The Big Cake Project 2010, Final Part

Well, instead of doing this colour version of Willow Boughs...

... we felt this one looked more edible!

We spent Friday morning painting leaves with edible tinted piping gel, before repairing to Mangia e Bevi for pizza. Here you see Laura's elegant hand at work.




The afternoon was spent stacking the cake layers with lemon curd and buttercream. A coat of buttercream went all over the cake. We were delayed in this process by a chilled buttercream situation that I might go on about at some point, but not now. Bottom line is, we showed the buttercream who was boss and all was well. We were then ready to place the painted tiles. Here are the first two placed, according to the printed pattern.

We didn't take any more pictures during the process as we just needed to get it done, and our hands felt permanently buttery... not conducive to holding cameras.

The finished cake on my dining room table:

And positioned at the event:

I think it's the tastiest one yet.

Some stats:

~ The cake took 30 full eggs and 20 more whites (all free-run)
~ It weighed approximately 35 pounds

~ It measured 16" x 16" and was just under 5" tall

~ It took 45 woman hours to complete
~ Only two people remarked the willow leaves looked a bit like pea pods. I was one of them. Heh heh.
~ Laura is a great cake collaborator, cool under pressure and, as usual, a complete delight to work with!