Yellow Cake with Raspberry Preserves Buttercream covered in Vanilla Marshmallow Fondant and trimmed with buttercream as well as fondant moulded figurines.

Happy Sunday! This week went very smoothly. The cake I had due this week was for my son's Cub Scout Pack. This time of year is the "Bridging Ceremony" where each boy moves up a level and some of them move up into Boy Scouts. This year I decided to think a bit outside the sheetcake box and give the boys something a little extra special. So I spent some time about a month ago, allowing time for them to dry, moulding figurines for the boys and they were thrilled by them. They couldn't believe that the figures were made of sugar!

The day was VERY hot so as soon as we got out to the park, where they were holding the ceremony, the cake started to melt so cutting it was tricky. But here's a trick for you. Whether it's a round or square cake, if you cut it into strips and then lay the strips down on their sides then cutting and serving will be much easier. And remember that when it's hot, like it was for us, cutting it will make a huge mess so, if possible, have a water bucket and a towel for cleaning and drying your knife and your hands. Both will become a buttercream mess very quickly.

Now here's a secret about the cake. The top tier isn't real. Yup, it's what we call a "cake dummy". It's made out of food grade styrofoam and you decorate it just like you decorate the rest of the cake. This allows for a grander presentation without a whole bunch of left over cake. So if you are having a small wedding but what a grand cake and don't want to waste or deal with a whole bunch of left over cake then a cake dummy or two replacing some of the tiers may be the way for you to go. Warning here...since the same decorating process goes on for the outside of the dummy cakes as it does for the real part of the cake you will not be saving much money on the cost of your cake. On average you will save about 20% on your full bill. But it is a great way not to waste the food and get a grand presentation for your event.

Side note: You may see some advertising for you to have a complete dummy cake on the cake table and sheet cakes for the actual serving. This will NOT save you money. You will still be paying per slice for the sheet cakes as well as 80% of the cost of a real tiered wedding cake. The only time this would make sense is if you "rent" the cake from your caker and buy the sheet cakes from them as well. That can save you money but the caker gets to keep your cake for her advertisement and you may, or may not, have a choice of cake designs. So keeping it small or making it tall by using a dummy tier or two may be a better choice for your event.

This upcoming week brings a 3D music box/jewelry box cake for a clients mom's birthday. I can't wait!

Cat