Vintage wedding cake design has been taken to a whole new level with the emergence of the jewelled wedding cake trend. The stunning example above by one of Canada’s most admired cake designers, The Caketress, features an ornate pattern of edible sugar gems in the style of the Art Deco period, perfect for an ultra glamorous vintage wedding.
Edible sugar gems are available to buy in most sugarcraft stores. However, it can be much more cost effective to make your own if you’re using a lot for a design such as the one above.
Edible gems can be coloured and even flavoured according to your preference. Isomalt, a sugar substitute derived from sucrose, is used to make the crystalline sugar jewels. Some sugarcraft stores now stock ready-tempered isomalt that you simply melt in the microwave before using and is a great time-saver – ask at your local sugarcraft store.
To make your own sugar gems for a jewelled cake, you’ll find two tutorials to help you:
– how to make edible gems (from The Artisan Cake Company)
– how to make hard candy jewels (from The Chica & Jo Blog)
Below we have two more examples of incredible jewelled wedding cakes. On the left, Paola Cake Atelier had created a superb cake which combines a the contemporary chevron design on the bottom tier with a vintage cluster of sugar gems on the top tier. To the right is another exquisite design by The Caketress with a jewelled band and vintage silver beading.
Aside from isomalt, you can also use silver dragees, edible sugar pearls, metallic lustre sprays and silver piping scintilloes to create the effect of edible cake jewellery for a high-end wedding cake design.
We have two lavish examples incorporating silver dragees and sugar gems below by Connie Cupcake Luxury Cakes (via Style Me Pretty, left) and via Cakes Decor (right).
Two more beautiful vintage wedding cakes featuring edible gems, silver dragees and sparkling sprinkles from Maggie Austin Cake Design (below left) and California’s Sweet and Saucy Shop (below right).
You will find a tutorial here on how to make edible cake jewellery using dragees and sugar pearls, as well as a tutorial on how to apply gold or silver leaf to a cake.
Dragees and piping scintilloes also come in gold of course and can be use to create an opulent gold jewelled effect similar to the gold lace wedding cake, below left (Source: Pinterest). The 1920’s Great Gatsby-themed cake (below right) was created by Hey There, Cupcake with gold leaf on rice paper accents to exquisite effect.
White diamonds and pearls blended with gold dragees create an opulent jewelled wedding cake design below via Inspired by This (image by Marissa Holmes Photography).
Another beautiful antique gold jewelled wedding cake below by The Sugar Penguin Cakery featuring a band of gold sugar brooches at the base of the cake creating an opulent cake design.
If, however, you are short on time to create a completely edible jewelled wedding cake design, accessorizing a wedding cake with vintage appliques and trims can also create a very glamorous effect, as the cakes below demonstrate beautifully, by The Butter End Bakery (below left) and Le Cupcake/Kylie Lambert (below right).
Below, are two more jewelled designs – with a vintage silver fabric applique on the left (via Indulgy.com) and with an edible gold lace applique right (cake by Cupcakes Couture of Manhattan Beach via Inspired By This).
Patricia Hardjopranoto of Yummy Cupcakes & Cakes, one of Australia’s leading cake designers, has also created two beautiful jewelled wedding cakes designs for her collection below.
