Beautiful Silver Leaf Wedding Cake at Great John Street Hotel, Manchester

One of our favourite wedding cake designs this year was for Sadie and David who got married last Saturday at the fabulous Great John Street Hotel in Manchester.

From their consultation, Sadie and David knew they had a silver, grey and pink colour scheme so I sent them some ideas of what could be done and they were over the moon!

The bottom tier was covered in edible silver leaf with a pretty stencilled pattern on the second tier down. The cake was then dressed with fresh flowers and placed as part of the entrance display up on the roof terrace at GJS Hotel, stood on one of our white milk glass cake stands. The terrace area is fabulous and definitely worth a look if you're considering hiring somewhere for a wedding or event.

 

My dodgy photography skills don't do this cake justice and I can't wait to see some professional photos but for now, you get the idea!

 

Congratulations David & Sadie!! xx

Circus Christening Cake!

Last weekend we delivered the cutest Christening Cake for the gorgeous little Noah!

 

Noah's Mum & Dad wanted a Circus theme to the cake with one clear instruction, NO CLOWNS!

 

Agreed.

So we decided on a circus tent top tier with a classic red and white stripe and cute sugar animals poking their heads out of the curtains.

 

The bottom tier had large blue triangles complete with bright yellow stars, all in-keeping with the circus theme with a pretty name plaque on the front.

 

The whole cake was sat on a cake board which we also covered in a red and white stripe effect and were really happy with the result!

Travel-themed Wedding Cake at Armathwaite Hall

A couple of weeks ago we drove very cautiously up to the North Lake District to deliver a cake for the lovely Leanne and Andrew who got married at Armathwaite Hall.

The venue is beautiful and the scenery just stunning, unfortunately the drive up involved a lot of rain and early-morning mist but luckily, by the time the wedding was due to start, the sun had started to break through!

 

Leanne and Andrew wanted a travel-themed wedding cake based upon a suitcase and luggage design complete with luggage tags and personalised hand-made Bride & Groom toppers.

 

Three tiers of cake, one hand carved in the shape of a handbag and the addition of one artificial tier in the form of a free-standing suitcase to one side. The wedding colour was Cadbury's purple, a very popular trend for 2014 so all of the details were picked out in purple and lilac tones.

 

This cake was HEAVY but it went down a treat and was a real talking point between the guests, Leanne & Andrew loved it, saying it was even better than they could've hoped for!!

 

Congratulations to Leanne & Andrew, one of the loveliest couples I've dealt with yet!

Come and see us at our Autumn wedding fayres, they're going to be fabulous!

So as the Summer begins to draw to a close we're thinking ahead to our Autumn wedding fayres!

As usual we've been very selective over where we'll be exhibiting and are excited to share the details of these with you;

Kicking off the season in style will be the gorgeous Hilltop Country House courtesy of Brides up North on Sunday September.

 

Our second weekend of exhibiting sees us as two show on the same day, Sunday 21st September when we'll be at The Monastery and The Castlefield Rooms, two fabulous venues in Manchester.

 

The Castlefield Rooms will be running a free entry wedding fayre above Dukes 92 from 11am - 2pm

 

 

Following on from that, we're at Alberts Restaurant & Bar in Worsley on Sunday 12th October from 11am - 2pm.

 

 

 

Next we'll be at the stunning Halle St Peters in Manchester on Sunday 26th October 11am - 3pm

 

 

Our final fayre of the season is at the stunning Bowdon Rooms in Cheshire, again courtesy of Brides up North on Sunday 2nd November. Details of the event can be found here

 

 

 

 

We're really excited about the Autumn wedding fayre season, we've had a really busy summer creating beautiful designs for Brides & Grooms and have also been coming up with some fabulous new designs to showcase too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simply Chocoholic Cake!

 

Last week we posted a photo of a Birthday cake for a 17 year old who had been told he was too old for birthday cake (does not compute!!))

 

We created him a simple yet great looking 6" birthday cake which was three layers of sponge and cost £35, this was the start of our Simply Celebration range., freshly baked cakes made from quality ingredients which look great and can be personalised.

 

This week, we've added an extremely chocolatey creation to the Simply Celebration range, again three layers of sponge sandwiched and covered with buttercream. This design then has Cadbury's Chocolate Flakes all round the edge and is topped with a selection of chocolates including Giant Buttons, M&M's and more flakes.

 

6" size cakes start at £35.

 

 

This birthday cake was made for Ian who wanted to take something with a bit more of a wow factor into his office than the usual supermarket cakes that you usually get, he certainly looks pleased with it!!

 

 

Butterfly Wedding Cake

A few weeks ago I delivered a beautiful cake to the Astley Bank Hotel in Lancashire for the wedding of Leonie & Paul who I'd met there a year earlier at a wedding fayre,

 

Leonie & Paul had chosen a lovely pearlescent blue and white colour scheme which they used in their wedding stationery.

