When I was asked to teach a cake decorating class by Kirsten Tibballs at the Savour Chocolate and Patisserie School in Melbourne, my first thoughts were, ‘I want to design a cake that would challenge my clients’. I wanted to teach them an array of skills that they can use in a variety of applications and stretch themselves beyond what they thought they could accomplish. It worked. By the end of the second day they were genuinely surprised and inspired that they had completed the design with confidence. Here are the materials and methods I used to make my art deco-inspired wedding cake.

ART DECO-INSPIRED WEDDING CAKE

WHAT YOU NEED

Two gold cake boards (2.5cm x 35.5cm and 2.5cm x 15.2cm)
Two baked cakes (2.5cm x 25.4cm and 2.5cm x 15.24cm)
Wooden cake skewers and plastic conjute and 30cm bamboo skewers
Edible gold pearls sizes four and eight-to-10
White Callebaut chocolate approximetly 4kg
One metal ruler and tweezers
Beige satin ribbon 2.5cm width

SAVE

WHAT TO DO

1. Temper the white Callebaut chocolate and spread (using a spatula) on ruled silicon paper, enough to cover four rectangles (25.4cm x 15.24cm height) and four squares (15.24cm x 15.24cm height).

Tip: Cut out the measured shards when the chocolate has set using a metal ruler and a paring knife.

2 .Spoon a little white chocolate and a touch of dark chocolate into a small plastic bowl to make a beige colour and pipe over traced pattern. Allow to set and place in position on the chocolate shards using a little chocolate piped on the back. Place the small edible pearls in position with tweezers using a little chocolate.

3. When the pattern is completed on all eight sides, mitre the inside edges of the chocolate shards using your sharp paring knife and carefully attach to the ganache cake using chocolate to pipe up the join to seal it. Starting with two shards, seal them together then work around the cake until all shards are joined. Then attach the ribbon to the bottom of each tier with either double-sided tape or a little chocolate.

4. Spread enough chocolate to cut to 10.2cm x 15.24cm lengths x 1cm width and 10.2cm x 25.4cm lengths x 1cm width. Divide each length by three and attach to the top edge of each tier leaving enough gap to secure a large edible gold pearl in between. You will need to cut a little bit off each length so the pearl will fit.

5. Hand pipe the chocolate shards that will stand out of the top tier. When set, cut around the side with a ruler and sharp knife. Attach each shard to two bamboo skewers with a little chocolate flat side up, with enough of the skewer out of the end so you can secure that into the cake. There should be three large ones across the back and then reducing in size until the final smaller one in the front. These can be ruled free hand with a pencil on silicon paper.

Tip: Always flip the paper over as the lead pencil will come off on the poured chocolate. Then run a row of the small pearls along the top edge and scatter others over the fronts with tweezers and a little chocolate to fix them in position.

6. Place the cake skewers spaced evenly to accommodate the top tier and mark where the top of the cake is, then add four inches to that mark and cut. Place the skewer back into the bottom tier and cut four pieces of plastic conjute, spray the gold, allow to dry and then place them over the cake dowels.

7. Lastly, arrange the chocolate shards in the top tier starting at the back and working forward, then place the top tier onto the bottom tier using a little glue on the cake dowels and making sure the position is evenly placed. Voila! A beautiful cake.