stained glass wedding cake cincinnati

stained glass wedding cake cincinnati - wiedemann hill mansion wedding

We are kicking off the wedding season with a Stained Glass Wedding Cake!
Inspired by the stunning stained glass windows of the Wiedemann Hill Mansion and the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany; a technique learned from the tremendously talented Maggie Austin.

Sugar Realm hand painted stained glass wedding cake Cincinnati. Three tiers of Toasted Almonds Cake, layered with Chocolate Ganache and Praline Mousseline with Hazelnut crunch, iced with our hand painted stained glass rolled chocolate.

Every time I'm asked, "What's your favorite cake?" I reply, "my last cake!"...and today's cake is MY favorite cake!
Veronica and Michael married at the historical Wiedemann Hill Mansion. This venue is an architecture jewel that was stunningly renovated to its grandeur by their owners Donna and Roger. One of the beautiful features of this house are their stained glass windows.
So, when Veronica said "We want a stained glass wedding cake", I jumped with joy...and then gulped:)
Everybody in the cake decorating work is familiar with the unsurpassable talent of Maggie Austin, who has graciously shared her stained glass technique with the cake decorating community:)
I would dare to say that this is not a difficult technique per se, but it definitely requires practice!

Before you commit to paint your iced cake, you better have a good understanding of the shapes that you want to represent, and the "feel" of your design.
Veronica shared with me the colors, type of flowers and design that she selected for her table arrangements, and I used them for inspiration for the pattern of the cake.

To hand paint our chocolate sheets, we used edible powdered paint diluted with ever clear (grain alcohol) and edible ink markers (We used Americolor brand, they come in a set of 2 black markers)

Sugar Realm wedding cake sugar flowers

Since we wanted the pattern of the stained glass to be organic and floral, we made the sugar flowers that would be used for the cake first, and used their shapes for inspiration. I literally held the flowers at eye level and studied it's lines...then I roughly sketched in a piece of paper the line work that I would reproduce on the cake.

Our cakes are always iced with rolled chocolate...it is SO delicious and smooth!
The pattern we used on the cake had two type of lines...some that were tight, simulating the ground (top left) and others that were large, simulating blossoms and bulbs (top right).

I wanted the flowers to look like they "belonged" to the cake, so I decided to edge the borders in black. I started edging with one of my old edible marker, one of the ones that I would use on the cake...but the process was too slow. So, I had the BRILLIANT idea of edging them with diluted black gel paste and a small flat brush... what a MISTAKE!
First, the diluted gel (grain alcohol + gel paste) bled a bit. Not good. Second, I don't know if I was working on high humidity or what...but the gel seemed to NEVER dry, and made the maneuvering of the flowers tricky!!!!
After a few days, the gel kind of dried...not completely though!...and I accentuated a few borders with a brand new marker, that had generous fresh edible ink...this worked perfect!. Lesson: I could have edged the flowers with a new marker in a snap and save myself some grief. It will take a LONG time before I touch another jar of black gel paste!!!! 

Our sugar flowers are always inserted on our cakes within a straw, this prevents the flower stem to get in contact with the edible cake. It also provides structure and support to the weight of the flowers and makes the removal of the flowers so easy!
A sugar flower box is always delivered alongside the cake. We always want to provide our clients with the opportunity to preserve their wedding cake flowers as a sweet memento of such special day!!!!

It was such a pleasure to work for Veronica and Michael, and with the courteous staff at the Wiedemann Hill Mansion!
And now, I'm going to get on my pj's and rest for the remainder of the weekend!!!