Fireworks inspired wedding cake

Marcy found fireworks everywhere she looked while planning her big day. She found the perfect invitation to match the guilded, sophisticated essence of fireworks. 

Normally when a bride visits The Sugar Suite, she has a wedding theme, colors and inspiration; we take those ideas and design a wedding cake that embodies her style. With Marcy, she was already head over heels in love with a cake design. While dabbling on Pinterest, as many brides do, she stumbled across this cake and it was love at first sight!  She just needed an artist who could recreate it! We were up for the task.

This cake was THE cake for Marcy's firework-inspired wedding. Planning a wedding is always a unique experience. When a bride finds her perfect cake, we make sure to deliver what she is dreaming of!

The Sugar Suite's replication of Marcy's cake at the couple's Hammock Beach Resort reception.

(We haven't come across the inspiration cake since, so if you know who created it, let us know who we should credit for the original design!)

Faux and Fabulous Wedding Cake

When this couple came to me, they had a grand plan to have a surprise wedding annoucement at their engagement party, followed by the rolling out of a huge wedding cake. Well, the guilt of hiding the secret got to them and they decided to have a small reception at a friends not so small house. They were only expecting 40 - 50 guests, but wanted large wedding cake as the centerpiece of the event. This is the perfect occasion for faux tiers!

Below is a picture of the 6 tiered cake, can you guess which 3 are real, and which three are faux?

Some other detail shots of the sugar flowers and monogram.

Modern Circles Wedding Cake

I love it when a bride comes to me and says that she is getting married at The Orlando Science Center! The venue choice says so much about a bride, and this choice says that she is not afraid to be different. We made the circles of a deep red fondant, cut very meticulously. The taupe pearls and red swirls matched a graphic on the invitation (one of my favorite sources of inspiration for the cake) and the circles were inspired by the invitations as well as some deep red linen the couple used at the reception. When the cake was finished, there still seemed to be something missing from the top, so we attached some of the circles together (and luckily they stayed!).

Camellia and Lace Wedding Cake

I first made this cake in buttercream in October for a dear friend, and I must confess that every time a bride circles "traditional" on her wedding words worksheet, my little heart pitter patters at the remote thought of making this cake. As with every cake, this time we did it a little different. Since my flower class with Ron Ben-Isreal, my sugar flower skills have improved a tiny, tiny bit (blog post about him, his class and the wonderful flowers this coming soon!). I made this camellia in his class, and almost cried when it went out the door forever.... but knew it went to a deserving bride. We also went with fondant this time to give it an even neater appearance, and great surface for piping lace pattern in royal icing.

Ranunculus Wedding Cake

I officially have a new favorite flower, the ranunculus! The bride sent a photo of the flower arrangement for the cake and although simple in design these delicate flowers are high impact! What I also loved about this cake design is the fact that it is mini, perfect to fit on any gorgeous cake stand (like this milk glass stand), and can be a beautiful accent for the couple's home.

Paisley Print Wedding Cake

When I asked this bride what was her favorite design element of her wedding, she quickly answered this print. She used this paisley print she found on ETSY from Two Yellow Shoes on her invitations and other stationery. After some amateur graphic design getting a 1" x 3" triangle shaped image into a solid band.....I printed the design on edible paper with edible ink. I wanted to incorporate the sugar gardenia as a topper because this bride along with many others always confess they really want gardenias and magnolias in their wedding flowers. Good florists always recommend against this because of the rapid browning of these flowers...... so a sugar gardenia can capture a dash of Southern charm in the style of the wedding.

Black and White Damask Wedding Cake

Black and White Damask is the love of many brides.... and when a bride brings me an invite or tear sheet with this pattern I know she likes the contrast of the two colors, and her wedding is sophisticated. This particular cake was made with buttercream and the piping was also done with a black tinted buttercream. Flowers by Lee Forrest..... a super-creative and quality driven florist,who is also such a joy to work with!

Wedding Cupcake Tower

There are wedding professionals that think cupcakes are too informal for a wedding... but I think that cupcakes have come SO far from the grocery store shelves that the idea of a fun and individual dessert is just perfect for some weddings! Neatly piped buttercream, brown liners and a fondant accent add style and presentation. This bride wanted pretty (but not too cutesy) bows on the top of each cupcake. Her colors were brown, light pink and ivory... so we alternated the buttercream and bow colors to give a variety to both the flavor and look of the towers.
Most caterers have their own cupcake tower and this one was provided by Puff 'n Stuff Catering (this wedding served 200+, and they have an additional tower if needed). The key to taking an ordinary cupcake tower and not having it look plain is filling it up! We placed each cupcake in the same direction (see bows) and as closely together as possible... so that the stand disappears and all you see is cake!

Round and Square Wedding Cake

When planning the dimensions and servings for a wedding cake, I usually have to break out the calculator.... but in this case, I had to break out the highschool geometry class. Considering I am miserable at math, it was nothing short of VICTORY that the dimensions of this cake turned out like I wanted. There is one indispesible formula when figuring out what size tiers to plan:
The basic idea is that you you have to figure out the length of the widest part of a square, which is the diagonal length. For example, a 8" square has an 11.3" diagonal length. That means that the round tier below it must be at least 12". This cake was a 4" square, 6" round, 8" square and 12" round. See kids, that geometry IS useful beyond the SAT!
The flowers were done by Lee Forest who is insanely talented, and so likable!

