Beautiful summer is fully upon us with so many gorgeous artful, crafty DIY weddings! The DIY wedding trend is in full swing, from oodles of handmade garlands to wedding favours of homemade jam or pickles. I am still loving the trend of a well-designed dessert table full of amazing looking cakes in different sizes and colours - with a central wedding cake on the highest pedestal, of course!
This mint green colored beauty features a dotty-buttercream-piped look, handcut craft paper monogram initial cake toppers and a simple gathering of pretty blooms. I love the idea of incorporating fresh flowers into a cake - I chose pink petaled begonias from my garden and I love how they look all ruffly and tousled!
So, crafty reader, why not make your best friend's wedding cake, or tackle baking your own? This tutorial is cute and simple and will add a DIY handmade touch to your nuptials. Place it beside rows of matching cupcakes, a selection of cream pies and mini ice cream cones..!
Ready? Set? Bake!
You will need:
1. A baked and cooled round three layer cake of your choice. I chose a dark chocolate 7 inch round cake. Stumped for recipes? Visit my friend Rosie over at Sweetapolita for a selection of awesome ones!
2. Buttercream frosting, enough to fill and pipe a three layer cake - I used 4 cups of buttercream for this cake. Add a tiny bit of green food coloring - I used Kelly Green gel color, but you will only need a tiny dab to create the pale green buttercream.
3. Cake filling - I used raspberry jam as a filling for this cake! You will need approximately 1 cup of jam.
4. A piping bag fitted with an open circle tip - I used a small tip, Wilton size 12, to create a more "dotty" look.
5. Colored craft paper, a pair of scissors, wooden BBQ skewers and clear tape to make the cake toppers
6. A small selection of fresh non toxic flowers from your garden, or unsprayed and untreated blooms ordered from your local florist. Visit here to read about edible flowers! Again, I used pink begonias!
7. Parchment paper or wax paper strips to tuck under your cake for the frosting stage, an offset spatula for frosting the cake.
Make it!
Time to frost and fill your cake!
1. Place your first cake layer on a cake stand or cake plate. Tuck in strips of parchment paper underneath the cake. You will eventually pull away the pieces revealing a clean cake stand! Using your piping bag, pipe a dam of buttercream to hold your filling. Using a spoon, place the raspberry jam into the center of your dam.
2. Place your next cake layer on top and repeat step 1.
3. Place your third cake layer on top! Press down ever so lightly to adhere layers!
4. Now, start frosting the entire exterior of your cake in the "crumb coat." Boggled as to what a crumb coat is? Martha Stewart to the rescue!
5. Frost away, my friend.
6. Now you've locked in your crumbs! Place your cake in the freezer for 15 minutes to let this layer of buttercream set.
7. Time for another coat! It's like painting a wall, right?
8. Mmmm, buttercream. It doesn't need to be perfect because we're piping on top of this layer. You can pull out the parchment paper strips now!
Grab that piping bag again! Now, begin piping little dots, starting from the bottom and working your way up to the top. Pipe rows of dots.
Once you've piped the exterior, pipe the top of the cake with dots, too!
Place your small gathering of blooms on top. Beautiful roses will work, too - check out my pal Linda's rose covered cake here over at Call Me Cupcake! Plunk your cute little monogram letters into the cake...
And blammo! You have the cutest wedding cake!!
Now walk, don't run, to the wedding reception with this little beauty in hand! Actually, I would recommend transporting all the elements separately and placing the flowers and cake toppers on it when you arrive at the venue to set up! Keep the flowers in water and in the fridge to avoid wilting.
Hooray to love, and DIY weddings! Hope you enjoyed this tutorial.
until next time!
xo Lyndsay
