The cake stand - concept
It might be hard to believe, when you read what follows, but the cake wasn't really a focus for me at all, to start with. Once George and I started talking about making an interesting cake stand, though, we realised that the cake itself couldn't be too plain, or it would let the side down.
As with all creative endeavours, it's always a good idea to sit down and do a bit of research for inspiration, and one of the first pieces I came across was this amazing cake stand:
As with all creative endeavours, it's always a good idea to sit down and do a bit of research for inspiration, and one of the first pieces I came across was this amazing cake stand:
At the time, we were thinking about making our centrepieces out of copper piping, so this was right on the money - but as our concept for the centrepieces evolved, and we decided to focus our energy on some of the other aspects of the wedding, we decided to try for something a little more uniquely 'us'. George told me that he had an idea, so I decided to leave him to it, and make our cake toppers instead.
Cake stand - physical
George spent two whole days at the Pick-a-part, pulling what appeared to be an entire engine out of a derelict van. Here are some pictures and a basic outline of what was done.
First, George had to extract the crankshaft from the engine bay.
Once it was out, he then had to disassemble it, and clean it. This is what it looked like on extraction, after an initial clean:
Once it was out, he then had to disassemble it, and clean it. This is what it looked like on extraction, after an initial clean:
George designed the platter supports based on train wheels, and had them CNC routed at Wellington Makerspace. The design allowed for little magnets to be inserted, which would help hold the cake platters on, whilst allowing them to be removed when required. He designed and 3D printed the spacers himself, to ensure a better fit onto the piston 'arms'.
A trial assembly proved that the platters will all clear each other, and that there is no height restriction on the cakes any more.
The platters came from IKEA in the USA. George spraypainted them, then we both dry-brushed them to give a more metallic effect.
Cake toppers
| The cake toppers started out as artists' dolls, painted to look metallic, and vaguely inspired by the 'Bioshock' game series. We realised that we would need to make clothes, though, or have them made, and we didn't want them to end up looking a bit silly. |
One day, I just decided to make the toppers out of polymer clay, and it all kind of went from there. Not only did I end up with some entertainingly different cake toppers, I was also able to develop them into characters to populate our website (you might recognise them from the website artwork).
The cakes
As anyone who has Googled 'Steampunk Wedding Cake' will know, there are SO MANY choices of cake design elements out there that it is simply overwhelming to decide.
All that we knew was that we wanted single-layer cakes, and that we wanted one Italian-style 'cookie cake', to recognise George's Italian-American heritage.
My first designs were hampered by a technical difficulty - because of the spacing between the levels, the maximum height for each cake was 10cm - but George resolved it by changing the attachment point to the platter supports, so I was able to go ahead with my ideal design.
All that we knew was that we wanted single-layer cakes, and that we wanted one Italian-style 'cookie cake', to recognise George's Italian-American heritage.
My first designs were hampered by a technical difficulty - because of the spacing between the levels, the maximum height for each cake was 10cm - but George resolved it by changing the attachment point to the platter supports, so I was able to go ahead with my ideal design.
We bought a 3D printer, and we had hoped to use it to make gear-shaped cookie cutters and the mould for a special cake lace, but sadly, weather and inexperience with the design requirements of a 3D printer were against us, and we were only able to deliver the cookie cutters. I think we will still try to make the cake lace - as you can see from the sketches below, if it worked out, it would be amazing - and it would give me the opportunity to learn several new skills - casting in silicone, and making cake lace!
George's most time-consuming project actually ended up being the cookie cutters and cake lace, so it was great that the cutters came out so well.
The next challenge was to find someone who could make our cakes for us, and who could geek out with us about Steampunk. I had browsed listlessly through several run-of-the-mill and probably highly skilled bakers' websites without seeing anything that really rang my bell, when I saw a post on my feed for an awesome Ramen Cake by Sweet Release Cakes and Treats, and I thought - this could be it!
I contacted Kris and we hit it off so well that she came along to my hen's night. We went along for a cake tasting, and narrowed it down to the flavours George and I like (with MOAR lemon, plz).
I contacted Kris and we hit it off so well that she came along to my hen's night. We went along for a cake tasting, and narrowed it down to the flavours George and I like (with MOAR lemon, plz).
With the deadline looming, we also had to make some tough decisions about whether we would get our cake lace done in time, and decided to focus our energy on the cookie cutters and other projects. I cranked out some designs for printing on the cakes, and as you can see from Paul's beautiful photos of the finished products, they came out pretty well!
Unfortunately, it looked like we fed our guests too well - we had a good deal left over to take home, which was both good and bad - good, because I actually got to try some, once my nerves had settled enough to allow me to eat, and bad in that we simply couldn't eat that volume of cakes ourselves. Luckily, friends came to our rescue!