Black and White Beach Wedding

If you have googled "beach wedding cake" recently you'll probably see a lot of light blue, starfish, clam shells and sand. That might be perfect for someone else but it definitely is not my idea of a wedding cake. So, when my client told me she needed a cake for a beach themed wedding I was nervous. My client's brother and sister-in-law had a destination wedding in Jamaica earlier this month and were having a reception for family and friends now that they have returned. I was much more excited about the cake design when my client told me that I needed to work within the color parameters of black and white.

The design I came up with showcases a billion ruffles on a very tall four-tier cake. Okay, not quite, but it felt like if when I was making it! I wanted it to be narrow and not very tapered so I stacked to 8 inches and topped with two 6 inches. I love how the ruffles really hide the tiers. I envisioned the ruffles giving the cake very organic movement...almost like waves or coral or even a Spanish dancer, a breathtaking animal in the nudibranch family. (YouTube it-nudibranchs are my absolute favorite animals on Earth!)  If you have ever seen a Spanish dancer, fluttering through the crystal sea, waving its ruffles in the calm silence it is quite magnificent. Hopefully I was able to capture the movement along with the delicate serenity.

I then decided on nautilus shells, which I also love. I wanted something that no one else had on their beach cakes...and I wanted it to be bold, so that it would stand out against the abundance of ruffles. Nautilus shells really are reddish-brown and white with black right at the base but I took some artistic license and worked it into our color scheme.

I also chose nautilus shells because, with a little artistic license, I could add lots of curly pieces coming out of the shells. This inspiration comes from the glass artist, Chihuly. He blows brightly colored glass tubes, twirls them, then connects them all together in coral-like arrangements. I would love to do a Chihuly cake! But, these shell curlies are as close as I have come so far.

I love how the light catches on all of the ruffles in this shot. You can see how delicate and alive this cake is. At just under 25 inches tall, this cake has me nervous for the delivery. Heading north a few hours is not what this beach-themed cake was made for! In any case, it turned out beautiful and unique. I am privileged to contribute a part to two people's very special celebration!
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