Yes, you heard/read correctly: a wedding cake inspired by the novel “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” by Roald Dahl.
Fun, huh??
Katy and I know each other through work, and last year she was planning her wedding. She’d already arranged for me to take her photos (I also do photography as another side endeavor – check out my website for Caralin Ruth Photography here!), and was talking about the need to find a good cake. I hadn’t done too many cakes yet at this point, but I told her I could make her cake too, if she wanted – and I was thrilled that she said yes!
At first, Katy was thinking about a beach-themed wedding cake, incorporating her wedding colour of Tiffany blue. Soon, however, she had a flash of inspiration – a “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” cake! This was the first chapter book Katy read as a child, and it always kept a special place in her heart. Plus, her now-husband is a chef, so the food theme carried through.
What a fun cake this was to make!!
Here’s a close-up of the happy couple, made from gumpaste. Chris has a wooden spoon to show his job as a chef, and Katy is a teacher, so she has a book.
Everything on this cake is edible, except for two wooden skewers holding up the “Marriage is Sweet” signs, which are made from chocolate melting wafers. The bottom and top layers are dark chocolate cake with filled with white chocolate buttercream. The middle layer is carrot cake with cream cheese icing, and the grass over everything is more white chocolate buttercream. The river is chocolate ganache, the mushrooms are made from gumpaste, and the gumdrops are made from…well, they’re gumdrops. 🙂 I sprinkled on some Nerds to add an extra bit of colour in the grass and carry on that “candy land” feeling.
How awesome is a wedding cake that has Nerds on it? I ask you that. 🙂
I had SO much fun making this cake – it was a huge learning experience for me, as I hadn’t really done anything like it before. It has since turned into the cake that “started it all” in terms of my recent work – from here, things just kind of took off, and I’ve been having a blast since then! (Ha – “took off” and having a “blast” – no pun intended this time, but if I was talking about a spaceship cake those would be great. Now I’ll have to make a spaceship cake just to give these puns their due.)
Thanks for the inspiration, Katy and Chris!!