royal flush


This weekend, I had a fun challenge: a two-tiered, vanilla and chocolate cake for a casino-themed bar mitzvah. The boy's mother asked for a square cake, vanilla buttercream, and a royal flush in hearts on the top. The rest was up to me, and I thought some poker chips might spruce it up (lest it look like a really plain wedding cake). Getting to make some of the creative choices yourself is one of the most fun parts of cake decorating!

Here's how it looked. Please note that the cake table was up against a mirror. I did not actually make two cakes!

Aren't the playing cards cool? They have such tiny detail, I knew I wouldn't be able to paint it myself, so I scanned the cards, printed out an edible image, laid it over a thin sheet of fondant, and cut out the cards. I gave them a couple of days to dry so the cards would hold their shape.

The poker chips are made of colored fondant, cut in circles, and painted with royal icing. I gave those a couple of days to dry, as well, so I'd be able to stack them without smushing the royal icing.


I planned for each tier to have just two layers, but the last few cakes I've done needed three layers in order to achieve the right height. The top tier is chocolate/vanilla/chocolate, and the bottom tier is the opposite. I used Martha Stewart's one bowl chocolate cake, silver white cake, and vanilla buttercream. All tried and true recipes that I knew would deliver great taste.

The family was at temple when I delivered the cake to the reception site, but I'm hoping they enjoyed eating it as much as I enjoyed making it!

Comments

Sandra Dee said…
MAZEL TOV!!! To both the baker and the bar mitzvah boy :-) So proud of your success......
me too! love it. makes me want to go to vegas. or to temple? no, vegas.