Master the Art of Wedding Cake Design: A Step-by-Step Royal Wedding Cake Tutorial

Embark on an exciting journey to create a breathtaking tiered wedding cake, inspired by the elegance and grandeur of a royal celebration. This comprehensive tutorial will guide you through every intricate detail, from preparing your cake tiers (or dummies) to decorating them with pristine white fondant, delicate white flowers, and shimmering silver pearls. Whether you’re a seasoned baker or an enthusiastic beginner, this guide breaks down complex techniques into manageable steps, allowing you to craft a stunning centerpiece that embodies sophistication and timeless beauty.

The inspiration for this magnificent creation dates back to the highly anticipated wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. I had the privilege of sharing this royal wedding cake tutorial in Snippets magazine, capturing the essence of that grand occasion. While the hours poured into this project were countless, the result was incredibly rewarding. Although it may not rival the extravagance of the actual royal wedding cake, I was immensely proud of how it turned out, transforming a complex vision into a tangible, beautiful work of art.

For this particular project, I opted to use styrofoam cake dummies instead of real cakes. As it wasn’t for an actual wedding event, the practicalities of handling and distributing such a large quantity of cake were simply not feasible! This choice allowed me to focus entirely on the artistic and decorative aspects without the pressure of baking and preserving edible tiers. Despite being non-edible, this cake remains one of my proudest achievements. The countless hours of meticulous work truly paid off, culminating in a design that exceeded my expectations and brought immense satisfaction.

The Creative Journey: From Concept to Cake

Every masterpiece begins with a vision, and this royal wedding cake was no exception. My usual practice involves starting with a single sketch to map out the cake’s design. However, for a project of this scale and detail, I found myself creating no less than three distinct sketches before settling on the final, intricate design. This iterative process allowed me to explore various arrangements, evaluate different decorative elements, and ultimately refine the concept into the stunning tiered cake you see today. This detailed planning stage is crucial for ensuring coherence and achieving a flawless execution.

Essential Materials and Tools for Your Wedding Cake Project

Before diving into the decorating process, ensure you have all the necessary materials and tools at hand. Preparation is key to a smooth and enjoyable crafting experience. Here’s what you’ll need:

• Cake Dummies or Baked Cakes: You’ll need specific sizes to achieve the desired tiered effect. For this design, we used:
  • Round cakes/dummies: 12×3 inch, 10×3 inch, and 8×3 inch
  • Square cakes/dummies: 12×3 inch, 10×3 inch, and 8×3 inch
• Fondant: White marshmallow fondant is ideal for a classic, elegant finish.
• Adhesive for Fondant: Shortening (for dummies) or buttercream frosting (for real cakes).
• Work Surface Prep: Plenty of powdered sugar to prevent sticking.
• Fondant Tools: Pizza cutter for trimming, fondant smoother for a pristine finish.
• Support: Sturdy cake boards for each tier (essential for real cakes), and dowels for internal support during stacking.
• Ribbons and Embellishments: White satin ribbon, silver pearls/beads.
• Adhesives for Decorations: Royal icing (edible), glue gun (for non-edible decorative elements like beads on dummies).
• Unique Separators: Champagne glasses (plastic or crystal).
• Floral Accents: Silk flower bouquet (white roses recommended), or fresh roses for an even more luxurious touch.
• Cutting Tools: Scissors for flowers, sharp exacto knife for fondant details.
• Crown Mold: A crown-shaped chocolate mold.
• Painting Supplies: Gold pearl dust, silver pearl dust, vodka or clear vanilla extract (for mixing edible paint), fine paintbrushes.
• Vase Material: Gum paste (or a mixture of fondant and gum paste) for structural stability.
• Specialty Cutters: Wilton’s fondant cutter with zigzag edges, Wilton’s decorative fondant punch. Various small fondant cutters for flower clusters (circle, square, heart, leaf, oval, basic flower shapes).
• Mold for Vase: A glass vase to use as a shaping mold.
• Miscellaneous: Parchment paper or wax paper.
• Finishing Touch: A steam iron (optional, for a smoother, shinier fondant finish).

