Succulent Wedding Cake

I love sugar, that's no surprise. And it's a good thing because this past Thursday, I had icing all over my arms, in my hair, down my shirt, and the stickiest hands ever.  Sounds like a normal day, right?  Well, maybe if I were in the business of making cakes, it would be. And that, my friends, is the goal.

8 dozen assorted flavors of cupcakes and one 8 inch top tier were made for the long awaited wedding of Lucy and Willy last Friday night. Sneak peak:  

Four dozen chocolate cupcakes with salted caramel buttercream frosting, two dozen carrot cake cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting, and two dozen lemon cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting and one top tier of chocolate cake with strawberry filling and cream cheese frosting.  Whew, I did it. 

Not to mention, I spent hours making, molding, and shading a dozen fondant succulents. My inspiration for these succulents came from here and here.  

Sadly, I neglected to take any up close pictures of my succulents after I had shaded them, but I'm hoping the photographer snapped some good shots that I'll post later.

A brief run through, I bought the Wilton Gum Paste Flower Kit and an cala lily kit cutters to make the succulents.  I basically just looked at a few pictures and went from there.

Camera phone pictures....my apologies.

My mother was a great help in making these and even let me do all of my baking and decorating at her house...she has double ovens.  For the win.

I made these succulents about a month ago because I wanted them to harden and keep their shape.  I placed a few of the larger ones in cupcake tins so they would maintain their shape and the big daddy in the first picture in a bowl for its shape.  Then I bought a dark purple, light purple, dark green, and moss green dusting powder for the shading.  I'm no professional, but when it was all said and done, I thought they looked pretty darn real...and cute.

Lucy and Willy built the cake tower themselves and added the teal ribbon.  I added the purple ribbon to their top tier.

Like I said before, I hope the professional photographer took some good pictures for me to show you later.

Overall this was an amazing experience.  My FIRST wedding.  My FIRST (detailed) fondant use. And my FIRST time to make that many cupcakes in one day.  And frost them all.  And panic when I had to transport everything.  I felt like I was on one of those shows when you finish everything then you have to transport it and every little bitty bump in the road feels like it could knock all the cupcakes over and result in disaster.  Thank goodness for my sister's mommy-van (aka the Mamba).  It packs a smooth ride.

Many thanks to my wonderful mother for all of her help throughout this whole process.  Little does she know she's signed on as my partner in crime for my bakery business.  Hehe.  AND thank you to my younger sister, Meredith, for her sweet cupcake baking skills that she contributed and my older sister, Brandy, for stellar cupcake placement on the tower and the smooth ride.

I yoinked this picture from Lucy's facebook page. I did not take it.  But congratulations, Lucy and Willy, and thank you for trusting me to make your cake!