My Daughter's Wedding Cake
Tree trunk; tree bark; sunflowers. Rustic. Country. Barn wedding. I wrote to CC to see what's wrong: I cannot enter a single word to thank you for your awesome comments or explain what I did!! First of all, I used chocolate ganache on the sides and white ganach on the tops. Go to the Winbeckler site, CakeSuppliesPlus.com and order the "Tree Bark Texture Mat Silicone" for $22. I don't know how you could get this texture otherwise. Site says it works for buttercream (I tried and agree but wanted ganache) and fondant (would agree but didn't try). Procedure: Dust the mold heavily with "poof" (1/2 cornstarch; 1/2 confex sugar) because you DO want the white to stay on the ganache for the effect. Then thin black, brown (s), mossy green(s), and white/beige with extract, vodka, or, my favorite, peppermint schnapps (!). Notice that each layer is an experiment, but what generally worked best was black with a small, thin brush in the deepest recesses, vey thin white with a wide, course brush lightly over the highest points (up and down was better than sideways), and brown(s) and green(s) randomly applied. Cake topper by BlacksmithCreations on Etsy. Board covered with burlap. "Carving" by dipping a very small ball tool in hot water then wiping dry; melted the ganache perfectly. Sunflower inspiration by Edna - I love her - De La Cruz. I am very glad to give further insight and/or answer questions as soon as CC allows me to do so!!
Amazing!
Sincere apologies to you who left a message a few weeks ago. I started to answer, forgot to finish, and can't find it now!! But the secret to this cake is the Winbeckler mold. I've heard others say that they used crumpled foil which sounds find, but all I can say is that, for me, the mold is what made this successful, IMO. The 2nd secret to success is using chocolate ganache on the outside. Not only is it the bark color you need but also is great to paint, indent, rough up, etc. The 3rd secret to success is to very heavily "poof" the mold before depressing it into the ganache. Poof, 1/2 confectioners sugar and 1/2 flour, is probably used by most if not all of us to keep any sort of mold from sticking to any sort of frosting. But by really over-poofing this bark mold, white is forced into the deepest parts which creates a bark look that couldn't be achieved by paints (not be me that is). The last part of what I did was to use all sorts of bark-colored colorings, thinned, and randomly did what you see above. Notice that there is little consistency, rhyme, or reason. I figured it's tree bark, not a Faberge egg!! Please message me again for more details; so sorry that I can't find your original message :( This truly is an easy cake. If you plan layers, just get your layers even because, for once, the sides don't matter much. Whew!!