Step-by-Step Guide: Crafting Your Royal Wedding Cake Masterpiece

Follow these detailed instructions to bring your stunning tiered wedding cake to life. Each step is designed to guide you toward a professional and beautiful result.

Step 1: Preparing Your Cake Tiers

Begin by either purchasing your styrofoam cake dummies or baking your actual cakes. The sizes specified earlier (12×3, 10×3, 8×3 inches for both round and square) are crucial for the tiered structure. If you’re using real cakes, ensure they are completely cooled and leveled. It’s vital that each edible cake tier sits on its own sturdy cake board, slightly smaller than the cake itself, for stability and ease of handling during the stacking process.

Step 2: Rolling Out Your White Marshmallow Fondant

Prepare your work surface by sprinkling it generously with powdered sugar. This step is critical to prevent the fondant from sticking to your table, which can be a major frustration. Knead your marshmallow fondant until it’s pliable and smooth, then roll it out to an even thickness, large enough to cover your largest cake tier. Aim for about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thickness for good coverage and ease of handling.

Step 3: Covering the Cake Tiers with Fondant

Before applying the fondant, you need an adhesive layer. For cake dummies, a thin layer of shortening works perfectly. If you’re using real cakes, apply a crumb coat of buttercream frosting and let it set. Carefully lift your rolled fondant and drape it over the cake tier. Center it precisely, then gently work your way down, smoothing the fondant against the sides of the cake. Take your time to eliminate any air bubbles or wrinkles.

Step 4: Trimming Excess Fondant

Once the fondant is smoothly applied, use a pizza cutter or a sharp exacto knife to carefully trim the excess fondant around the base of your cake tier. Aim for a clean, precise cut that sits flush with the cake board or the bottom edge of the cake.

Step 5: Achieving a Flawless Finish with a Fondant Smoother

With the fondant trimmed, use a fondant smoother to gently but firmly press all over the surface and sides of your cake. This action removes any lingering air bubbles, sharpens edges, and creates a perfectly smooth, professional-looking finish. Repeat these steps for all your cake tiers. Remember, for real cakes, ensure each is on a sturdy cake board and consider the placement of dowels for support if you plan to stack them directly.

Step 6: Adding Elegant Ribbon Borders

To enhance the classic and classy aesthetic of your wedding cake, add a beautiful white satin ribbon border. Brush a thin line of royal icing (for real cakes) or hot glue (for dummies) around the very bottom edge of each fondant-covered tier. Carefully wrap and secure the satin ribbon along this line, ensuring it’s straight and taut. This simple addition elevates the cake’s appearance significantly.

Step 7: Embellishing with Shimmering Silver Pearls

To further complement the silver and white theme, attach silver beads along the ribbon border. If working with dummies, a glue gun is efficient for this. For edible cakes, royal icing is your adhesive. A useful tip is to use a ruler to maintain consistent spacing between each bead, ensuring a uniform and polished look. Alternatively, you can save time by purchasing fancy white and silver pre-beaded ribbons, omitting this step entirely.

Step 8: Crafting Unique Champagne Glass Cake Separators

Moving beyond conventional cake separators, this design incorporates an innovative and elegant approach using champagne glasses. To personalize them, create small, neat bows from white satin ribbon. With a glue gun (for plastic glasses or dummies), secure each bow in place around the stem or base of the champagne glass. For crystal glasses, you might prefer to tie the ribbon instead of gluing to avoid damage. While plastic glasses are shown for demonstration, crystal glasses would undoubtedly elevate the sophistication of the design.

Step 9: Adding a Central Bead to the Bows

To complete the sophisticated look of your custom separators, glue a single silver bead directly onto the center of each satin bow. This small detail adds an extra touch of sparkle and refinement, tying into the overall silver and white theme.

Step 10: Preparing Fresh or Silk Floral Accents

Select your white roses, either from a silk flower bouquet or, for an even more exquisite and natural touch, fresh roses. Using sharp scissors, carefully cut individual roses from their stems, leaving enough stem to comfortably place them into the champagne glasses.

