Screenprinting!

Most people would be shocked at how many "cake decorating" tools come from Home Depot. Fact is, I find the most incredible tools for my job at places that have nothing to do with restaurant/bakery supply. My newest adventure began when I met with Alex about her wedding invitations. We already knew that we would copy the incredible fabric rosettes from Alex's Monique Lhuillier wedding dress on the cake, but, once we picked the invitations, adding the beautiful motif and monogram to the cake became another priority.

I really had no idea how to transfer such a fine and intricate motif to a cake, especially if I wanted to maintain the delicate nature of the pattern. We've done lace and fine things before, but that is across an entire tier, and while this is one beautiful motif, it was just one element of an otherwise impeccably planned wedding, and we didn't want it to take over the entire cake.

We decided to just use the initials, and skip the motif. Until two days before the wedding, when I spotted something in my office that had completely slipped my mind. About five years ago, I was meeting with a bride who had bought a personal screen print machine in order to print her own wedding invitations in metallic gold. I was so intrigued, that I bought one, looked at how neat it was...and stored it in that great abyss that is my office.

But, its time had come! At eight o'clock at night, with purse-on-shoulder, about to leave...I dragged the thing down from the top shelf and spent the next two hours shooting a screen of Alex and Grant's motif, and figuring out how to completely misuse and abuse the poor little screen printer so that it would print with frosting instead of ink, onto fondant instead of paper.

It took a few tweaks, but eventuallly, it worked beautifully. I called Alex, who said 'kay, and we adjusted her cake design accordingly.
So there you have it, add screen printer to the resume. Thanks Alex and Grant, for letting me experiment on you!

By the way, I had the pleasure of seeing them at the wedding. I've been doing this for thirteen years now, and have seen a lot of brides. But something about Alex in her gown reminded me of what it felt like to be dressed in all of those layers of silk and crinolin all those years ago. I just love a bride! All that joy, love and possibility in one fluffy white dress.