with gold or any colour really, have a look here:
http://www.rainbowsugarcraft.co.uk/shop/Chocolate_Roses.htm

I love these:
http://www.rainbowsugarcraft.co.uk/shop/100_Assorted_Sugar_Flowers.htm

There's loads more here:
http://www.rainbowsugarcraft.co.uk/shop/Sugarcraft_Flowers.htm

Try here for how to make the daisies:
http://happylovestrawberry.blogspot.com/2008/09/sugarcraft-flowers-101-upsadaisy.html

Pretty much all the techniques are the same. It's not as hard as it looks, I did it college and enjoyed it a lot.

I hope this helps and there's some good ideas for you, good luck and take care!!

Ruthie5

Thanks for your replies. I liked the sugarcraft daisies, so that's a new idea. I also saw this cake, which I thought was fun

http://www.weddingcakeswales.co.uk/album/celebration/slides/celeb22.htm

I've never tried piping before, and wondered how hard it is, and what you can do if it goes wrong!!

I tend to like the more contemporary cakes with spots, hearts, stars etc on too and wondered how hard it is to cut out the shapes and stick them on?

roxalana

Not the cheapest but i think still a bargain

http://www.sarahsflowers.co.uk/cake-decorations/cake-toppers/pink-stargazer-cluster-cake-topper/prod_2948.html

KittyKate

Ooh this is a great thread! I'm getting an M&S 3 tier cake and was just going to stick on some real flowers but now I think I will be replicating an expensive cake

I would LOVE glitter or diamante (edible?) on the cake, does this even exist??

nat82

KittyKate wrote: »

Ooh this is a great thread! I'm getting an M&S 3 tier cake and was just going to stick on some real flowers but now I think I will be replicating an expensive cake

I would LOVE glitter or diamante (edible?) on the cake, does this even exist??

YES! This is what I am thinking about getting.

xxx

siren13577

Ruthie5 wrote: »

Thanks for your replies. I liked the sugarcraft daisies, so that's a new idea. I also saw this cake, which I thought was fun

http://www.weddingcakeswales.co.uk/album/celebration/slides/celeb22.htm

I've never tried piping before, and wondered how hard it is, and what you can do if it goes wrong!!

I tend to like the more contemporary cakes with spots, hearts, stars etc on too and wondered how hard it is to cut out the shapes and stick them on?

Piping is a bit tricky and can take a bit of fiddling to get it right, the thing you must remember is to keep even pressure on your piping bag and make sure the pressure is there before you start piping, so you want a little icing protruding from the nozzle before you make contact with the cake and hold the piping bag slightly up and away from the cake as you are piping. Keep the pressure going while you are piping, it must be constant or you'll end with wonky shapes. I used to practice a glass worktop saver or greaseproof paper. It is very easy to do the cut out shapes and Ebay is a good place to get them, generally you can get all sorts of colours in sugarpaste from the internet as well, it's just a matter of rolling it out and not making it too thick. If you are going to make your own cut outs I would buy a non stick rolling pin, like this:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PME-9%22-NON-STICK-ROLLING-PIN-SUGARCRAFT-CAKE-DECORATING_W0QQitemZ380108139529QQcmdZViewItem

Also here there are some tips for you when rolling out:
http://www.lindyscakes.co.uk/Blog/2009/03/08/rolling-out-sugarpaste-%E2%80%93-top-tips/

There's a few other tips on that blog too, I hope that helps!!:beer:

Violetta_2

KittyKate wrote: »

Ooh this is a great thread! I'm getting an M&S 3 tier cake and was just going to stick on some real flowers but now I think I will be replicating an expensive cake

I would LOVE glitter or diamante (edible?) on the cake, does this even exist??

You can have diamonds & glitter sure you can get other crystals too.

rinroo

I never knew you could get sugar diamonds, I think I am going to incoperate some of those onto my cake, they look fab!

Is anyone buying/making a cheaper cake to 'practice' on before you get the final or are you just going to bite the bullet and go staright ahead?

I have so many ideas for my wedding cake H2b suggested we had 2! I really want a jokey one, as we met at a bus stop 10 yrs ago, I wanted a marzipan/fimo bus stop with h2b sweeping me off my feet then a few other figures dotted about, but then i look at the wedding cakes on websites and they look really elegant.

I like this, it looks really easy to replicate but nice and elegant too clicky and this one too clicky2