Sweet Heart: Final Flourishes

Christopher Thomas Photography

The final part of our Sweet Heart feature. If you missed the other parts, look for the "Sweet Heart" tag and find the rest.

Final Flourishes
Non-edible details are just as important, creating a spectacular final effect.

A ROSY FUTURE
Miniature handcrafted sugar roses are a favourite for Mimi from Classic Cakes as well as "full blown fresh soft pink and ivory roses, diamantés and embossing."

FLORAL FANCY
Fresh blooms are a beautiful finishing touch for your wedding confection, and Judy from Cakes by Judy C offers couples the best of both worlds. "I love using fresh flowers as I have a certificate in floristry as well and there are some great fresh flower designs out there," she says. "I also love ribbons; they are like the final touches to finish off the base of the cake."

Julie Whitehead also loves using flowers. "Sometimes I have brides that want to replicate their bouquets on the cake so I usually do a textured icing look in conjunction with an assortment of the flowers they are using.”

Cakey Creations

MR & MRS 

Going traditional? For the right cake, a "beautiful bride and groom ornament" is still in favour says Mimi from Classic Cakes.

TOP NOTCH TOPPERS
You don't have to stay serious when it comes to choosing a cake topper.We love the quirky, personal choices many of our Queensland brides have been making with everything from handmade birds and lego figurines to cute caricatures taking pride of place.Want to go glam? Choose a sophisticated black or crystal monogram.

"There are some great monogram cake toppers these days," says Judy from Cakes by Judy C who adds "quality is important when doing toppers ... and there is great variance in price." Judy suggests shopping online to find the perfect piece if you're not having your topper custom made. 

Porfyri Photography

RIBBONS
"Ribbon is very popular to incorporate the colour theme onto the cake," says Leanne from Cakey Creations. "Bling in the form of ribbon, brooches or toppers is also very popular, and the ceramic bride and groom."

BEAUTIFUL BUNTING
Renee from Brown Betty's Bakery loves "handmade bunting, or fresh flowers," as a pretty final flourish and Sherie from The Flour Girl agrees."I love bunting on a cake and sweet colourful paper pinwheels," Sheree says. "The great thing about this is that brides can inject some personal elements into their own cake by making their own bunting or pinwheels out of beautiful fabrics and papers." 

The Flour Girl

CRYSTAL PALACE
A glittering detail is a glamorous addition to any wedding cake. "My non-edible favourite cake detail would hands down be any Swarovski crystal accent," says Vas from Frosted Indulgence. "This can be in the form of monogram toppers, individual crystals on the cake tiers or handmade brooch-like adornments which I especially use as the centres on my icing ribbon bows."

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Sweet Heart: Decadent Details

Brown Betty's Bakery

The ‘edible’ finishing touch to your cake needs to look divine and taste delicious too. Here’s what’s hot. 

BUTTER ME UP
"French vanilla buttercream is divine for a lovely rustic style cake" says Sherie from The Flour Girl.

CHOCOLATE KISSES
"My most popular edible finish is chocolate of course," says Julie Whitehead. "I am a chocolatier so only work in chocolate. It’s the reason I fell in love with the medium to begin with ... I love chocolate and it is not only visually exciting but tastes superb. There is nothing better!" 

KCL Photography

WHITE HOT
Thinking traditional marzipan was the finish for you? Judy from Cakes by Judy C explains why this smooth white finish is more likely to be fondant or pettience. "Marzipan is rarely used these days," she says. "In the past there was a layer of marzipan on the fruit cakes followed by the smooth white icing which is often mistaken for marzipan. The smooth white icing on wedding cakes is not marzipan and is often referred to as pettience, fondant or RTR which stands for 'ready to roll'. I love using pettience as well as whipped white chocolate ganache – both of these icings are great for a beautiful cake."

