(cont)

]Katie currently has commissions throughout 2008 and 2009, as couples marrying like to secure their commission early in recognition that dates soon become booked up.

“I love creating cakes which are unique and individual to the couple or the recipient.” She says. “It’s really important for couples to work with a cake producer whose style reflects their own preferences and for a couple to be able to express themselves in their finished cake.”

She creates between two and four cakes each week, so that Katie & her assistant Ivana spend the equivalent to an average of three full days working on each commission. It’s a true labour of love and Katie confesses ‘all the hard work becomes worthwhile when I see the clients delighted reaction to the cake I’ve created for them, it’s just so rewarding’.

Creating our cake; step by step guide...
1 A great cake starts with great ingredients – the flour and eggs produced on the farm are also sold in their farm shop. Katie also melts the finest Belgian chocolate and pours it into the cake batter, all of which combine to produce a mouth-watering cake.
2 Katie’s best ‘trade secret’ is her use of an Aga rather than a fan assisted oven. “The still heat of the Aga retains the moisture of the cake, whereas modern fan-assisted ovens draw the moisture from a cake”.
3 The two constituent sponges are assembled before Katie ices them in a generous layer of Belgian chocolate ganache. Then, the cake is encased in a pliable chocolate icing.
4 Chocolate ruffles made from the same pliable chocolate are crafted, then adorned with luscious red berries, which are grown on the farm.
5 To create the lettering, a PC font was traced with royal icing, then ‘painted’ with edible gold to provide a glittering finished effect.
6 Finishing touches included the addition of a ribbon and bow, piping around on the board of the cake, and a liberal sprinkling of edible glitter before Katie sprayed the whole cake with cocoa butter for an appealing ‘sheen’.

Wedding Cake Ideas

CHOCOLATE: Chocolate cake has overtaken fruit cake as the most popular filling, but also consider carrot, bannoffee or sponge cakes.
INVIDIDUALS: For smaller weddings or to combine your wedding cake with your favours, consider individual cakes, which provide every guest with their own ‘miniature’ cake.