The finished allotment gardening cake

I jumped at the opportunity to make a cake for my friends’ wedding -a researcher in sustainability and environmental issues and a landscape architect. Imagine the possibilities! And the amounts of green icing!

After talking them round to it – a mix of twisting fingers and emotional blackmail – I got the all clear under the condition that I would make cupcakes for the kids, who might not be too keen on the whole wedding cake idea. You can find the cupcakes – and the recipe – here.

The first step was to come up with a rough layout. Once I had decided on a size and a plan, I drew the outlines on a sheet of parchment paper, onto which I put the finished bits and bobs to see how they would fit into the final design.

One Week to go: making the decorations

Having purchased large quantities of coloured icing (I know I could have made it myself, but you have to cut a corner occasionally) and with the help of a box of decorating tools from my neighbour, I began making a range of plants for the raised beds the weekend prior to the event.With my experience with play-doh I found this much easier than expected:

Lettuces in 3 easy steps – the only difference between them and the cauliflowers are the white centres for the latter

Pointed cabbages to make sauerkraut 😉 Keep some icing sugar ready for dusting, in case the icing starts to stick!

Carrots needed a bit of orange food colouring; make the leaves first and let them dry a bit before sticking them into the carrots

Marbling the pebbles was much easier than expected!

The finished product

I rolled out the icing between two sheets of parchment and let it harden a bit before pulling it off. For the flowers I used cutters, the bunting I cut with a small kitchen knife.

The bushes were ruffled up with a pair of scissors

I used a garlic press to make the grass. And yes, I did get a bit carried away at this point…
You can keep the icing in a lidded box (not airtight!) in a dark cupboard for up to a month.

Two days to do: baking the two cakes

Two days before the wedding, I made the Sacher gateau. I used two 23cm/9” springforms (or rather one after another, but I had to make two lots of dough and it has to go straight into the oven each time).

One day to go: putting it all together

The evening before the wedding I cut off the top of the first cake, to create a straight surface, and cut bot cakes once vertically. I used the cut off bump as ‘soil’ for the raised beds in the design and froze the top half of the second cake in case I fancy half a Sacher Gateau sometime in the future.

I stuck the three layers on top of each other with layers of heated apricot jam; then I covered the entire cake with the runny jam, using a sieve to remove any bits and to create an even surface for the first layer of green icing.

I spent about two hours decorating the cake. I used the leftover cake top to cut out the ‘soil’ for the raised beds.

To smoothen the borders between the pond and the grass I used granulated demerara sugar, which I dusted over the lightly moistened icing.

On the sides I used bunting to display the names and a ‘just wedding’ note as a token gesture towards the occasion.