FOND OF FONDANT
Many of our experts, including Mimi from Classic Cakes, name fondant as their favourite, for its flawless finish and 'blank canvas' appeal. "My favourite and most popular cake finish is fondant icing," agrees Vas from Frosted Indulgence, noting "this gives such a clean and crisp look and provides a great base for adding the design details." These can include everything from edible pearls to stencils. Leanne from Cakey Creations says "our most popular finish on the wedding cakes is fondant, with fondant pearls, lace and flowers being very popular. Royal icing piping and stencilling is one of my favourite." 

Christopher Thomas Photography

SUGAR FIX
"We like incorporating royal icing lace stencils into cake designs, teamed with sugar flowers for our traditional brides," says Renee from Brown Betty's Bakery. "Torched meringue is a favourite finish of ours, it’s beautiful and delicious!" Leanne from Cakey Creations has also noticed "custom sugar figurines/toppers are becoming quite popular."

GET NAKED
"I'm noticing a big trend towards naked cakes lately," says Sherie from The Flour Girl. She explains this means "no icing on the outside at all, the cake is filled with scrumptious buttercream but you can still see the actual cake, loaded with berries on the edges of each tier and dusted in snow powder. It's a visually stunning centrepiece for a wedding reception!" 

Studio Impressions Photography

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Sweet Heart: Favourite Flavours

Christopher Thomas Photography

QB has a definite sweet tooth today, and we've decided to pull on of our favourite features from QB Spring 2013 to tide us over until lunch time! This feature comes in three parts, so look out for it in the coming weeks.

Favourite Flavours
We asked our experts about their favourite flavours of the moment – and what you are asking for .

FRUIT & NUT
Traditional fruit cake is an elegant, classic choice says Mimi from Classic Cakes, who names her other favourite as the delicious sounding "vanilla butter macadamia nut cake." 

Studio Impressions Photography

MUD, GLORIOUS MUD
Mud cake is a wedding day winner for Leanne from Cakey Creations. "My favourite wedding cake flavours are: caramel mud and cherry ripe mud," she says. "Most popular with brides and grooms: caramel mud, white mud, chocolate mud ... and becoming popular with the coming wedding season is cherry ripe mud and toblerone mud."

Renee from Brown Betty's Bakery also has a soft spot for magnificent mud – as well as eye-catching red velvet. "Our favourite cake flavour would be white chocolate and passionfruit mud or hazelnut chocolate mud," she says. "The most popular among our brides and grooms would be cherry ripe ... a close second is red velvet." 

Porfyri Photography

HAVE IT BOTH WAYS
Why settle for just one flavour when you and your groom can each choose a favourite. "My favourite is to have two flavours/layers of cake together such as half chocolate mud and half orange grand marnier" says Judy from Cakes by Judy C. "Brides and grooms currently like some of the marbled cakes such as white chocolate, caramel and chocolate mud cakes marbled together."

FRESH & FRUITY
A scrummy gluten-free option and a summery treat win in the flavour stakes for Sherie of The Flour Girl. "My favourites are apple and pistachio – which happens to be gluten free, although it's so delicious I've had brides have it for their entire cake! – and also pineapple and coconut; it's such a lovely, sweet, fruity cake. Nice for a summer wedding."

Shy Fox Photography

DELICIOUS, DECADENT 

"My absolute personal favourites are a white chocolate mud infused with a hint of rose and fresh raspberries, and gluten-free orange and almond," says Vas from Frosted Indulgence. "My most popular flavour at the moment is a light caramel mud with pure honey and freshly chopped pistachio nuts, and my choc hazelnut mud."

CHOCOHOLIC
Although she also loves "hazelnuts with coffee, and a great lemon and almond cake," Julie Whitehead admits brides find it hard to resist her heavenly chocolate obsession. "I must admit that the most popular flavour I do 99.9% of the time is my chocolate almond truffle cake. Once my brides taste it they love it. It is made with almond meal and beautiful Swiss chocolate. It is fabulous accompanied with fresh berries or a raspberry coulis for dessert, or cut up into finger slices with tea or coffee."

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Check out Queensland Brides at www.queenslandbrides.com.au, Facebook and Twitter. Get the latest issue here.