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Sunday, September 12th, 2010 I’m always sifting through the myriad of trends, styles, patterns and colorways to create new looks and reinvent cake and dessert bar design for my clients. My latest obsession has me circling around how to display my confections (and decorate the tables they’re on), so I wanted to show you a collection of my favorite new items: Cloches.
These etched cake cloches are available in a couple of different sizes, and present a uniquely customizeable option: Adjustable height. Displayed with cakes inside, a stack of fresh fruit, or even a flower arrangement they would lend a great look to a vintage, victorian, or French-style table.
Two different widths of this style are available at Comfort House, so think about purchasing five or six and adjusting the heights to create a cohesive look.
If you want to change up the look of your antique-inspired table, add a little something from your local antique lighting store:
This oversize bell jar is one of many designs available from antique lighting shops on the web. We found this one at the Victorian Trading Company, and love it! Traditionally these are mounted on a wrought-iron fixture with the opening at the top, and slid over a soft light bulb.
Some are so large that a two-tier cake will fit underneath comfortably. Instead of having flower centerpieces on your tables, consider doing centerpiece cakes for each table, and protecting them under a gorgeous piece like this. At the end of the evening each table can remove the jar and cut their own cake.
When the night is through you can re-use this bell jar cloche in your garden to cover small plants during cold weather, or seedlings that need protection from birds and deer to grow. If like me you love to garden but frequently have to travel, these are great for keeping your plant soil damp for the three or four days you’re out of town.
The next cloches are more modern, but lend a little tradition to an otherwise contemporary table:
These petite stands from Z Gallerie hold a 6″ round cake, but I think they’d look amazing holding an elaborately decorated version of something on the table. For example, say you are offering cupcakes. We would make one large cupcake with sugar flowers and maybe a sugar butterfly, and place it up on one of these pedastals to decorate the area and “advertise” the sweets on the table.
If you’re having lavender French macarons, we might create a small pyramid of pale purple macarons, wrap it with a few threads of spun sugar, then add tiny white sugar orange blossoms to the stack. Voila! A mini macaron croquembouche.
Have fun shopping for your own cloches, but take a few words of wisdom along for the ride:
- If you plan to have guests lifting the lids themselves, make sure you leave a space near the base of the stand to allow a guest to set it down safely (or simply remove all the lids before service).
- Try to buy stands with a heavy base. Cloches placed on a spindly, tall stand are top heavy, and can tipple over easily with the added weight of a cake.
- If you are using a stand and cloche, make sure to communicate the dimensions to your pastry chef to ensure a clean fit. We love it when a client gives us their stands and covers so we can be sure a cake fits and is set up properly at the site.
- Never place any cake or confection in direct sun. If a cloche is over something edible and the sun hits it, you’ll have a humid, warm environment inside the cloche and your cake will become sticky (or worse, simply melt and fall).
Saturday, July 3rd, 2010 Traditional cake stands are everywhere, in every color, at every price. They’re popular and easy to come by, but today’s post is about the unique cake “platform:” Something unique, modern, and unexpected to put your cake on.
First let’s take a look at bowls as cake stands:
I found this trumpet-shaped bowl at a local florist. I was still in the process of developing this bird cake when I found the bowl, so I used its berries as part of the design. It was important that the stand naturally flow into the cake structure, not only to support it, but visually set it off. The cake is sitting on a perfectly-sized piece of round plexiglass (aka “plexi”), covered with fondant. Voila!
We found this piece of antique Italian Majolica at an auction. Imagine it supporting a Tuscan or lemon-themed cake surrounded with floral fruit sculptures and plates of marzipan, chocolate and fruit-filled confections…whew. Is anyone else getting hungry?
Next I want to talk about the power of four. Any item can become “feet” of a platform, providing that there are four items of equal height (five if you want some support in the center). Imagine four of these Fu Dogs topped with a piece of plexiglass guarding a beautiful red and gold wedding cake:
These are/were offered at CB2.com, but to find your perfect set, Google “Fu Dog” or “Foo Dog” to see all that the web has to offer in terms of color and height fit for your cake.
Another adorable option are these fantastic garden lanterns from the always amazing Floral Art on Abbot-Kinney in Venice, CA. Get four of the same height, top them with a plexi, and you’re in business:
One word of caution: Please don’t be the gal/guy that thinks putting real candles inside these is a good idea for the cake platform. : | Use the battery-powered votives, or better yet, how about some water and flowers? Sand and seashells? The sky’s the limit.
If you’d rather have your cake directly on the table, consider laying down one of these cool wrought-iron wall hangings then center your cake on top. Each is perfectly flat and extra-large at just about three feet, and makes a striking table decoration to set off your cake. Don’t like wrought-iron? Easy fix: Spray paint them a bright color in your wedding palette for a more modern, fresh look:
Gorgeous, right? All of these were found online at the Wrought Iron Decor Store run by Tori Shearer out of the great state of Texas. What you see here is just a sampling of the shapes and styles they have — browse their site for more options or hop on Google to find one just right for your cake table.
Ultimately your creative eye is what helps you discover, choose, and create the perfect cake platform, wedding day, and reception for you and yours. Be flexible about your design ideas and nothing can stop the success of your fun, beautiful event!
Check out the following shopping tips before locking in to your favorite cake stand or platform. Happy celebrating!
Shopping Tips:
- Try to keep your platform to 1/3 of the total cake height or less. You want it to be cool, but not overwhelm the cake.
- Before you shop, look around your house for potential platforms: Think creatively: Stacks of red books, votive holders, and CDs topped with a level piece of flat plexiglass turn something plain into something amazing.
- Make sure your platform is stable. Use Earthquake Putty to secure any seperate pieces together, and to secure the cake to the platform.
- If you have a cake stand you already want to use, work with your pastry chef to ensure the cake fits the stand. If a stand is too narrow or possibly too weak to hold up your 100 lb.+ cake, it’s best to find a new one or scrap it altogether.
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Superfine Bakery is an appointment-only couture bakery specializing in custom cakes for clients in the Los Angeles area.
We are inspired by all facets of the baking tradition, but at Superfine we focus on the art of the edible celebration centerpiece. Our aim is to reinterpret and reframe traditional forms to bring modern, luxurious cakes to your event and make your cake as spectacular as the occasion itself.
We'd love to be a part of your next event. See Menu, then Contact Us.
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