Making your own cake and topper is not an impossible task and leaves you with a tasty end result that will cost you very little indeed.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
2 x 8-inch sponge cakes
2 x 6-inch sponge cakes
2 batches of buttercream frosting
2 bamboo skewers
Coloured paper
Scissors
Letter stamps + ink
Baker’s twine
Cake stand
Jumbo plastic straws or cake dowels
Cardboard, cut to a 6-inch circle
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Make your four round cakes the day before the wedding. We used a delicious recipe for the sponge and icing from Divine Vegan Desserts by Lisa Fabry. Allow to cool on wire racks.
2. Trim the tops off each of the cakes so that they are each flat. Using a thin layer of buttercream (or jam or whipped cream if you prefer) between each layer, stack the two 8-inch cakes together on your cake stand.
3. Ice the two 8-inch cakes completely, going carefully around the edges to smooth the frosting into an evenly coated layer .
4. Stack the two 6-inch cakes together with a thin layer of buttercream and place on the 6-inch cardboard circle.
5. Next, cut the straws or dowels to the height of the two 8-inch cakes (test by inserting one in the centre). Mark out in the icing where the next layer of cakes will sit and insert all the straws into the 8-inch cakes inside this circle near the edges, so that they’ll be supporting the 6-inch cakes to go on top. Place the 6-inch cakes on top and finish icing.
6. To make the bunting decorations, cut approximately 40 or so triangles by folding the sheets of cardboard and cutting the triangles along the edge of the fold. They should look like a diamond when you open them.
7. On the tip of each triangle where there is no fold, place a small dollop of glue to stick the two sides together.
8. To make the bunting for your cake stand, measure a piece of twine around the circumference and cut to the right length. Thread cardboard triangles onto it, sitting each one next to the last, alternating colours. Tie onto the base of the cake stand.
9. For the cake topper, stamp your names and loves’ onto triangles (short or nicknames names work best). Cut three lengths of twine and thread each word onto a separate one. Kikki K sell reasonably priced alphabet stamps but if you are sticking to a tight budget then a potato stamp will work a treat as well!
10. Inserting the skewers into the top cake at angles, tie the three strings of words on, with the shorter name at the bottom. This last step can be a little fiddly so be sure to rope in the fiancû? for a helping hand (literally).
Credits Photos The Loved Ones.