This cake was made for the celebration of the birthdays of five Aquarian friends. Each friend had his/her name painted (in aqua and gold)on a sugar placque and attached to a side of the hexagonal, fondant covered cake with the Aquarian symbol finishing off the sixth side. A gold embossed sugarpaste border trimmed the cake. The cake was then mounted on a fondant covered foamcore hexagon which was then mounted on a silver foil covered cake round and finished with an aqua ribbon. Gold embossed sugarpaste diamonds were the decorative touches on the fondant hexagon corners.
The amaryllis plant which sat atop the cake was formed from sugar/gumpaste with the structural help of floral wires, floral tape, a wooden dowel and a styrofoam core for the bulb. The bulb, with inserted amryllis stem, was fastened to a hexagonal shaped piece of fondant covered cardboard. The board was then attached to the top of the cake with a piece of moistened fondant. There were three fully opened flowers and two buds on the sugar amaryllis. The model for the sugar version was the real-life "Scarlet Baby" miniature amaryllis. The "Spanish Moss" surrounding the bulb was made from tinted rice noodles. This very clever technique was borrowed from Maxine Boyinton whose cake using the rice noodles was featured in Kerry Vincent's very beautiful and extremely helpful book, "Romantic Wedding Cakes".
The three-tiered lemon cake was infused with a citron vodka sauce and the filling between the layers was a lemon curd. The recipe for the cake and sauce were also gleaned from Kerry's book. I loved the sauce but found the cake too dry. A good pound cake would have been preferable. The lemon curd was my own and was a tasty touch.
Maria
