Melanie Ferris Cakes News

www.ferriscakes.co.uk

This is a very popular style of cake for a Golden Wedding. The cake is large (12") square and will therefore cut up into 144 x 1" fingers, and by the time a couple have reached their 50th anniversary they have usually accumulated a lot of friends and family who would like to celebrate with them, and the sugar spray of flowers can be kept as a memento.

This is also the second time I have made a golden wedding cake for a couple called 'Margaret and Stan' - obviously popular names at the time.

This is what they thought of it:

Thank you Melanie for the Golden wedding anniversary cake you did for my Mum & Dads 50th anniversary .Everyone said how lovely it looked & tasted beautiful, will be sure to recommend you to friends & family. John from Ongar.

Hi Melanie,

Just wanted to say a thank you for dad's cake it looked great and tasted even better ! Such a lovely cake ! Being a non gluten free eater I can honestly say it was delicious ! Thoroughly enjoyed it !

Plenty left over today too so I know what im having tonight !!

Thanks
Amy x

www.ferriscakes.co.uk

This cake was one of the largest I have done. I delivered and set it up at Boreham House today. It is 6 tiers, although the bottom tier was a dummy as I could not lift a solid 14" tier. It was so large that I could not lift it all together and had to transport it in 3 sections and then assemble it at the venue. It was on a particularly tall perspex cake table, especially hired. There is a cascade of large white sugar roses from the top to the bottom, and each rose has a diamante in the centre.

www.ferriscakes.co.uk

It is easy to think of ideas for Christening Cakes for babies; there are teddies, rattles, cribs, booties, the list is endless, but increasingly children are being baptised at an older age and such things are inappropriate.

This cake manages to combine the fact that it is a Christening, with the doves and cross, with the interests of the children, with racing cars and footballs.

www.ferriscakes.co.uk

Here is a 2-tier black and white wedding cake, with a swirly piped pattern in black and a large black sugar bow on top. This would look best displayed on a white ceramic pedestal cake stand, but I can't seem to find one. I have a search out on e-bay but nothing suitable comes up. This cake was made for a couple who got married at Crondon Park recently.

www.ferriscakes.co.uk

I was sent this photo and note by a bride a few days ago.

"Hi Melanie,

Your cake was absolutely amazing! Everyone was amazed by it and it tasted fantastic!

I want to thank you so much - I have attached a photo for you.

Thank you so much for my dream cake.

Kind Regards,

Senel"

I was especially pleased to have feedback from Senel because she had seen a picture of one of my helterskelter cakes in a magazine and was most anxious that her cake should look the same. I did my best to make it as similar as possible, but these cakes are all different and can never look exactly the same. This picture actually shows the back of the cake which is not quite as ornate as the front.

www.ferriscakes.co.uk

This is only the second Confirmation Cake I have ever made. I was given the image of the Communion Cup, with the grapes and wheat. It was a lovely clean line drawing. I decided to use a technique called bas relief, which means it is 3-dimensional, but lying on its side. It has much more impact than a 2-dimensional picture. The wheat I piped in royal icing using a no 3 nozzle. The silver and gold I painted on using edible silver and gold lustre dust dissolved in alcohol.

The leaves were not right, as I didn't have a vine leaf cutter and used a combination of geranium and chrysanthemum. If I do something like this again I will get a vine leaf cutter.

I had the following note from the bride who had the marshmallow cake:

"Hi Melanie
Coming back from honeymoon.
Thank you for a most beautiful cake! And it tasted lovely too!
Have you got any suggestions on how to keep the bride and groom? They look so lovely it will be a waste to lose them!
Regards
Carolina"

This is what I said regarding the storage/display of the figures:

The bride and groom need to be kept in a dust free environment but not an airtight one, so a glass fronted cabinet, or an acrylic box etc. This is so dust and flies don't get on them as you cannot wash them, but they need to get the air to them as any dampness will dissolve the sugar. Also it is a good idea not to put them in direct sunlight as this may cause them to fade.

www.ferriscakes.co.uk

Here is a close up picture of the Bride and Groom I made for the Marshmallow Cake.

Today will be really busy as the three nearest wedding venues to me have an Open Day. They will dress their venues as though for a wedding so that prospecive clients can really see what they would look like on their wedding day. My part in this is to set up wedding cakes that match the colour scheme and feel of the dressed rooms.

At Stock Brook Manor, I will be setting up a 6-tier Helterskelter Cake in the Rosewood Suite and the Art Nouveau in the Banquetting Suite for their Open Day. In Stock Village itself Greenwoods Hotel has an Open Day and I will be showing a chocolate cake with dark red roses, and at Crondon Park, where I will be based all day, I will have three cakes, a 4-tier Helterskelter, a very simple and elegant cake with calla lilies, and a white cake with a cascade of glittery white roses tumbling down it.

As the venues are so close why not have a look at all three today, to get an idea of the kind of venue you would like, Grand, or intimate or informal. And, of course, check out my cakes, and have a chat with me and taste my cake at Crondon Park