When given the challenge of creating a cake to go with the Winter 2011 issue's color palette story, Ana Parzych, the Connecticut-based cake designer of Ana Parzych Custom Cakes, found inspiration in the bouquet above. She called upon her two life-long passions -- baking and the fine arts -- to create five-tier white and slate confectionary masterpiece just for us (and you for you, too!).
Below is a step-by-step of Ana's process, including how she made the edible succulents nestled at the cake's base.
1 Ana's sketch shows the details she wants to include on each cake tier.
2 She used these tools to create some of the edible flowers.
3 Here, you can see how the succulent begins to take form.
4 Ana starts each blossom with a little bud.
5 She inserts the stem.
6 Then, she uses a small scissor to snip the center.
7 Next, she rolls out the petals using this metal tool.
8 Here, she preps the petals before attaching them to the bud.
9 Ana threads the delicate petals onto the stem.
10 She then shapes them -- closer to the bud for a closed blossom, wider for an open bloom.
11 Depending on the size of the flower, Ana will add more or fewer layers of petals.
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13 To make the flowers even larger, Ana makes and secures individual petals onto their own stems.
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16 Ana adds the outer petals.
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18 Doesn't Ana's flower look just like the real flower in the inspiration bouquet?
19 Next up, a bit of color!
20 She brushes the flowers with Luster Dust to give them a bit of dimension and shine.
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22 To create a different flower, Ana uses a mold to get the bud's texture just right.
23 For this type of flower, she uses a completely different set of tools.
24 Ana adds "pollen" to the center and edges of the petals.
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26 She uses this stencil for the monogram.
27 This stencil will go around the monogram as decorative trim.
28 Ana wanted to hand-pipe the middle tier.
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30 Take a look at the inside of the confection: ThisTahitian vanilla cake, with alternating layers of strawberry mousseline and French vanilla, is finished off with meringue buttercream and gray Swiss fondant.
31 Ana placed the flowers on the bottom tiers of the cake.
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34 Isn't the finished cake a beauty?
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37 The elegant tone-on-tone piping still manages to stand out.
Photos by Ron Manville.
From: Kat Mee | 2/23/11 at 12:49 pm
Stunning !
From: Tweets that mention Special Series: “White Plus” Cake - The Bride's Guide : Martha Stewart Weddings -- Topsy.com | 2/23/11 at 1:11 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by suellen gargantini and MarthaStewartWedding, weddingchitchat. weddingchitchat said: Special Series: "White Plus" Cake http://bit.ly/gwURYX [...]
From: Caitlin | 2/25/11 at 1:33 pm
So Gorgeous!! I love all of the detail to the flowers and the Succulents are amazing! They always add such impact to arrangements and to see them incorporated in the cake design is just beautiful!! Amazing work as always Ana!!
From: Jackie Esposito | 2/25/11 at 2:49 pm
This cake is breathtaking! Ana you constantly amaze me with you unique, detailed and absolutely beautiful designs.
From: cindy | 2/25/11 at 11:57 pm
It´s beautiful, every detail , it´s love made art...
From: Maria Power | 2/26/11 at 9:00 pm
What a clever idea to incorporate those succulents into the very elegant design. Absolutly lovely.
From: Luis Zerpa | 2/27/11 at 3:34 am
This is culinary artistry at its finest!
This is one of the most beautiful and elegant cakes I've seen. I'm sure it's delicious as well.
From: Sugar Flowers | Ana Parzych Custom Cakes | Prepare to Wed- wedding ideas, wedding planning, wedding inspirations, New England, NYC, D.C., Florida | 3/10/11 at 9:09 am
[...] made for Martha Stewart Weddings. It has step by step instructions on how to create the flowers: Click here to check it out! [...]