Great Gatsby Cake

How funny that I had a Great Gatsby cake to do after just watching the movie with Leo DiCaprio in it last week. I remember reading the book in high school but didn't really understand what it is about. So what comes to mind when one thinks of Great Gatsby? Well, gold, black, white, pearls, feathers and a fancy schmancy party.

Great Gatsby-themed cake*

This Great Gatsby-themed cake was for a very lovely lady celebrating her 50th birthday! She didn't want too much fondant than what was necessary, so I did the bottom tier with a buttercream finish and only covered the top tier with a thin layer of gold fondant. I spray painted the top tier with edible gold luster paint as well, but it didn't get that glitz that wanted it to have. Maybe I'll try disco dust next time. Anyway, it's a red velvet cake, filled with vanilla bean Swiss meringue buttercream. Usually I pair cream cheese frosting with red velvet cake, but because of the fondant, the cake couldn't be refrigerated (condensation will form when the cake is taken out of the fridge and this will dissolve the fondant and ruin the aesthetics). 

the lovely birthday girl

Since the cake had to feed about 75 people, we went with a square 10" bottom tier and a square 6" top tier since squares feed more than rounds of the same size. It's a pretty tall cake too!

I used crusting vanilla buttercream to decorate the bottom tier. I was excited to try out the "Viva Paper Towel" method to get a smooth, fondant-like finish on the buttercream. I managed to get a hold of a couple of rolls off of Amazon (they're only sold in the U.S.) and I wanted to put them to good use. Paper towels on cake? You betcha. 

make a wish

So Viva Paper Towels are special because they're completely smooth on one side. No quilting like regular paper towels. Once the buttercream has crusted over, place a sheet of paper towel on the surface of the cake, taking care that there are no wrinkles. Then gently smoothen the buttercream using very light pressure with your fingers. I tried using a fondant smoother but the buttercream kept sticking to the paper towel. I guess I was pressing too hard with it? I dunno. Anyway, I was skeptical at first that this whole paper towel-buttercream smoothing trick was going to work, but after watching several videos on YouTube on it and then trying it out, it looked like it was going to be ok! 

So the final product isn't perfect, but it's pretty darn smooth compared to what it was before. I'm sure with a little more practice I could get the hang of this.

To glam up the cake, I added a border of chocolate gold Sixlets on the top tier, and added some black faux ostrich feathers and a black fabric flower with a gold Sixlet stuck in the middle with royal icing. The cake wash finished off with the ribbon accents on both tiers. 

I also hand cut a 5 & 0 in Gatsby-style font, and painted a stripe of gold down the middle to jazz it up. I also made the birthday lady's name in the same style. I had to get the super tall gold candles to add more dramatic flair too!

it's a party up in heeeere!

The party looked fantabulous! Lots of flappers and dappers came dressed for a good time. The gold and the glitz and the glam set up definitely set the party mood. The place looked like a happening club, straight out of downtown, New Orleans!! Happy 50th Birthday, Delain! 

Happy Birthday, Delain!

*all photos are courtesy of the birthday girl, Delain!