One word sums up the behind the scenes of our cake story in our fall 2012 issue, White Delights: INDULGENT! We all "picked" on a fair share of sweets while shooting this story, but, seriously, who can resist a fluffy baked Alaska or some chocolate almond cake?! Even better than being surrounded by cakes for two days, was our very talented team including photographer Anna Williams and expert cake designer Wendy Kromer. They both have so much skill and creativity that we loved watching them do what they do best. Between Anna's great lighting tricks and Wendy's magnificent cake decorating techniques, and, of course, the lovely Martha Stewart Weddings team, the story turned out beautifully.
And I can't forget to mention the excitement of the huge taxidermy peacock that we rented for the set! Check out more below and let us know which cake turned out to be your favorite!
1 Photographer Anna Williams and Martha Stewart Weddings style director, Kate Berry, perfecting the shot.
2 Anna and her assistant in action.
3 Cake designer Wendy Kromer working her magic in the kitchen.
4 Wendy's fascinating technique for creating the pleating on the "Fine Folds" cake? Step 1: Place wooden sticks over and under the gum paste to create ruffly rows.
5 Here, she's completing the first step and measuring the width of the gum paste to fit the different tiers of the cake.
6 Step 2: Carefully and strategically remove the wooden sticks one by one.
7 Step 3: Pinch the rows together to begin creating the pleated look.
8 She pinches together every two. I love how it looks like an imaginary thread is going through the gum paste!
9 Step 4: Now, pinch along the top.
10 Step 5: And now pinch along the bottom.
11 Step 6: Here Wendy is pinching between the middle and top to connect the rows of gum paste.
12 Step 7: And she does the same between the middle and the bottom.
13 The finished pleating!
14 Wendy's hand must have been cramping!
15 I love that they actually looked like someone stitched it with a needle and thread...Wendy is too good!
16 Assistant style editor, Erin Furey, is creating a similar look to Wendy's cake for the table with fabric.
17 So pretty!!
18 How great is this ribbon from Mokuba? We used it to create bows for the favors that complemented the "Fine Folds" cake and table cloth.
19 Associate art director, Melise Senaydin, put together the rock candy favors with clip art she created!
20 The geometric clip art on these favors and the Astier de Villatte plates from John Derian mimicked the design of Wendy's "Right Angles" cake.
21 Yumm! Some powdered sugar to decorate the "Nuts About It" cake.
22 Here I am spraying some edible pearl paint on the sugar gemstones so that they would really pop when placed on the "Rock On" cake.
23 The gemstones drying off. We got many different shapes and sizes from Global Sugar Art and NY Cake and Bake to make a statement-piece necklace to drape on the cake!
24 Design director, Michael McCormick, begins to map out the design of the necklace before it is applied to the cake.
25 Michael and Katie collaborating on the design of the candy necklace that drapes around the cake.
26 Each gemstone was placed on one by one...PATIENCE!
27 Katie was still working on the cake as the day wound down.
28 Both cakes complete and ready to be shot.
29 This peacock feather cake stencil was used for creating the "In Full Plume" cake.
30 After stamping the cake with the peacock print, Wendy then stenciled over it with royal icing to give it more drama.
31 I loved watching her precision and steadiness...AMAZING!
32 We rented a white taxidermy peacock from The Evolution Store in NYC!
33 Erin and I assembled the peacock onto his stand. This was WAY more scary then it appears in the picture!
34 The peacock was huge—taller than I am!
35 Katie making the leaves for the snow drops out of gum paste for the "Natural Wonder" cake.
36 The snowdrop flowers.
37 Each one was carefully placed in just the right spot.
38 Wendy and Katie dressed up the cake with the snowdrops.
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