 

We used this as the basis for their wedding cake design and decided upon a three-tiered cake, covered in white sugarpaste with blue satin ribbon round the base of each tier.

 

Leonie wanted a cascade of edible butterflies in a big sweep down the front of the cake and we decided an ombre effect going from light to dark blue would look perfect!

 

 

I then added some piped details up the sides of the butterfly cascade to finish the cake off.

 

Leonie contacted me a week after the wedding thanking me for the cake which was three different flavours including Rich Brandy Fruit Cake, Chocolate Truffle & Luscious Lemon, she said it couldn't have been more perfect!

Naked Wedding Cake with Gorgeous Fresh Flowers

Last week I delivered a three-tiered Naked Cake to the beautiful Alderley Edge Hotel for a lovely wedding.

 

The couple had chosen some stunning elements to decorate their venue including burlap table runners, beautifully delicate hydrangeas and big pinky-peach roses!

 

The Naked cake was perfect and the couple chose three different flavours, Carrot, Lemon & Victoria sponge for their guests to enjoy.

 

As the Bride chose to use silk flowers for her bouquet and table decorations, I went to the very talented Victoria at Lancashire Floristry to discuss which flowers to order. Victoria is a font of knowledge when it comes to flowers and really took the time to understand the brief before showing me pictures of flowers that were available.

 

I trust Victoria completely when it comes to flowers and she didn't disappoint, the flowers looked beautiful on the three tiered cake and fit in perfectly with the silk flowers adorning the tables.

 

A beautiful cake for a beautiful wedding!

Good Looking & Great Tasting Celebration Cakes!

For about 18 months now we've been talking to Brides & Grooms about our Simply Antoinette wedding cake range, simple and elegant designs that don't cost the Earth! The range has been a great success and we add to it each season so we though about coming up with some Simply Celebration cake designs for other special occasions where a factory made supermarket cake just isn't quite special enough!!

 

 

Last week a friend of mine needed a birthday cake for her daughter's boyfriend who was celebrating his 17th Birthday. The cake was a 6" cake, three layers of chocolate sponge sandwiched with chocolate buttercream before being covered in sugarpaste.

 

It was then decorated in a simple design using a personalised message on the top, coloured sugarpaste balls round the base and a number 17 plaque on the front, complete with small hand-piped pearls round the edge.

 

Of course, designs can be tailored with regards to colours, messages, flavours and size. We're going to develop the range by adding some alternative designs for different occasions and recipients so watch this space........

 

Prices start at £35.

 

Weddings, Weddings, Weddings!!!

The last few weeks have been super busy with lots of Bank Holiday Brides getting married so we wanted to bring you up to date on some of our recent cake designs!

 

Our first cake shown here was for a lovely couple called Katy & Emrys who were having a woodland themed weddings with lots of pretty colours at Shrigley Hall.

 

Victoria from Lancashire Floristry designed Katy's bridal bouquets which centred around large ivory and soft peach roses with pretty green buds and sage green ribbon so we chose a four tier cake, all different flavours with ivory sugarpaste and sage green satin ribbon round the base.

 

I then made a mixture of ivory and soft peach oversized roses and lots of filler flowers in ivory, peach and soft green. Katy and Emrys then bought these pretty felt Bird Bride & Groom cake toppers from Etsy which looked adorable on top of the cake. They also sourced a fabulous wooden tree trunk cake stand to complete the look and we loved it!!

 

 

 

 

 

Our second cake was for a Bride who wanted her dress to be the inspiration for the cake design. Claire got married at the beautiful Monastery in Manchester and had chosen a stunning ivory gown with lots of ruched pleated fabric all coming together at the waist. 

 

We used this for the basis of the design and finished the cake with a sparkly diamante brooch to create a really elegant look. 
 

 

 

Our third cake was a delicious looking Naked Cake from our Simply Antoinette range, also at The Monastery in Manchester for the beautiful Laura.

 

The cake was four tiers of Luscious Lemon cake sandwiched with Lemon Curd buttercream and decorated with beautiful ivory and delicate pink roses supplied by Red Floral Architecture before being finished with the addition of fresh blueberries and blackberries.

 

This cake certainly had people's mouths watering and it's no wonder, it's one of our most popular designs for 2014!!

 

Our fourth and final cake over the Bank Holiday's was this beautiful design for the wonderfully creative Melanie who got married at the wonderful Bolton School.

 

For this design we took inspiration from the beautiful fresh flowers done by Victoria at Lancashire Floristry, and the gorgeous damask paper Melanie had used on the wedding stationery that she designed and made herself.

