lebigkiss.com
Helen’s comments on “Tulip”
“The tulip cake really fell together in one go so I just drew out how I thought it might look and then created it.!
I used the shapes from the divider collar to create the shapes for the the patterns around the cakes. Some of these shapes are made directly from flowerpaste others I created using string made from sugar I painted some parts silver but left others white to compliment the collar. The tulip heads all have Swarovski crystal stamens which adds a sparkle to the cake.
I needed something to go on the top tier as a decoration rather than another cake which is when I thought of a tulip shaped cake with Swarovski crystals for stamens
I decided that the centre of the tulip shaped cake was lacking something so I made a leaf shape using silver wire and a final crystal at the top which I placed in the centre of the tulip cake. – This finished it beautifully.”
Helen made detailed drawings for the cake so she could resolve any problems that might arise well before actually starting work on the cake
Helen’s comments on “Taj”
“The Taj cake was much more intricate than the tulip cake with it’s different patterns and colours.
I echoed the shape from the top of the crown and from the Taj Mahal for the doorways having cutters made so I could recreate the shape several times. The door shapes were then painted with classic gold from Squires and then gold leaf was overlaid in places to give a burnished effect along with the balls at the bottom of the doors.
The pattern on the base cake was an echo of the pattern from the crown again using gold leaf, and I decided not to over do the cake by making any other tier as intricate so used the bands of blossoms tinged with silver to decorate the other tiers. The top tier wanted to be plain to show off the crown and I love the gold cord wrapped around the cake – very authentic.
I am absolutely delighted with how it has turned out and whilst I thought it would look good given the drawings were good, I didn’t expect it to look this impressive. So Thank you for your crown!”
As seen at Squire’s Kitchen’s 23rd Annual Exhibition March 2009
After some discussion we arrived at the idea of an Indian themed design for one cake and a tulip design for the other
For the Indian themed cake, which was inspired by the Taj Mahal and became known as “Taj”, hot colours, a paisley shaped motif and gold were included in the brief as well as four pillar covers to hide some plaster pillars Helen already had, giving an architectural element to the finished cake
Colour swatches, samples of materials and paper patterns were used to achieve excellent colour matching and correct sizes
Two stunning cakes ‘Taj’ and ‘Tulips’
made by Helen Penman of ‘Too Nice To Slice’
Helen contacted me about making decorations for cakes she was planning to show
at Squire’s March 2009 Exhibition.
Taj Crown Topper
For this cake Helen wanted to make a feature of the divider and asked me to create something in fresh spring colours.
We decided Tulips would be perfect and used colour swatches and paper patterns to achieve this amazing conclusion !!
The Tulip design flows all the way around the collar
Helen’s comments on working with Tanya
“Tanya has been amazing to work with.
I could see from her website even before we started discussing ideas, that she was so talented – her designs are amazing and every one of them inspired me to design a cake to compliment them! Such wonderful designs and combinations of colour and texture.
Tanya was very flexible with her crowns and collars, I needed the pillar collars a particular size which posed no problem for her at all, and they arrived from France extremely quickly.
Tanya was very happy to send me samples of patterns and papers to allow me to start my design process before the crown and collars arrived which helped tremendously to get the creative thoughts flowing. I am really looking forward to our next project together!”
‘Tulip’
.
