For the Love of Cupcakes..

Cupcakes are becoming very popular and fancier. Many weddings and birthdays are being celebrated with cupcakes instead of cakes.

I’ve seen some cupcake displays with lovely cupcake stands with lovely sugar artwork at weddings, birthdays and other special occasions. 

Wedding Cake vs Wedding Cupcakes

Whether you choose the traditional wedding cake or go the cupcake route, both can be very beautiful. To help make up your mind just look at the personality of your wedding and your own style. Cupcakes can be fun and whimsical and your guests may love their own 'little cake'. A traditional wedding cake is just that, traditional. Cost may be what determines your choice also, some times the cost of cupcakes is high because each one has to be iced and decorated.  

Many brides are also choosing both. A small cake with a cake topper is used, generally on a tall stand and cupcakes are surrounding it. This is a great option if you can't make up your mind.

 

One way of making your cupcakes special is to use  wrappers that make each one of your cupcakes a work of art. A cupcake wrapper is paper with intricate designs cut by lasers. Each  paper wrapper goes around your baked (and cooled cupcake) and attached together.

Here are some examples of some beautiful cupcake wrappers:

 

Cupcake wrappers are great for adding some elegance or pizazz to your cupcakes.

One of the most elegant one for weddings is the White Dove wrapper:

 

Cupcake wrappers can be used for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries and even seasonal holidays. 

 Whatever you decide for your wedding, birthday, anniversary or special celebration make them beautiful.

For more information and to purchase cupcake wrappers please visit our website at: www.christinascakecreations.ca 

The Wedding Flower Bouquet

White Roses Sugar Flower bouquet

Since ancient times brides have traditionally carried or worn a bouquet when they got married.

But do you know where this idea comes from?

The origin of the bouquet has always had special meaning and varied from area and culture. Originally, each flower, herb or spice had special symbolic meaning such as the rose in medieval fifteenth century Europe. The rose was seen (and still is seen) as a symbol of loyalty, purity and love.  Some cultures carried strong smelling herbs, flowers and spices to ward off evil spirits. In ancient Greece and Rome it was common for both the bride and groom to wear a garland around their necks rather than carry a bouquet, this represented new life and fertility. The tradition of carrying a bouquet is seen today and choosing flowers for a wedding is as important as the cake and rings.

The Language of the Flowers

Floriography or language of the flowers is communication through flowers. Each flower has a message or meaning. Its roots started in Ottoman Turkey during the 17^th century which may have been because of the obsession that Constantinople had with tulips. During this time tulips defined nobility and privilege and this time period was even called the Tulip Period.  Lovers began using flowers as their communication with their underlying messages and meanings.

The Victorians took this to the next level and books were written about the language of flowers. When Queen Victoria married Prince Albert in 1840 she had the spices and herbs in her bouquet she was carrying replaced with fresh flowers. Marigolds and edible flowers were used along with dill (dill was seen as an herb representing lust and increase sexual desire). Victorians used flower symbolism to say what they wanted to but decorum wouldn’t allow.

Over time and between geographical areas the meanings and language of flowers have changed or got skewed. Marigolds for example were named after the Virgin Mary where the name Mary’s Gold came from and represented affection. Today it is the flower of the Day of the Dead celebrated in Mexico and is said to represent grief.

Kate Middleton’s bouquet was small and beautiful and almost entirely made of Lily of the Valley. It was seen as tasteful and appropriate since Lily of the Valley is a bountiful and popular flower in Britain.

Today many brides choose their flowers based on their colours and shapes or flowers that suit their personality and style.

Sugar flowers or gum paste bouquets is a fairly new concept to the old tradition. Beautiful sugar flowers are very real looking and last a very long time. Scent can be added to rose sugar flowers to make them smell real.

Each sugar flower is handmade and is a work of art. Time and attention go into each petal and leaf to make the perfect flower. Painting is carefully done to make each flower look as lifelike as possible.

I love working on bride's bouquets and  wedding flowers. Each flower is made to represent your style, desire and whatever secret message you want to send.

We work within your budget and make sure you and your guests love your flowers. So whatever flower you choose either because of it's meaning or whether you just love a look or colour, we can help.

Visit our beautiful arrangements at www.christinascakecreations.ca.

Carousel Horse Cake

My journey making a carousel cake for my niece's birthday cake.

Sugar Horses:

The first thing I did was make a stencil for my horses. I went on line and found a carousel horse colouring picture. After printing it out I cut it out and then outlined it on a plastic place mat, then cut this out. It's stronger then using paper when cutting out gum paste. 

Colouring picture and cut out

 

 

I made 3 horses about a week ago so they would be dry and hold up when they stood in the cake. I rolled out some gum paste (not too thin) and traced my horse shape, I did this twice for each horse. While tracing I cut off the right ear and farthest left leg on the first horse outline. When I traced the second one I did the opposite. This way when you glue them together on top of each other, they look 3D. I made 3 horses.
When I glued them together (with edible glue) I added another round patch of gum paste, flattened it down and added a stick. I found the extra bit of gum paste gave the horse a rounder look and made the middle stronger for the stick. Add enough edible glue to keep the 2 pieces matched up and glued together and the stick. I put the horse in the middle of the stick.

Sugar horses

It did take about a week for the horses to dry well. Then I painted them.
In the mean time I made the top of the carousel. I used a glass dish as a mold and covered it with gum paste that I rolled out on a texture mat. I decorated it using other cut out pieces of gum paste and painted everything. Once it was fully dry I pulled it off the mold. 

I made a white cake, divided into 3 and coloured 2 parts of it. I wanted beautiful colourful cake once it was cut so I used a blue and purple. I made a 2 layer cake.

 


 One of the layers of the blue and purple cake I made.

I made a great Oreo Cookie butter cream icing for the middle part of the cake.

 Oreo Cookie Butter Cream Icing.









I crumb coated the cake and added some dowels in the middle so the top wouldn't sink into the cake.
I covered the cake with a pink fondant, again I used a textured mat to give it some dimension. I added some rope on the bottom, and around the sides with some pink bows and some butterflies (she loves butterflies). It all came together nicely.