Wedding cakes have always blown me away. The technique and skill required to create such astounding pieces of art was something that I was looking forward to mastering at ICC. We learned to work with sugar paste, fondant, marzipan, royal icing, molds and a few other methods. One of the things that I was most intrigued by was the amount of molds, presses and other tools available for making cakes; the variety seemed endless! The theme that was assigned for our three tiered cake was a Victorian wedding. We were given the theme, an invitation, color scheme and location of the wedding to draw from for inspiration. This was an interesting experience in that it was essential that we kept within these guidelines, rather than being able to do whatever we wanted as we have in past projects. As our chef explained, when you make a wedding cake, it is for one of the most important days in the life of the bride and groom. You need to make what they like; not what you necessarily would choose for your own wedding. We had four days for the project… and so the challenge began!
For my cake, I chose to keep the colors as clean as I could. I focused on cream, white, blush and moss. I used methods such as sugar paste flowers, molds for lace, jewels, pearls and royal icing for piping. However, my absolute favorite part of my cake was the chandeliers that I made using gold “paint” on plaques. It really captured the Victorian theme and made the cake pop. Another aspect of the cake I loved was the sugar paste lace trim. I rolled out the sugar paste almost as thin as I could, to the point you could almost see through it. Then, I used a press and made the lace pattern. The pearl mold also turned out great, and painting it gold tied it in well with the chandeliers and the rest of the cake.
The experience was stressful at times, but for the most part it was exciting to see our design ideas come to life in front of us. It was incredible to see how everyone’s cakes were so different, even though we were all given the same theme, colors and details of the wedding. For most of us, this was our first time making a wedding cake, and at first it seemed like a daunting task. However, once we had our design and schedule, all that was left was to execute. Of course, there are always things that you wish you could alter or add, but that is a good thing. I think that a good chef should always be striving to achieve more and continue learning. I am sure that this will be my first wedding cake of many, and I must say I am proud of what I was able to create!
By Kaitlin Wayne
ICC Student, Level 3 Professional Pastry Arts
Kaitlin Wayne graduated from the International Culinary Center (ICC), founded as The French Culinary Institute (FCI). In 2020, ICE and ICC came together on one strong and dynamic national platform at ICE's campuses in New York City and Los Angeles. ICC’s culinary education legacy lives on at ICE, where you can explore your own future in food.
