Diamonds & Bows--a special 25th

I was contacted by the winner of a charity auction certificate about making a cake for her parent's 25th wedding anniversary.  Unfortunately, I was going to be out of town the day of the party, but I assured her that if she had enough freezer and refrigerator space, she could have almost any cake she wanted.

I absolutely DO NOT freeze my cakes as part of my regular practice as a baker & decorator, but there have been several times when someone has wanted/needed a cake on a date when I was not going to be in town.  I was taught a method of freezing and defrosting a decorated cake for up to several weeks that will keep it looking perfect and tasting fresh-baked.  I take care to create a design that can fit in the freezer & refrigerator space available to the recipient and I include detailed instructions about how to properly care for the cake so that it arrives at the table looking it's best.

This cake was a 2 tier, stacked marble cake (a 9" tier + a 7" tier to serve 40) with vanilla buttercream icing, quilting with hand made fondant "dragees", a hand modeled fondant "25", and a gum paste fluffy bow on a gum paste plaque.

The photo of the cake was taken AFTER it was frozen for a week and then defrosted for 24 hrs.  The recipient positioned the bow topper & the "25" after the cake had come to room temp., right before her party.

Because I couldn't take my own photo of the completed cake, the recipient graciously sent me the above picture and stated in her e-mail, "Again Thank you so much! It was beautiful and delicious!"