Sometimes you just want to be able to make easy cuts into a cake without the elegant decor getting in the way.

The customer wanted a cake that could serve a lot people, but looked more elegant than a sheet cake. It was for an anniversary celebration for a couple that never had a wedding cake at their original ceremony. We decided on a 12 inch round black forest cake with buttercream icing instead of whipped cream.

I call the side detail “fern scroll-work” like the fiddlehead shoots that come out of budding ferns. I did them up for an all white mini wedding cake, because I accidentally made my scroll-work to big, so I embellished it with my own design. I’m sure it has its own name, but customers seem to understand me just fine when I call them “fern scroll-work”. I was originally going to make a bunch of small roses, but the customer came in the day before to make sure I was going to make big roses, so I made them life size.

I’m really happy with the way it turned out, and I especially like the way this design can be easily customized with different colors and different flowers. It serves a big group, looks elegant, but it’s more cost effective than a tiered cake, and buttercream is much easier to cut through than gumpaste decor.