Step 11: Assembling Your Custom Separators with Flowers

Place one prepared rose into each champagne glass. With the bow and central bead already in place, these now transform into beautiful, custom-made cake separators. It’s often these ‘little details’ that elevate a cake from ordinary to truly extraordinary, showcasing creativity and attention to design.

Step 12: Creating an Edible Royal Crown (Part 1: Molding)

For the regal crown accent, take your crown chocolate mold and dust the crown cavity thoroughly with powdered sugar. This prevents the fondant from sticking and ensures a clean release. Roll out a piece of white fondant to a moderate thickness, then gently press it firmly into the crown cavity, making sure it picks up all the intricate details of the mold.

Step 13: Demolding the Fondant Crown

Carefully flip the mold over onto a clean, dry surface. The embossed fondant crown should fall out easily, retaining all the detailed patterns from the mold. Handle it gently to avoid distorting its shape.

Step 14: Refining the Crown’s Edges

Using a sharp exacto knife, meticulously trim away any excess fondant around the edges of the molded crown. The goal is to achieve a smooth, clean, and perfectly shaped fondant crown, ready for its royal embellishments.

Step 15: Preparing for Painting the Crown

Gently brush off any remaining powdered sugar from the fondant crown. At this stage, it’s a good practice to transfer the crown onto a sheet of parchment paper or wax paper. This prevents it from sticking to your work surface while it dries slightly and awaits the painting process.

Step 16: Hand-Painting and Embellishing the Royal Crown

Now, it’s time to bring the crown to life with edible paint. To make gold paint, mix a very small amount of gold pearl dust with a few drops of vodka or clear vanilla extract to form a thick, paintable paste. Similarly, create silver paint using silver pearl dust. Use fine paintbrushes to carefully paint over the embossed designs on the crown, highlighting its intricate details. For added sparkle, attach silver dragees and small golden pearls around the crown using a tiny dab of royal icing. Allow everything to dry completely.
Tip: Practice your painting technique on a small piece of scrap fondant first to get a feel for the brush and paint consistency. To achieve a deeper, richer gold, you can mix in a touch of copper pearl dust.

Step 17: Designing the Decorative Fondant Vase (Part 1: Cutting Strips)

Creating the decorative vase was one of the most challenging, yet rewarding, parts of this cake. For structural integrity, mix some fondant with gum paste, or use pure gum paste. Roll out the mixture thinly and use a Wilton’s fondant cutter with zigzag edges to cut out strips, approximately 1 inch wide. You will need around 12 strips to construct the vase.

Step 18: Shaping and Drying the Vase Strips

To give the strips their curved vase shape, lightly coat a glass vase with shortening and gently adhere the gum paste strips to its surface. Use two glass vases if necessary to accommodate all 12 strips. Allow these strips to dry completely for about a week. This lengthy drying time is crucial for them to become rigid and maintain their curved form once removed. During this stage, I also used Wilton’s decorative fondant punch to create elegant impressions on the strips, adding to their intricate design.

Step 19: Assembling the Fondant Vase

After a week of drying, carefully remove each hardened strip from the glass vase. They will be fragile, so handle them with extreme gentleness to prevent breakage or distortion. Using royal icing, meticulously paste the dried strips together, forming the vase structure. Apply gentle pressure and allow each joint to set before moving to the next.
Tip: Once these strips are dry, avoid trying to use the decorative fondant punch on them again. I made this mistake, as evident in some of the progress pictures, and the strip cracked and completely broke. Dry gum paste is brittle!

Step 20: Embellishing the Vase with Silver Dragees

To finalize your elegant fondant vase, use royal icing to strategically stick small silver dragees randomly around its surface. These metallic accents will catch the light, adding a touch of sparkle and luxury. Store the finished vase in a dry place until it’s needed for final assembly.

Step 21: Decorating the Tiers with Fondant Flower Clusters

Decorating six tiers can be a lengthy process, so consider dividing the work over several days. I typically dedicate separate days to different tiers. For this design, each tier features unique flower clusters created using specific fondant cutters arranged in a random, artistic manner. Begin with the circular flower clusters: roll out white fondant and cut out numerous small circle shapes.

