With the Great Gatsby coming out right now it was a good time for my colleague Chrystal Dare to choose an Art Deco themed bar for her thirtieth birthday (and surprise marriage proposal from her boyfriend!).
My present to her was cake- naturally. She had chosen a deco theme for her invitation artwork in green and gold, so it seemed obvious to run with that, articulately as I have a predilection for deco cake as readers of this blog will know.
The flavours were obvious from the colour way: lemon (a mouthwatering combination of lemon victoria sponge, lemon vodka syrup, lemon curd and lemon buttercream) and double pistachio (ground pistachio Victoria sponge, pistachio and vanilla syrup and ground pistachio vodka buttercream).
The base colour for each tier decided, it was time to hit the sketch pad for some ideas on what the outside might look like.
We settled on a classic black deco starburst motif on the corners of the lower (sage green) pistachio cake tier, with a gold ombre fan pattern on the top (lemon cake tier).
Here’s how you get a cake to look this stylish:
Plan-tastic
All good engineers start with a plan – and cake with ruffles is no exception. Here’s what the concept looked like on paper (and with paper!)
Ombre: its the new black
I wanted to create a dramatic floral look for the cake which would both have the classic clean deco aesthetic but also be feminine. Colour on cakes takes careful planning, and so I always colour all the sugarpaste up and carefully consider how they look together before any actual icing happens.
Fan-tasia
Once the palest ombre layer of icing was on the top of the cake, I cut half circles from the lower edge to create a base for the first round of fans. I cut circles of each colour, layering them onto the cake working in the direction of the bottom edge. I allowed the top edge of each new circle to protrude from the cake, but flattened the lower edges down. This not only created fan shape without having to worry too much about cutting precise fans, but it also provided a shelf onto which to place my ruffles!
Ruffle my feathers
Using a slightly larger circle than the one I used for the fan, I cut circles of 2mm thick sugarpaste, then quartered them. Then I took quarters of sugar paste and ruffled the circumferential edge with a rounded tool. The V of each fan protrudes a little allowing the perfect shelf to fix the V of the ruffle to. Here, edible glue comes into its own, allowing you to quickly fix the new ruffle to the cake.
Board games
I replicated the fan pattern from the top tier onto the board using a round cutter as a guide and painting alternating fans with edible glue before sprinking them with diamond black edible glitter.
Green with envy
Never underestimate the beauty of sage green. Acented with sleek be-glittered black sunburst patterns on each corner of the cake, we are in deco heaven. A slick of gold leaf on the edges of the sugarpaste sunbursts gives some lift and creates dimension.
Pearls of wisdom
Everything goes with pearls. In this case, gold leaf pearls connect the two tiers together.
Say it with flowers
Black carnations, edged with gold, and a tiny sage carnation leaf top the cake. Carnations are relatively quick and easy to make once you have mastered the ruffling technique, which is done by a quick back and forth rolling motion with your ruffling stick held at 90 degrees to the edge of the flower “petal”. Its best to use flower paste rather than sugarpaste, but in a pinch, massaging gum traganth into regular sugarpaste will give you a stiffer and more dry-able medium to make your flowers. Because I was dealing with jet black sugarpaste, I opted for this method. About 1/2 tsp of gum traganth for 50g of sugarpaste is an acceptable ratio.
Cutting remarks
Everyone always sings the same song around cakes that look this good, and the song is “Its a Shame to Cut It“.
Nonsense. Whats the point of making something so pretty edible if you’re not going to eat it???