 

Two tiers of the cake were left plain whilst the other two had a pretty damask stencil all the way round in royal icing to match the wedding stationery. I then made ivory sugar roses along with very pale green individually wired hydrangeas and filler flowers to create several clusters of flowers dotted around the cake.

 

The cake, the flowers and the venue looked stunning, as did Melanie who had her makeup done by the very talented Debra at Ruby Red Lips Makeup.

 

 

We've had a really busy start to the wedding season and have loved creating these designs, watch this space for many more to come as the summer hits!

Fireman Sam & Naughty Norman Birthday Cake

A couple of weeks ago I had the immense fun of creating a Fireman Sam themed cake for a little boy who was turning 3, I've made all of his birthday cakes and look forward to a new theme each year!!











This year his Mum Vicky told me how obsessed he is with Fireman Sam and that he was having a joint party with his friend Grace who was also turning 3 and who happened to love the Fireman Sam character Naughty Norman!!


















The cake was a rectangular base which was three layers of chocolate sponge sandwiched with chocolate buttercream.














On top of this sat Fireman Sam's fire truck, carved out of chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream before being covered in bright red sugarpaste and decorated with lots of lovely detail!

There were two handmade sugar characters, one of Fireman Sam himself and the other of Naughty Norman, both of which looked great!!
 

The cake was finished off with lots of additional details including a cobbled road, fire hydrant, leafy trees, number 3 and of course two bright red plaques with Harry & Grace's names on.














I love how this cake came together and everyone a the party loved it too. I received some gorgeous photos of the kids blowing out candles and a lovely thank you email from Mum saying how much fun they had!
 
 
 
 

Marie Antoinette Cakes wins another award!

So last weekend was Cake International 2014, Manchester and as last year, as well as going for a good look round and treating ourselves to some fun new gadgets, we entered the competition classes.

We entered the Celebration Cake class and the Wedding Cake class and were pleased to receive a Bronze Medal award for this gorgeous celebration cake with a lace and pearl surround topped with individually wired flowers including roses, hydrangeas, ranunculus, peonies, blossoms and buds!

Our wedding cake got some great feedback but we were told in no uncertain terms by the judges that we needed to show off more with competition cake designs, to really wow them with lots of different techniques and effects. So while we absolutely love our new wedding cake designs and know that it fits the Marie Antoinette Cakes brand perfectly, it perhaps wasn't quite right for a competition entry!

Nonetheless we can't wait to show them both off at our upcoming wedding fayres at The Bowden Rooms on the 27th April and Hilltop Country House on the 11th May!

Boys Rocking Horse Christening Cake & Cupcakes

Wow it's been a busy few weeks so this week I'm catching up on lots of little jobs that have pushed by the wayside as I feel like I haven't left the kitchen!

A couple of weeks ago I made a beautiful Christening cake and cupcakes for a little boy called Thomas whose Mum wanted a two tiered lemon cake with a gorgeous polka dot and rocking horse theme.

Everything on this cake was edible including the ribbon & bows and the rocking horse topper and I think it looked lovely!

I was really pleased that they enjoyed it so much they've commissioned another bespoke celebration cake for the end of this month, praise indeed!

Gorgeous & Girly Christening Cake

I just love this cake design for a joint-Christening last year, for two little girls Isla & Olivia whose parents wanted something gorgeous but stylish and a bit different to some of the boring plain white Christening cakes you see out there.

 

 

 

After looking at lots of images we came up with this design, pale pink, hot pink, pale Tiffany blue and white with name plaques piped with the girls names on the front. We also incorporated pretty 2D layered flowers and pretty birds to add a really sweet but contemporary feel to the cake.

 

I think this cake turned out beautifully and is the perfect accompaniment to a girly Christening!

Our Spring 2014 Wedding Fayres!

So Christmas is done and dusted and we're excited to be planning for our Spring wedding fayres, we're booked in at some gorgeous wedding venues and have chosen several different styles of venues for you to choose from.

 

We'll have our popular Simply Antoinette range on display as well as some gorgeous new Couture Designs on show for the very first time. We'll also have some tasty samples for you to try and will of course be on hand to discuss all things cake and provide plenty of help and advice!

 

Rosylee Tearooms

 

Our first wedding fayre of the season will be on Sunday 16th February 11am - 4pm at the gorgeous Rosylee Tearooms in Manchester's Northern Quarter. The stunning French inspired, modern tearoom has recently been granted a wedding licence and is now available for intimate ceremonies, civil partnerships and beautiful wedding receptions.

 

 

All of the details for this event, including a list of fabulous wedding suppliers who'll be exhibiting, can be found on the following website http://www.eventsbythesocialbutterfly.com/events/white-memoirs-vintage-wedding-fayre-rosylee-tearooms/

 

The Monastery

 

Our second wedding fayre of the season is at The Monastery just outside Manchester city centre on Sunday 23rd February 11am - 4pm.

