Back in October, I was lucky enough to be a part of Amy and David Richardson’s wedding at Middleton Lodge.
They had an amazing vision of what they wanted and the cake fit this concept like a glove! Their theme was black, white and gold – classy and chic, with a touch of Autumn – homely and sweet.
Arriving at the venue to set up the cake I’ve got to say I was blown away! The main reception was taking place in the marquee, which is a permanent feature at Middleton Lodge. The décor was beautiful! The bride’s mother had covered hundreds of jars in different gold glitter which adored the tables and black glitter pumpkins were the centrepieces, full of white hydrangeas and roses. Each guest was given their own mini white pumpkin as a favour and a small bottle of gin, rum or vodka with a glass as a keepsake. The ceiling of the marquee was covered in black, white and gold lanterns and at night the whole area lit up with twinkly lights. Highlighting the dancefloor were 3 huge light up letters – A & D – which completed the look.
The cake was set up to the left of the top table on a large round table, which had some of the lovely glitter jars scattered by its side. I stuck closely to the black, white and gold theme and designed the cake with the bride, groom and mother of the bride. Amy and David both loved cakes they had seen with black and white stripes and a gold tier was a must for the party. We tied in the polka dots on the groom and groomsman’s ties into the top tier keeping to the black and gold – each gold dot was hand painted! With David serving in the Marines, when the booking was originally made we were going to add some poppies onto the cake however, we decided to go with anemone’s – they are part of the same flower family so still closely linked but white, matching the theme and the flowers in brides bouquet.
The bottom tier of the cake was a 10 inch lemon sponge, filled with sweet lemon buttercream and zesty lemon curd. This tier was covered in the stripes which were hand rolled to 35 inches!! I think they make such a bold statement and are a bit different to your normal wedding cake. Moving onto the 3rd tier; an 8 inch classic vanilla sponge, filled with vanilla pod buttercream and raspberry conserve – this is a favourite with most couples. The sponge is so light and fluffy and the vanilla pod really brings out that luxurious flavour! This tier was hand painted with a mix of 3 shades of gold lustre dust from Sugarflair and Rolkem. Amy was very particular that she didn’t was a yellowy gold and I think we hit the nail on the head with the colour! Tier 2 was a plain white 6 inch tier with a thin white ribbon and a red velvet sponge filled with homemade salted caramel. The sweetness of the sponge with the salt in the caramel is the perfect combination – another firm favourite with couples. Finally the top tier was a 4 inch vanilla sponge, with vanilla pod buttercream and homemade passion fruit curd – something a little bit unusual. This cake was covered in black and white dots in a pattern drawn by the mother of the bride. I then added a total of 14 handmade sugar flowers – white anemones. The flowers really finished the cake off and linked all the tiers together making this cake a real centrepiece.
As soon as the cake was set up I was relieved that it fit in so well. The cake was quite a showstopper and had a lot of different components but it looked so perfect with the rest of the room. Everyone was so complimentary and most important of all, the bride and groom loved it! I came home with a huge bouquet of flowers as a thank you which I was not expecting – it’s so great that so much joy can come from doing something I love! Bring on the next wedding!