Ivory Ruffles and Chocolate Flower Wedding Cake

This is officially my favorite cake that I never got a (good) picture of :( This bride had tons of class and a fantastic idea. What if we did small subtle ruffles and a large chocolate flower on very tall tiers, all tying in the very modern mood of the Global Gallery Venue. What is most different about this cake is the dimensions. It was a6x7x8, that's right only 1/2 inch divided the sides of these tiers, and the result was a very svelt and elegant design.

The best part of all was what I saw on the way out.... her card box matched my cake!!!

Sex in The City Wedding Cake

It all started with this photo from the summer issue of IN Style Weddings (oh, how I will miss that magazine!) Its a cake by Collette Peters inspired by Betsy Johnson.

Then onto the true inspiration for her cake, the brides wedding dress that was inspired by Carrie Bradshaw's wedding dress, minus the bird and plus the groom (thank goodness for both)
We went through one round of revisions and came with the above sketch. I was really excited about the peacock brooch in sugar and all the feminine ruffles! The bride wore a chocolate brown sash, and it was the perfect transition from the skirt of the dress to the bodice.
Then the cake! The ruffles needed a lot of support, so I added some gumpaste to keep them stiff enough to resemble fabric. The dragee brooch was much heavier than I anticipated,so I secured with floral wire and fondant, and luckily it had enough strength to stand out of the cake for a more dramatic effect.
I love when brides want to make a statement with their wedding cake and this bride also made a fashion statement!

Alencon Lace and Pearl Wedding Cake

When this bride walked in with a Martha Stewart Planner, I knew we would get along just fine. A touch of alencon lace and pearls mimic the brides dress, and the pearl brooches give the cake a timeless and sweet feel. On a side note I have officially given up my dislike of using real ribbon on a wedding cake. This ribbon perfectly "absorbed" into the cake and gave it an even shimmer that couldn't quite be achieved with a fondant ribbon. I know it may not be part of a solid "culinary point of view"but we wont tell Bobby Flay. If it looks sharp (and is food safe) I am all for it!

Vegan Star Wars Wedding Cake

I believe that a wedding should express the combined identity and personality of the couple, and nothing said who and what this couple were about than a vegan Star Wars themed wedding cake! I LOVE the idea of a vegan wedding (even considering my love for cheese and bacon).... but the idea of cake with no butter and no eggs was a daunting order.
I started this challenge like any other baking experiment, with Google. Looking through recipe after recipe, reading the comments left and developing a game plan. I felt like a baking-genius when my first batch of vanilla cupcakes came out delicious and perfectly moist. The chocolate cake was a different story. After a multi-trial nightmare, cake explosions and implosions I felt like a baking-idiot..... that was until I found a vegan cupcake book in Anthropologie called Babycakes. The recipe was wonderful and baked exactly like regular cake (very important to have a sturdy texture when building tiered cakes). To flour the pans I brushed them with canola oil instead of butter and for the fillings I was sure to not suggest anything I couldn't confirm didn't have gelatin. The biggest challenge came with the fondant. I normally add 20% white chocolate for a smoother texture, and without it the fondant was very difficult to get super-smooth. My solution was to ensure the icing was very smooth before rolling out the fondant a little thicker (around 1/4").Ok, now for the fun part, how cute are these little figurines? The groom owned a comic book store and had these antique figurines of Hans Solo and Princess Leia (sporting a white gown.... perfect!).

Simple Drama Wedding Cake

The two words I hear most from brides when describing their wedding cake vision are "simple" and "elegant" This cake is the perfect example of a clean, stylish cake with a pop of drama in the large sugar flower and ornate lace detail. The tone on tone piping keeps the cake looking neat yet still sophisticated. I think this same look can be acheived using a very muted base color (such as blush, or ice blue, or a deeper ivory) along with the ivory piping and flower. The large flower look has graced every bridal magazine this season, and I hope to see many brides embracing the large sugar flower in their cakes as well!


I decided to include the sketch pad for this cake to show the fluidity between concept and execution of the final design.

iPhone Cake

This iPhone was made as a grooms cake to reflect the groom's love of his phone! The bride took a snapshot of his desktop and sent it to me from his phone (sneaky!) so that I could create the apps exactly like the ones on his phone! You can barely see it in this photo, but he had 52 emails!!! Woah, that stresses me out just thinking about it!

White with Navy Crumb Catcher Wedding Cake

This cake was created for a friend of mine who loves navy and white as much as I do! She chose this navy crumb catcher design to add some style and contrast to the wedding reception. Dave and Danielle are the perfect couple, and we wish them so much happiness!!

Black and White Paisley Wedding Cake

When I met this bride, she had an picture of the exact cake she wanted. I could tell by the photo that the bride had a lot of style, and suggested that I draw up a couple sketches for her. Not only was I thrilled when she said "Yes" to the suggestions, I was over the top when she picked one for her wedding cake. Every bride has her own unique style, sometimes you just have to dig in find that perfect cake.