Step 22: Arranging and Attaching Circle Clusters

Arrange the fondant circles into elegant flower-like clusters directly onto the fondant-covered cake tier. Once you’re satisfied with the arrangement, brush a tiny bit of water onto the back of each circle and gently press it onto the cake. The water acts as a natural adhesive, securing the fondant pieces in place.

Step 23: Adding Dragees to Circle Clusters

To add a delicate shimmer, brush a tiny amount of water onto the center of each fondant circle within the cluster. Then, carefully place a single silver dragee into the center of each, pressing gently to ensure it adheres securely.

Step 24: Crafting Square Flower Clusters

Following the same method as steps 21-23, use a square fondant cutter to create square-shaped flower clusters. Arrange them randomly on the designated tier, attach with water, and finish with silver dragees in the center of each square. The image provides a visual guide for the appearance of these clusters.

Step 25: Designing Heart Flower Clusters

Similarly, use a heart-shaped fondant cutter to form charming heart flower clusters. Apply them to another tier, ensuring a varied and dynamic decorative pattern across the cake. Remember to add the central silver dragees for sparkle.

Step 26: Creating Leaf Flower Clusters

Utilize a leaf-shaped fondant cutter to introduce organic, flowing leaf flower clusters. These add another layer of texture and visual interest to the tiered design, maintaining the cohesive white and silver palette.

Step 27: Forming Oval Flower Clusters

Finally, incorporate oval-shaped fondant cut-outs to create oval flower clusters, further diversifying the decorative motifs on your wedding cake. Continue the pattern of random placement and embellishment with silver dragees.

Step 28: Decorating the Top Tier for Focus

For the very top tier, keep the decoration simpler. Use basic flower cut-outs, arranged sparingly. This intentional design choice ensures that the focal points – the exquisite royal crown and the delicate fondant vase – stand out prominently and capture immediate attention.

Step 29: Final Assembly: Bringing Your Masterpiece Together

The moment of truth! It’s time to assemble all the beautifully decorated components into your grand wedding cake.

1. First, secure the royal crown to the side of the 8-inch round cake (the top-most tier) using royal icing. Hold it in place for a few minutes until it sets firmly.
2. Place the 12-inch square cake at the very bottom, ensuring it’s centered on a sturdy base.
3. Carefully place the 10-inch square cake on top of the 12-inch square cake. Crucially, if using real cakes, insert dowels into the lower tier to provide robust support for the weight of the tier above it. Each cake should also be resting on its own cake board.
4. Next, arrange four of your custom champagne glass separators on top of a silver cake board, ensuring they are evenly spaced to support the next tier.
5. Gently place the 12-inch round cake on top of these champagne glasses.
6. Arrange three more champagne glass separators on top of the 12-inch round cake.
7. Place the 8-inch square cake on top of these three separators.
8. Then, place the 10-inch round cake, followed by another set of champagne glasses, and finally the 8-inch round cake (with the attached crown) on top. Ensure dowels are used appropriately for support between all edible tiers.
9. Finally, carefully position the elegant fondant vase on the very top tier. Fill it with a vibrant bouquet of red and yellow flowers to add a splash of color and complete the regal display.

As a final, optional touch, use a steam iron to gently steam the entire wedding cake. This process helps to smooth out any minor imperfections in the fondant, remove powdered sugar residue, and impart a beautiful, subtle sheen, making your wedding cake look even more polished and professional. And with that, your magnificent royal wedding cake is complete!

Your Royal Wedding Cake: A True Labor of Love and Artistic Expression

Creating this tiered royal wedding cake was an extensive project, a true labor of love that spanned many hours and required meticulous attention to detail. From the initial sketches and the careful covering of each tier with smooth fondant, to the innovative design of the champagne glass separators, the intricate painting of the edible crown, and the delicate construction of the gum paste vase, every step contributed to a stunning final piece. This cake is a testament to the power of vision and patience in cake decorating.

I hope you thoroughly enjoyed this comprehensive wedding cake tutorial and feel inspired to embark on your own grand cake decorating adventure. Remember, every detail, no matter how small, plays a significant role in transforming a simple cake into an extraordinary masterpiece. Happy decorating!