Tea for two

One week - three cakes to make and decorate. The difficulty was fitting it in around my full-time job. Anyway just after midnight on Thursday night all were done. Here's the first - my interpretation of Afternoon Tea on a cake. 

This birthday cake was for a friends elderly mother. Anne provided me with a image of the design she had in mind. I felt the pressure was on to match this. It must have been how my hairdresser used to feel when I turned up with a photo cut out from a magazine of a hairstyle I wanted created on my impossible to style thick wavy locks!! Thankfully her comment on seeing the finished cake was "it's better than the picture I gave you" which was a nice compliment. Here are a selection of photographs including close-ups of the finished article.

Moulding and assembling the individual components was quite time consuming but very rewarding. The crockery set was moulded from flower paste to ensure they held their shape and, once dry, were 'painted' with edible gold colour and edible felt pens to create the rose design. The scones were dusted with icing sugar and the cupcakes topped with royal icing rosettes to represent cream. Battenberg, little eclairs and sandwiches completed the selection. I used rice paper for the doilies on the blue plates, the 'Happy Birthday' topper on the large cake and the 'Afternoon Tea' menu. The lacy tablecloth was made using an Impressit embossing square and the frilly edge made with a special cutter. Time wise it probably took in excess of 7 hours to create!

 

I think I need a cuppa now.......