Guy moves to China to teach and meets the love of his life, they marry in China, however his Canadian Family can not attend. On their first anniversary the new bride and groom come to Canada. This cake was made for their Canadian reception. It boasts several symbols that are truly Chinese in origin.

This three tier cake is a vanilla / almond base with raspberry cream filling. The bride ate raspberries for the first time when she arrived in Canada last week and she loves them, so the raspberry cream filling was a perfect choice. The cherry tree climbs to the top of the cake with a number of gum paste branches extending outward and upward. Each branch is adorn with hand crafted cherry blossoms, buds, and leaves. The branches are extended past the gum paste giving it the illusion of wrapping around the cake. The cake top is a hand painted gum paste plate with three important Chinese symbols: the Double Happiness symbol, the mandarin ducks which mate for life, and the lotus flower which represents purity. There is of course one very Canadian aspect to this cake, the heart carved into the tree trunk.

I am so happy with the outcome of this cake, the fondant behaved perfectly and gum paste didn’t dry out to quickly allowing me to add more detail. Also, I am not a painter so I was pretty please with how the painting turned out on the cake and the plate. Perhaps now I will take some painting lessons, since I really enjoyed creating with a brush.

Cheers,
J:~D