Basketweave Cake with Silk Sunflowers

A couple of weeks ago, we were asked to create a 2-tier cake covered in basketweave. For all my Wilton students out there, wouldn't this make a great hostess gift for Thanksgiving?! You all know how to do basketweave so there are no excuses. *wink*


The customer provided the cake stand (from TJ Maxx Home Goods) and the silk flowers, and we took care of the rest!


Don't you just love the colors of the flowers? So festive, rustic, and elegant all at the same time.

Rustic Elegant Wedding Cake

We had quite a few great cakes this week, but this one was definitely my favorite. I'll show you the cake first, and then give you all the details.


The bride brought in her wedding invitation and asked us to recreate the pattern, but in a slightly different green, on her cake. She provided the same ribbon and buckles that she'd used on the invitation, and I used the brush embroidery technique to create the pattern.


Not familiar with brush embroidery? Well, you pipe the design on the cake, and then drag some of the icing towards the center of the design using a slightly damp paintbrush. It's not a difficult technique but it's VERY time consuming. Normally, you'll use a large tip like a 3 or 5 when piping the design, but this pattern was so small and delicate that I used a tip 1. The decorating of this cake took almost 4 hours.


Have you ever seen such an adorable cake topper!? I just love it. While I was setting up the cake at the reception, the groom told me that they found a similar full-size picture frame so they can take a picture just like the topper. Love it!


This was where the wedding took place - at Dudley Farm State Park. Don't you love the setting? Best of all, you could hear all the animals on the farm braying and mooing in the background!


And each place setting had a special jar of jam...to "spread the love."