This was made for my parents’ Ruby Wedding Anniversary.

The main cake was a rich fruit cake made several months in advance and fed regularly with brandy. The week before the party it was covered in marzipan and then white fondant and decorated with fondant accents in white and red. I bought a personalised ribbon with their names and anniversary date on from eBay which I attached around the edge of the cake.

The fabulous stand also came from eBay and I’m hoping to get a lot of use out of it over the years. The ribbon and organza flower display on the second tier down were all made by hand by me on the train to work in the mornings – nothing like wielding a sharp pointy needle to make sure no ‘erbert invades your personal space!

The cupcakes were baked the day before – there were 96 of them, it was a long old day! There were three flavours; vanilla, chocolate and carrot cake. The chocolate and vanilla cakes where topped with buttercream and covered in a fondant disc that had been stencilled with royal icing. The carrot cakes were topped with a cream cheese frosting. This was quite sloppy so I decided against adding the fondant hearts that I had made in a silicone mould over the previous week until I set up the cake at the venue in case they softened too much and looked unsightly. There were plenty of leftovers – they ate well at work that Monday – and the hearts had softened by then so it was a wise choice. Wiser still would have been making a stiffer frosting… next time…