Birdcage Wedding Cake (Part 1)

With a family wedding on the cards what better gift could I give the happy Bride & Groom than their wedding cake :)

With the tables being set with birdcage centerpieces this gave me the perfect opportunity to try out a cake design I have been wanting to do for a long time...a Birdcage.

I did the usual trawl through Google and Pinterest for ideas and elements I wanted to include on my design (lots of beautiful cakes online to pull inspiration from) and I got to work.

This cake begins in the same way as the minions I have done recently...but I did this with an extra layer to add a little more height...so using my 6" tins and pyrex bowl the baking began...

I line the pyrex bowl with strips of baking paper to help with the removal once baked.

All tins are also sprayed with Dr Oetker Cake Release Spray.


Mmmm smells delicious in my kitchen.

Once cooled and levelled it was time to start filling and crumbcoating.

Things to remember: when filling is to use a slightly thicker buttercream around the edge as a "Dam" to prevent the filling squeezing out under the weight of the cake when you try to cover it later on.

Onto the first crumbcoat layer...this fills any gaps, and as the name suggests catches any crumbs from the cakes.

It then get put in the fridge for 30-40 mins to set a little before the second buttercream layer is applied.

This second layer will allow you to give more of a shape to your cake and also give you the smooth finish to apply the fondant to

Being a very tall cake i decided to try and cover this one in one go instead of in 2 sections (top and sides)....and I was VERY happy with my CAKE ARTE mat I had purchased at Cake International.

This mat allowed me to flip the rolled fondant over the cake and then peel the mat away, instead of trying to lift the fondant off the mat to cover...less chance of it tearing.

Ok...wasn't the easiest shape to smooth down the fondant on...and i had a couple of creases along the bottom at the back

GUNGE to the rescue! (Link at bottom of blog)

For those of you who haven't used "gunge" before what you have to do is mix a little of your excess fondant with water til it creates a paste, then like a builder smooth it over any tears/creases/gaps that may have been caused while covering your cake.
Then once dry they become hardly noticeable, and you can continue decorating you nice smooth cake....easier than re-covering or trying to hide them under the decorations :)

So now I have a smooth covered cake...it is onto the decorating....look for Part 2 of this blog soon :)

LINKS:
"Gunge" tutorial - http://ericaobrien.com/blog/gunge-its-a-miracle/