Vines and Roses

So my secret project for the weekend was for a surprise 50th birthday party for my husband's aunt.  I had offered to make the cake and was given no direction except that she likes chocolate.  So I started thinking and planning what kind of cake it should be.  I thought about the milestone of turning 50 and how that comes with mixed emotion for people.  I decided not to focus on 50, but rather to come up with a classy, floral design instead.  The party was relatively small, only about 20 people, so I thought I would spend more time on the details then the size.

The first thing I did was try to nail down a color scheme.  I went to the craft store to pick up some supplies and found this beautiful black satin ribbon that I just absolutely love!  I decided to use this as my inspiration for colors and theme.

A few days before the party I set out making the fondant flowers.  At first I was making little morning glories that to go on the vines, but then I thought why not try some roses?  I had taken a cake class a few years ago and learned how to create roses from modeling chocolate, and I thought this would be the perfect cake to refresh my skills on.  If I had remembered this last week I would have used these for the cupcakes!  Oh well, next time...

So for the roses, I started with a small ball of fondant that I shaped into a cone.  I then cut discs of fondant using the wide end of a piping tip.  Each disc gets added to the cone in layers to create this really beautiful opening rose.  With a little practice I was cranking them out in no time.


The next day I baked the cakes.  I made two nine inch cakes and two six inch cakes.  Then came the buttercream.  Usually I make almond flavored buttercream when I make chocolate cake, but I had run out of extract.  Instead I use a mix of vanilla and orange extract.  It was a very mild flavor and it worked well with the cake. Finally it was time to level, ice, and fondant the cakes.  I used about 2 and 1/2 pounds of Wilton White Fondant rolled out to 1/4 inch thickness to cover both the 6 and 9 inch cakes.

So now I had two blank canvases to work on.  I originally thought of painting the vines on the cake, but when I mixed the food gel and water and practiced on a piece of fondant I thought it looked too flat.  So, I decided to dye the extra white fondant with Wilton Juniper Green and make the vines and leaves from that.  I rolled and cut long ribbons of the fondant which I then twisted to give the vines some personality.  It gave great dimension to the cake and stood up well to the flowers.  I cut the leaves freehanded using a mini fondant cutter.

So with all the elements completed it was time to assemble!  First I placed the vines on each tier using water to adhere them, then I placed the 6 inch tier on top of the 9 inch tier.  After that I attached the flowers and leaves.  Finally came the ribbon which I wrapped around the bottom of each tier and secured with a little dab of hot glue.  I cut the vines so they would either fall above or slightly over the ribbon.

So here is the finished product plated and photographed by my wonderful husband! 

I really love this cake.  Everything came together so well and I was so excited to bring it to the party.  It made me think of how far I had come from the first cake I made years ago and how my husband's aunt must feel looking back on her 50 years. I felt a little anxious while putting this cake together and so happy when I saw the look on his aunt's face.  This was meant to be a tribute in baking and I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate such a momentous occasion.