Architecture Themed Farewell Cake

This cake was for a farewell party for a family that I know and I was closest to the mother. She's also a photographer. To get inspiration for this cake, I looked over her photography. And since they've been in Europe, I noticed a lot of pictures of buildings. As I pondered this, and knowing that my friend is more a classy person who doesn't like tons of color on a cake, I decided to limit my palette. And I chose two architectural styles from her photographs to be represented on the cake.

I chose what is called a half-timbered style, which can be seen in this photo:

 I was also inspired by the rococo style of architecture, which you can see here:

(photo credits: Britnae Sanelli Photography)

These styles are very different, but I felt they could be brought together in the two tiers. This was also the cake I made dairy free, gluten free and soy free, so see blog posts on how I did that here:
How I altered my vanilla cake recipe for intolerances: https://americanbakeringermany.blogspot.com/2019/02/how-i-altered-my-vanilla-cake-recipe.html
My recipe for dairy-free Swiss meringue buttercream: https://americanbakeringermany.blogspot.com/2019/03/dairy-free-swiss-meringue-buttercream.html

Visit Britnae Sanelli Photography on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/britnaesanelliphotography/
Or on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/britnaesanelliphotography/

I got this color ratio for dusty rose from another YouTuber, Lorelei Carvey from Wedding Cakes for You. It is one part brown, two parts red, and lightened with a good amount of white.

 This is the color I got when I mixed these colors together. It was just a bit dark for what I wanted. I wanted a delicate dusty rose.

 So, I added more white.

 Until I got the delicate dusty rose I wanted.

 Then I made a whole lot of roses and rose buds out of the dusty rose fondant. I cut a bunch of circles out with the back of one of my Russian piping tips, flattened them with my fingers and wrapped them, odd numbers at a time, around a cone shaped base.

 Then I opened the petals slightly, curling some and leaving some more straight.

 I covered a cake board in glitter paper and gold washi tape. Then I covered it in plastic wrap before putting food on it. Then I made two cake boards, one ten inch and another eight inch, by cutting out a piece of cardboard and covering it with aluminum foil.

 Now, I pretty much always freeze my cakes wrapped in tin foil before decorating them. The layer on the bottom in the freezer got a bit of extra ice on it and caused the foil to stick to the cake. I had to pry it off a bit at a time.

 But it did eventually all come off. Then I filled and crumb coated the cakes with dairy-free Swiss meringue buttercream.

 This took all of one recipe and I made another half recipe to frost the cakes again.

 I wanted ivory fondant, but all I really had was tan, so I mixed it with a full kilo of white fondant.

 It was just exactly the color I wanted.

I covered both tiers in ivory fondant. I added skewers into the bottom tier to help support the top tier. Then I placed the top tier on top of the bottom tier.

 I used my clay extruder making a wide band of black and covered the bottom line of the bottom tier.

 Then I used a band of black to cover the top line of the bottom tier.

 Then I used the same width of band to cut the bottom tier in fourths.

 Then each fourth in thirds.

 Then, using a thinner band of black, I made x's in every second box.

 I think it really reflects the half-timbered style. This style is quite prevalent in this area of Germany.

 For the top rococo-inspired tier, I decided to use some fleur de lis and flourishes from a fondant press form. I intended to paint them gold, so I wanted a similar color to be underneath. So, I mixed yellow with some red to make yellow orange.

 The resulting color was a touch pinkish, but that was okay.

 I pressed out all the flourishes and chose the ones I wanted to use.

 Then I placed them around the base of the top tier, alternating styles.

 I debated putting more on the top tier, but I finally decided that less is more. A bit is elegant. Too much is just garish.

 I made edible gold paint using gold luster dust mixed with clear alcohol. I painted them on using a paintbrush I only use for baking. Finally, I placed the delicate roses on the top and sides of the cake.

 May I just say, that this is probably the most elegant cake I've ever made. It's just the epitome of class.

 And it reminds me exactly of my friend, Britnae Sanelli. Her photgraphs are always classy and elegant, as is she.

 I really hope this reminds them of what they are leaving behind. We love you and will miss you. Take care on the next phase of your life.

Watch us make the entire cake on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/m_2REOuRjfk
Schaut zu, wie wir die ganze Torte auf YouTube machen hier: https://youtu.be/nVnpX8cFNsg