Amazing Wedding Cakes: Taylor Stripe

Hey everyone, Husband Mic here and I gotta say, this cake was one of my favorites for season three of Amazing Wedding Cakes.  The taylor stripe cake was beautiful in person, it's too bad they didn't bother to show it on the episode practically at all.  Much like me, completed cakes on this season get no love.  Talking about this episode is going to be hard because it is the first one where I got angry watching it.  I know they edit the crap out of us and all the shops, but seriously, our little cake got the shaft this time.  They used the same clips and soundbites over and over and over and concentrated only on the bottom tier of the cake!!  Seriously, I counted Reva saying the name of the cake eight times and Marc repeated himself a few times as well. 

But hey, I'm not gonna sit here and bag on the show this whole blog.  We knew what we signed up for, and we knew that the portrayal of our work was subject to a third party that we had no control over.  We get that and that is a huge reason why I write these blogs every week, so that we can show you the cake and let you in on what really happened in its design and creation.  TV is TV, but Happy Sugar Baking Land is Merci Beaucoup!!

Okay, now that I got all that out of my system, on to the sexiness of the taylor stripe cake!  We seriously loved this cake.  There was a point in the process where Reva was really frustrated and wanted to toss the thing in the trash, but by the end, she was in love with it.  It was the perfect blend of feminine and masculine which is what Taylor and Maya were looking for and it absolutely matched their expectations.

Camera mastermind Ashley made her head a tripod!!

Yes, the stripes were difficult to get just right, but from the show you'd think we spent three days on them.  In reality, it was like a three to four hour trial and error process.  We were trying to not only get them done for the taylor strip cake, but also were trying to figure out if we could build a better mouse trap and finalize our process for doing horizontal stripes.  Reva kept saying that morning that she thought she had that ribbon cutter somewhere, but it was only after a lunch break and some significant drawer rattling that we finally found it.  

Look!  Stripes on more than just the bottom tier!!

And for all you hand washing fanatics out there, pleas note the bottle of hand sanitizer front and center in the photo ;)

However, the hardest part of the cake was easily the green overlay of fondant.  Not only did we have to decide how to execute the pleats, but the color and size were also becoming a hassle.  How much of the stripes underneath did we want to show, what kind of bow was Reva going to put on the top of the pleat, all those little touches and decisions.  It was a stressful design element because we knew it was the highlight of the cake.  We had to get it right.

It came out just how we wanted it in the end.  The green popped and was vibrant, the stripes looked masculine and tailored, but what about the feminine side of the cake for Maya?  The first step to add a woman's touch was to tack on some little fondant "string" bows to the top of the pleats.

They were simple, but after playing with a few different bows of various sizes and fanciness, this type best suited the overall design.  It was clean and had an almost functional look, like they were doing a job on the cake, holding the "fabric" in place.  Next up in our fabric theme was to add some simple black buttons and the icing on the top, some beautiful pink roses.

As you will see in the coming weeks, this was a crazy week of detail oriented cakes and to save some time, we picked up the sugar roses from Cal Java and then dusted them with some pink luster dust and a tiny bit of food coloring to give them some depth and color.  The topper was a bouquet of pink roses in honor of the bride.

You can also see that "stripe" of smaller roses in the pic above.  These were also sugar flowers and Reva piped some buttercream scrolls to give the feeling of a vine.  Here's our beloved cake getting set up for the "beauty shots."

They didn't use any of the beauty shot footage in this episode which has happened to everyone so far this season.  What sucks about that is look above.  We basically have to deliver each cake twice for the show and this first delivery is to a stage with all those hot lights and a turntable spinning the cake and it is kind of a stress filled environment for a wedding cake.  So, we put each cake for a client through quite a bit before it gets to them and then it turns out to be a waste of time?  Kind of a bummer, but at least I got to take some photos of it while there.

Thankfully, in this case the delivery was easy peazy!  The delivery was to the Boddy House which sits in the middle of the beautiful Descanso Gardens.  Oi vei, look at this.  It's impossible for me to escape the paparazzi wherever I go!!

Oh, wait.  That's just camera mastermind Ashley filming me drive in.  More footage not used....

We love this cake and I hope the pictures here portray to you its true character.  This cake is definitely all Reva and a good example of what we like to do here at Merci Beaucoup.  Thanks for watching the show and tune in next week for the wedding cake of Gina and Joe from the Cheesecake Cheese Cake episode!  Such a beauty, see you then!!

And finally, yes, we know you go to a "tailor" and not a "taylor."  It was spelled after our groom, not the profession.  Cease any email campaigns you are pondering immediately ;)

 

Comments

[Dora A. Rosapepe]

I love your shop and the cake designs!! It is refreshing to know that I'm not imagining the soundbite repetitions...I love your personalities and designs...from Virginia.

[taylor]

hi i love ur show its so awsome how u make cakes

[Hypnotherapy London]

More brillaint cakes. Evey cake is more amazing than the last, didn't think that was possible as they are all great.

[wedding cakes orange county]

From the wonderful cake tasting to the actual look of our cake everything was perfect. My cake turned out exactly as I imagined from the picture I gave them.