Flattened Carnation Cake - Stephanie's Wedding Shower

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Okay, Flattened Carnation Cake doesn't sound very attractive, but that is what the flowers on this cake are.

I was making a wedding shower cake for my niece's best friend, and since my nice didn't care what the cake looked like, I got to do what I wanted.  I found a cake design by Sweet Bites Cake in New Zealand that I simply adored,  It was very clean, simple, and modern (just like the bride to be).  Here is a link to the original on Pinterest.  I couldn't find the exact match to the cookie cutter used for the flowers, so I used another Pinterest idea for the flat carnations.

The cutter is from PME and is called, surprise, surprise, Carnation Cutter.

In the final flowers I used three different shades of the same dusty rose colored fondant.  I just flattened out the center.

And then used a tooth pick to flatten the edges.

I stacked two of each size cutter for six layers all together.  Then I painted some of the food color gel directly on the enter of the flower and then glued some yellow and green candy sprinkles to the center. Very easy to make.

The cake itself was also a learning experience.  I tried a double barrel cake for the first time. The bottom layer is made from two 9" cakes stacked on top of each other, and then ganached and covered in fondant as one.  Putting the two cakes together was actually easy, but taking them apart to serve was a PITA.  I couldn't get the top barrel cake to separate from the bottom barrel so I had to cut it into thirds to pull it off.  Next time I'm going to put some parchment paper between the top of the lower cake and the cardboard round of the upper cake to keep them from sticking together. 

The very top tier of the cake was chocolate.  Here it is getting its shell of ganache.  I have been using acrylic rounds to get the perfectly straight sides, flat top, and sharp edges.  You put one acrylic round on the bottom and another on the top.  You make sure they are perfectly aligned, then you filled with icing beyond the edge of the rounds and then scrape off the excess.  The process works really well, but you do use A LOT of ganache to fill to the edge of the rounds.

Here is the finished cake going into the Cake Porter for the trip to the party.  I love this porter.  It is a little expensive, but it protects the cake, keeps it cool, and now I don't have to worry about stuff falling on the cake when they are transported. 

And finally the Bride-to-Be and my niece the Bride's Maid.  And of course the CAKE.  What would a party be without CAKE.

Happy Decorating,

Carol