How to Make Wedding Cake Decorations

With professional wedding cakes costing hundreds, even thousands, of dollars, some brides are eager to make their own wedding cake decorations to save money. Decorating your own wedding cake can be a rewarding way to show your individuality while keeping costs down. With a few specialized cake-decorating tools, a master design and a little time, you can create beautiful wedding cake decorations.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Wedding cake
• Buttercream
• Fondant
• Sugar paste
• Cake decorating tools
• Fresh flowers

1. Look through bridal magazines to find a cake. Keep in mind that professional cake decorators know all the little tricks for stacking cake layers and creating a cake masterpiece. However, you can adapt nearly any cake style to suit your own decorating abilities. Many decorations are made weeks or months in advance and stored in airtight containers.

2. 
   Buttercream bags and tips let you pipe borders and leaves.

   Draw your own cake plan and indicate how many decorations you want and where they will be placed. This lets you know how many decorations you must make. Purchase or borrow the tools needed. If you are going to use sugar paste or fondant, you will need a roller, cutting tools and floral wires. For buttercream, you will need piping bags and tips. (See Resources)

3. 
   Sugar paste flowers are made in advance.

   Start at least two months before the wedding day and begin making sugar paste decorations. Sugar paste is available from hobby stores, baking stores or you may order it online. Sugar paste dries very hard and provides a smooth medium with which to form delicate flowers and leaves. You may color soft sugar paste to match your wedding colors and use small rolling pins, cutters and wires to form individual decorations that will last for years. (See Resources)

4. 
   Fondant flowers are stunning on the cake.

   Plan to make fondant decorations at least two weeks in advance of your wedding. Fondant, like sugar paste, dries hard but it doesn't have as long a shelf life. Fondant decorations will last for three or four months but they may become brittle and crumble after that. Fondant is easier to work with than sugar paste but the decorations will be slightly thicker. Use small cutters, rollers and your hands to form flowers, leaves and pearls for your cake. You may also cover your entire cake in fondant. (See Resources)

5. Assemble the wedding cake the day before the wedding. Many decorators bake the layers and freeze them the previous week, then assemble and fill the layers and add a top coating of buttercream the day before the wedding. Apply the decorations the night before or the day of the wedding to keep the cake looking fresh.

6. 
   Buttercream borders create a finished look.

   Pipe buttercream borders (if desired) just before you add the cake decorations. If your cake is iced with buttercream, you may choose a rope, shell or pearl-type border on the perimeter of each layer. Practice piping borders and other decorations in the weeks leading up to your wedding. (See Resources)

7. Place the decorations on top of the buttercream details. If you've created a large centerpiece, don't put it on the cake until you set the cake up on the reception table. If you're using fresh flowers, encase each stem in a food-grade flower spike to keep it from touching the cake. Attach fresh flowers after the cake is on the table, as well.

Tips & Warnings

• Take a cake decorating class if one is offered in your community, usually at a hobby store. Create a timetable for making your cake decorations and start early.
• Baking, filling and stacking the cake layers should be done by a professional baker or you should bake a practice cake a few weeks ahead of time to make sure you like the results. Remove sugar paste and fondant decorations before serving the cake; they are not edible.

Resources

• Order fondant and sugar paste
• Watch a video on making fondant flowers
• Find buttercream piping equipment
• Join a cake decorating forum