"Puester" > wrote in message
...
> D O'Reilly wrote:
> >
> > I'm icing a cake for a family members wedding , can anyone give me the
> > best recipe for icing, that i can use to pipe the bride and groom's
> > names on the cake.
> > Also any tips on how to actually pipe the lettering (as i have never
> > done it before)professionally on the cake,your comment's will be
> > gratefully recieved.
>
>
> 1. You have taken on a monumental task if you have no
> cake decorating experience. Can you find someone else
> to do the decorating if you bake the cake? Could you ask
> a local baker or even the supermarket cake decorator if
> he/she will do the fancy stuff for you for a price?
>
> 2. Go to the library, get as many books on cake decorating
> as you can find, and practice, practice, practice doing
> decorations on sheets of waxed paper.
>
> 3. As I think back on all the wedding cakes I have seen,
> I have NEVER seen one with writing on it. They usually
> have shell designs or garlands made of royal icing and
> flowers, either icing or real live flowers, and sometimes
> figurines on top, but no names. All the guests will know
> who the bride and groom are by name,anyway.
>
> Good luck!

I agree with you on all points. However, I really doubt that a bakery would
decorate a cake that someone else baked. The person who decorates the
cakes, however, might agree to do it "on the side." That said, about 90% of
the work in producing a wedding cake is in the decorating, so I doubt that
it would save money to contract out the decorating. I would suggest that
the OP approach the bakery and ask how much some simply decorated "party
cakes" would cost, without letting them know it was for a wedding. You
might be able to get a 6", 9", and 12" cake with a simple top and bottom
border and perhaps some garlands and/or flowers for much less than the same
cakes that were ordered as wedding cakes. The OP could then arrange them on
a stand or stack them using plates and pillars. The final decorations might
be some fresh flowers. I did a stunning cake last year with white frosting,
simple boarders, and a mound of red and white dahlias from the garden. You
could use carnation, mums, lilies, roses or other flower from the florist.

I questioned the writing on the cake, but it is their wedding and if they
want writing on the cake then they should get writing on the cake. As you
point out, it isn't traditional. I have seen a lot of example of cakes for
bridal SHOWERS with writing on them. That makes some sense to me since the
groom usually doesn't attend the shower.

As for the design issue. I do think that it is possible to make an
acceptable wedding cake without a lot of fancy decorations. Wilton
generally has a few cakes in their publications that are very simple. In
fact, you could use a comb on the sides of the cakes and that would
eliminate the need to have them frosted smoothly. A simple shell border on
the top and bottom wouldn't be too hard to produce. You can buy flowers
made in both royal frosting and gum paste. Fresh flowers would be another
good alternative.

The thing I would recommend staying away from is stacking the cakes. I
certainly wouldn't go very high with them as it is an invitation to
disaster. However, there are all manner of cake stands available that
eliminate the need to stack the cakes.