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| These groom's cakes, Miss Sensuous and Mr. Dapper, are sure to be a conversation starter at any wedding. |
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| To create Mr. Dapper's vest, place a lace mat over a piece of red fondant. Use a rolling pin to emboss the pattern onto the fondant, and paint black luster over the top of the mat to create the two-tone lace. |
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| Cut the piece of lace fondant in half. Place it on the cake, aligning the straight edge along the middle and against the edge of the 7-in. ribbed heart that creates the shirt. |
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| After covering the sides of the cake with black fondant to create the jacket, place the gold triangles on top of the jacket. Align the long, straight side of the triangle with the edge of the jacket to create lapels. |
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| Place seven pearlized buttons down the center of the shirt. After cutting a corner off each of the 3-in. white triangles, place the cut corners against the lapels for the shirt collar. Center the fondant sausage at the top of the shirt. |
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| Finish Mr. Dapper by placing the bow tie over the sausage of fondant, and placing the gold buttons on the jacket. Evenly space the black buttons down the center of the vest, and place the pocket on the jacket. |
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| To create Miss Sensuous, place two cupcakes about one-third of the way down a quarter sheet cake. The cupcakes should be spaced apart slightly. |
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| Cover the top third of the cake with flesh colored fondant. Cut a strip of red fondant, and use a heart shaped cutter to cut a "V" out of one end. Place the strip of red fondant down the center of the cake. |
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| Create lace using the same method used for Mr. Dapper's vest. Cut the piece of fondant in half, and cut armholes at the top of each piece. Lay half of the lace on either side of the strip of red fondant. |
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| Use 1/4-in. by 13 in. strips of black fondant to create "X"s that connect the two lace panels. |
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| Use two more strips of black fondant to outline the red fondant panel and create dress straps. Finish the dress with gold fondant lace and a bow. |
The groom's cake is an old English tradition where small pieces of cake, generally dark, rich, liquor-saturated fruit cake, were boxed and given to the unmarried female guests to take home and place under their pillow. The myth promised that while sleeping with the cake under her pillow, she would dream of the man she would marry.
This tradition took hold in the southern United States, and has slowly migrated to the rest of the country. In the U.S., the groom's cake is usually a chocolate cake decorated to represent the groom's hobbies, career or with a fun, contemporary design, and is often the dessert after the rehearsal dinner or is displayed with the wedding cake. Here are two fun designs that my customers love. I have affectionately named them Mr. Dapper and Miss Sensuous.
Both cakes are layered quarter sheet cakes, and are prepped the same way. Cover the cake with 1 /2-in. of buttercream icing. Roll white fondant to 1/8-in. thickness, and enrobe the cake, trimming the excess off the sides.
Mr. Dapper
For Mr. Dapper, roll another piece of white fondant 1/8-in. thickness. Lightly dust both sides with luster dust. Using a ribbed rolling pin, roll with light, even pressure down a section of the fondant. Cut out a 7-in. heart, and center it at the top edge of the cake, adhering it with a little water. Cut 1 /4-in. strips about 7 ins. in length from the unribbed section of fondant. Also, cut two 3-in. unribbed triangles. Place one of the strips of fondant down the center of the heart on the cake. This creates Mr. Dapper's shirt.
Cut the remaining strips into seven 1 /4-in. squares, and roll the squares into round buttons. Brush them with pearl luster dust. Roll a "sausage" of fondant that is about 3 ins. long and 1 in. wide. This will act as the support for the bow tie. Set the sausage, buttons and two triangles aside to dry.
Make Mr. Dapper's vest by rolling out a sheet of red fondant to 1 /8-in. thickness and about 9 ins. by 13 ins. in size. Lightly grease the top of the fondant with shortening. Place a vinyl lace mat, embossed side down, over the greased fondant, and use a rolling pin to firmly push the design into the fondant. Using a sponge paintbrush, paint over the lace mat with black luster dust. Gently peel the mat away from the fondant, leaving a black lacy design on the red fondant.
Cut the piece of red lace in half lengthwise using a pizza wheel. Gently lift one half of the fondant, and place it across one side of the cake, with the straight edge in the center of the cake and along the edge of the ribbed shirt. Repeat with the other half of the lace on the other side of the cake, slightly overlapping the straight edges of the lace in the center. This is the vest.
