Ruby Red 40th Wedding Pavlova

My parents celebrated their Ruby (40th) wedding anniversary at the end of September.

I was charged with making the cake but, due to various dietary requirements, it had to be gluten-, wheat-, egg-, dairy-, and sugar-free!

The solution was a ruby red fruit pavlova - an assembled version as a celebration cake, and a deconstructed version so that people could have the meringue, cream and fruit in any combination that suited their diet: some people had a bit of everything and some people ate fruit only (my kids mainly just ate cream).

Big congratulations on your Ruby Wedding, mum and dad!

Ruby Wedding red fruit pavlova

Complete with '40' sparklers

yum

What would a family get-together be without a group photo?

my favourite.

Your able photographers (aged 4 and 2)

and some fireworks and sparklers to finish off the day.

Le Tour de France

Helen (who ordered the Lego cakes last Jan), ordered 24 Tour de France cakes for her husband's 40th birthday.

I made 12 vanilla and 12 chocolate cakes and iced them with a mix of vanilla and chocolate buttercream - some coloured grass green.

We agreed that I'd make a mix of Tricolore flags with the number 40 on them, some green, polka dot and yellow jerseys, and some roads.

I wasn't quite sure how to make the bikes, and in the end found photos online of some famous cyclists. Though I initially felt that making paper toppers was a bit of a 'cheat', in the end I think they look really effective, riding on their fondant icing roads. I only wish I had better sunflowers for them to cycle past!

Thanks again for the order, Helen, and a Joyeux anniversaire to Dominic! Hope he liked the cakes.

Andy Schleck, Miguel Indurain, Lance Armstrong, Marco Pantani, Bradley Wiggins and Alberto Contador... Can you spot them all?

Allez!

Claire & Scott's Blue & White Wedding Cakes

Claire ordered 84 vanilla cakes for her and Scott's wedding. I submitted several designs to her, and in the end she chose her and Scott's initials stamped onto fondant hearts.

I made the buttercream as pale as possible to match the wedding's blue and white theme (it looks more yellow in the photos than it did in real life), and decorated the cakes with silver balls, pale and dark blue flowers and the stamped hearts.

I also made 3 teeny-tiny cakes to go on the top layer of the cake stand, the hearts spelling out 'S+C'. I would have preferred using an ampersand: 'S&C', but I didn't have a stamp for that.

Thank you Claire and Scott for the order, and wishing you a long and happy marriage!

Claire and Scott's initials, stamped into dark blue fondant hearts.

The cakes are decorated with ivory buttercream, silver balls (I found some soft ones that won't break your teeth!), and mix of pale and dark blue flowers and the stamped fondant hearts.

Teeny-tiny cakes with S+C to go on the top layer of the cake stand.

Cake set-up at the venue (matching shirt optional!)

7-tier stand in action.

Tiny toppers.