 

 

The unique and inspiring Grade II listed buildings are licensed for wedding ceremonies and civil ceremonies. They can accommodate wedding parties from 100 to 500 guests in the majestic Great Nave. The elegant Cloisters and tranquil Archangel Garden provide perfect backdrops for beautiful, memorable wedding photographs to cherish forever.

 

All of the details can be found at the following website http://www.weddinglink.co.uk/home/bride_the_wedding_fayre_at_the_monastery_1_3178819

 

The Belle Epoque

 

On the same day, Sunday 23rd February, we'll also be exhibiting at the stunning Belle Epoque in Knutsford from 1pm - 5pm.

 

They offer the two most beautiful, romantic and dramatic rooms for your ceremony. Usually lit by
candle-light, they can accommodate up to 100 guests and the pictures on the website really don't do it justice, you have to see it for yourselves to really appreciate the uniqueness of this fabulous venue.

 

 

Find all of the wedding fayre details at the following website http://www.countybrides.com/belle-epoque-wedding-fayre-2/

The Bowden Rooms

 

Our fourth show is at a Vintage Wedding Fayre at The Bowden Rooms in Altrincham on Sunday 27th April, 12pm - 4pm

 

Set in a picturesque village of Altrincham in Cheshire, The Bowdon Rooms is a charming building that offers an abundance of authentic character and beautiful features. More than 100 years old, the property’s Edwardian decadence will offer you and your guests a superior environment.

 

 

All of the details for this wedding fayre can be found at the following website http://bridesupnorth.com/wedding-showcases/

 

Hilltop Country House

 

Our final show of the Spring 2014 season is at Hilltop Country House on Sunday 12th May 12pm - 4pm.

 

Approached by a long tree lined drive, Hilltop lies in the centre of fifteen acres of private land. With four enchanting reception rooms, wonderful views, formal gardens and woodlands, all surrounded by fields, Hilltop is an oasis of peace and tranquility situated half a mile from Prestbury Village in Cheshire.

 

 

All of the details for this show can be found at the following website http://bridesupnorth.com/wedding-showcases/

 

 

We're so excited for this year's fayres and can't wait to meet lots of lovely newly engaged couples so make sure you pop down to see us and have a chat about your wedding day requirements!

 

 

 

 

Christmas Wedding & Dessert Table!

The weekend before Christmas I delivered my last wedding cake of 2013 to the wonderful Eaves Hall. The lovely Charlotte & Leon were tying the knot in front of their gorgeous two boys as well as lots of excited friends and family members!



 

When I first met them, Charlotte had a picture in her mind of what she wanted along with a clear colour scheme of blush pinks, dusky pinks, ivory and pale antique green. She wanted flowers, ruffles and pears and this cake brings all of those together in what I think turned out to be something really unique and beautiful.

 

As they're a family with a firm sweet tooth, they decided to break from tradition and ditch the traditional savoury canapés after the ceremony and instead offer their guests with a selection of individual mini dessert treats.

 

Included in the selection were;

 

Chocolate-dipped Marshmallows on Sticks

Pink Candyfloss on Sticks

Mini Meringue Kisses

Heart-shaped Rice-krispy Marshmallow Treats

Luscious Lemon Mini Sandwich Cakes

Butterscotch Mini Sandwich Cakes

Chocolate-dipped Strawberries

Lemon Posset Shot Glasses

Chocolate & Honeycomb Mousse Shot Glasses

Strawberry, White Chocolate & Mascarpone Trifle Shot Glasses

 

The guests were very polite and didn't touch a thing until they were given the go ahead from the bride, at which point they were apparently like vultures and cleared the while thing within minutes, luckily we'd arranged for top-ups of each item for the evening reception!!!

 

 

 Charlotte also wanted a bit of a candy table in a different room at Eaves Hall and had asked for a selection of individually decorated cupcakes in her dusky pink and ivory colour scheme to be placed in some gorgeous glass domes supplied by the lovely Rebecca Karen Wedding Design who had done all the wedding stationery and venue dressing for the day and I have to say, the venue looked amazing with such beautiful details in each room!

 

 

This was the first dessert table I'd done for a wedding and Charlotte & Leon couldn't have been more enthusiastic and open to my ideas, as well as the two boys who were both quite vocal about their favourite desserts!!

 

Such a lovely couple and family, I was honoured to be involved in their day and was even more delighted when both Charlotte and Leon came into the room before the wedding started to see the table, Charlotte was overwhelmed and almost started crying before her bridesmaid stepped in and told her not to ruin her make-up!!

 

All in all I was super-duper pleased with how everything turned out and will be adding details and prices of dessert table options to the website early this year.