Trim the edges of the lace fondant along the sides of the cake using a ruler and a knife. Align the ruler with the edge of the cake, and trim the lace, leaving a strip of white fondant along the sides of the cake. From the excess red lace fondant, cut two 7-in. by 2-in. strips for the bow tie, a square about 3 /4-in. in size, and a 3-in. triangle. Cover these pieces with plastic to prevent them from drying out.
The jacket
Roll black or chocolate fondant to 1 /8-in. thick, and cut it in half using a pizza wheel. Lift one half, and gently place it along the red lace fondant to create the jacket. Gently mould the black fondant to the sides of the cake using a soft, dry sponge. Repeat this on the other side of the cake with the remaining half of the fondant. Trim the excess.
Roll another strip of black fondant, and cut two 9-in. elongated right triangles. Paint the triangles with gold luster dust for the jacket's lapels. Place the gold triangles over the top of the jacket, aligning the long, straight edge of the triangles with the side of the vest. Trim the excess at the top of the jacket.
Take the two 3-in. white fondant triangles that you set aside earlier, and cut one of the points from each triangle. To create the shirt collar, place the triangle along the top of the cake, aligning the cut edges with the lapels and slightly covering the lace vest and ribbed shirt. Center the fondant sausage on the top edge of the cake. Place the seven white pearly buttons you made earlier down the center of the shirt.
Fold the excess black fondant from the jacket in half, so that it is slightly thicker than the jacket. Cut out two 1-in. buttons and four 3 /4-in. buttons. Make four thread holes in each button with the tip of a sharp pair of scissors. Paint the two large buttons with gold luster dust, leaving the four small buttons black.
Next, place the two gold buttons on the bottom right side of the jacket. Make slits on the left side of the jacket, opposite the buttons, to indicate buttonholes. Then, evenly space the four black buttons down the center of the red vest.
The bow tie
Take the cut red lace strips that you had set aside, and make loops, joining the ends by pinching them together and adhering with water. Hang the loops over a rolling pin until set. (A dehydrator will dry them in 15 minutes.) When dry, join the pinched ends of the loops together, forming a bow, and cover the joint with the 3 /4-in. piece of red lace to create the knot. Position the bow tie over the sausage at the top of the cake so that it stands out.
Cut a small rectangle of black fondant and paint it with gold luster dust to create the jacket pocket. Gather the wide section of the remaining red lace triangle, and place it under the gold rectangle, creating a handkerchief. Place the pocket and handkerchief on the jacket, abutting the lapel. Complete Mr. Dapper by placing a small calla lily on the lapel on the opposite side of the pocket.
Miss Sensuous
To create Miss Sensuous, use the other prepped quarter sheet cake. Place two cup cakes upside down, spaced slightly apart, about one-third of the way from top of cake. Cover the cupcakes with 1 /4-in. of buttercream icing. Roll a piece of flesh colored fondant to 1 /8-in. thickness. Place the fondant over the top third of the cake. Use a dry soft sponge to mould fondant to the cake and cupcakes, creating Miss Sensuous' upper torso. Trim the excess fondant.
Roll a strip of red fondant about 14 ins. long, 6 ins. wide and 1 /8-in. thick. Cut the strip to 5 ins. wide by 13 ins. long. Use the bottom of a heart-shaped cutter to cut a "V" out of one end of the strip. Moisten the strip, and place it down the center of the cake, with the "V" cut end over the cupcakes.
Roll another piece of red fondant, and make lace using the same method as described for Mr. Dapper's vest. Cut the lace fondant in half using a pizza wheel. Cut a curve into the top of each piece of lace for armholes of Miss Sensuous' dress. Place one half of the lace on one side of the cake, aligning the top of the curve with the plain red fondant covering the bosom. Align the red lace with the plain red fondant along the rest of the length of the cake.
Do the same with the other half of the lace fondant on the other side of the cake. Mould the lace fondant to the cake, and trim off the excess.
Roll black fondant to 1 /8-in. thickness, and cut half of 3/4-in. by 13-in. strips. Use a lace cutter to cut the remaining fondant into "lace." Paint the lace with gold luster dust. Join the two lace sections of the dress by criss crossing the black fondant strips over the plain red front panel. Place two strips of black fondant down the sides of the lace, covering the ends of the criss-crossed strips and extending them up to the top of the cake, creating the dress straps.
Trim the top of the dress with the gold lace. Cut a small bow out of black fondant, and paint it gold. Place the bow in the cleavage of the dress to finish the design. Your customers will love to invite Mr. Dapper and Miss Sensuous to their wedding.
