Sunday Sweets: Art Deco

If you've ever been to South Beach in Miami and cooed over the candy-colored buildings, then odds are you're an Art Deco fan. See? Just like that, you're a reader of uniquely refined taste! So hold that pinky high while you're swigging that Diet Coke, and let's take a look at some of the world's Sweetest Art Deco wedding cakes.

By Sugar Art By Tami

Not only is this cake design amazing, I'm also really digging that topper. Who knew Calla lilies and a little wire could look so glamorous?

You're going to be tempted to think this next one is some kind of fancy jewelry box, but trust me: it's cake.

By Lyn Rees of Lyn's Cake Creations

Each of those panels and end pieces was made using an icing technique known as run-in, or flood work. When it dries it becomes hard and smooth like porcelain - but about a hundred times more fragile. Frankly, I don't know how Lyn managed those delicate lines in the top box:

Photo by Cake4ever

Gorgeous.

Of course avocado green isn't for everyone, so to make Art Deco truly timeless, just take away the color:

By Sucre Coeur

Would you look at the texture on those bottom tiers?! After staring at it in full-size for a while, I think it's made up of hundreds of tiny paper fans - presumably edible paper -layered over the icing. And with those jewelry designs on the top tiers, it kind of brings to mind a feathery flapper dress, don't you think?

And speaking of feathery flapper dresses...

By Cake Central member McLin

This design was completely hand-painted, with hand-piped "pearls" and 3D sculpted gumpaste "feathers." I especially like the colors; it's like an old fashioned black and white photograph with parts of it colorized.

Of course, a little Deco can also look surprisingly modern:

Made by Jo-Ann Edwards, found here

This couple used a piece of Art Deco jewelry - the Butler & Wilson brooch "The Dancing Couple"- for their cake topper, and the cake ties it in beautifully with those stylized fans and clean, bold lines.

This one reminds me of all those grand old movie palaces from the 1930s:

Photo by Jose Villa Photography, baker unknown

Can't you just imagine an illuminated marquee above the bottom tier? And, come to think of it, wouldn't that be a fun way to tie in the couple's names?

I honestly can't decide if this next one is more Art Deco or 60s mod...but then again, Deco *did* come back in style during the 60s, so maybe it's both?

By Jan Kish

Whichever it is, it's pretty darn cool. The sheen on those flowers really makes them look like metal!

Here's another beauty straight out of old Hollywood:

By Martha Stewart Weddings

I hope the bride wore her hair in pin curls. And her dress was some slinky satin number with a big fluffy fur stole. (But not a real fur stole; that's cruel.) And I hope the DJ played "Puttin' on the Ritz" like, a million times.

You really can't get much more Art Deco than this:

By The Bakery Cottage

Talk about a piece of art! Are they flames or leaves?

This next one's so big it's kind of hard to see all the detail:

By Sugar Realm

So here's a closeup:

Look at all those shimmering metallics! And did you see that the silver sections are actuallly filled with silver dragees? That must have taken FOREVER to do.

This next one is one of my favorite Art Deco cakes EVER:

Submitted by Hayley P. via the DISboards and made by Disney Weddings.

That center column is like a stylized paper waterfall - and it lights up! I just love the colors, and the sun emblem at the top, and those little jut-outs on the bottom tier - so much great detal!

And finally, here's what I like to think of as "Venice meets the Chrysler building":

By Rosebud Cakes

Look at this perfection! LOOK AT IT!!

Ok, now you can go enjoy the rest of your Sunday. Toodles!

*****

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And from my other blog, Epbot:

Comments

[Jennifer]

Love the BNL reference you snuck in!

[dutchgirl]

Are those edible peonies on cake #5? If so, they're as pretty as any real peonies I've seen. All the cakes are so elegant and gorgeous. <sigh> I love coming here on Sunday.

[Marie]

I think that second one is my all time fav. I actually gasped when I saw it.

[Cathy G]

Love, love, love Art Deco! I want one of each of these cakes!

[Lyn Rees]

Thank you for the mention, mine is the second cake, all royal icing, one of my most favourite icing mediums to work in. Loved making this cake, although it did take a few hours ;).

[Lady Anne]

I don't even LIKE Art Deco, and these cakes are to die for. Lovely, absolutely lovely! Thank you

[TropicalChrome]

Extra kudos for the Barenaked Ladies reference - icing on the top, as it were :).

[mary]

beautiful!!! just beautiful

[Melissa M.]

Okay now look. I have spent the past TWO WEEKS singing "One Week." It JUST stopped and now it has STARTED AGAIN and I feel PERSONALLY ATTACKED. Buuuut, it's nothing some cake can't fix! :D

[Cat_Rancher]

I LOVE these cakes. And if you LOVE Art Deco, you need to get yourself to Tulsa, Oklahoma- I kid you not. My nephew dances in the Tulsa Ballet, so we have become familiar with the city over the past few years and it is AMAZING for Art Deco lovers. Once you realize that Tulsa was an oil boom town in the 1920s, it makes a lot more sense. We always stay in the Atlas Life building- which is now a Marriot.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Art_Deco_buildings_in_Tulsa,_Oklahoma

[sendingtheclowns]

I want to LIVE in the art deco boxes . I won't bother the dancing couple at all..
I just want to breathe their music , and sip a bit of of the mood.
Fantastic art!! =^-.-^=

[GingerSnap]

I feel like I need to read The Great Gatsby right now!

[hucifer]

Another fan of the BNL shout-out. :)

[KR]

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries.

[The One who remains nameless]

I would kill (metaphorically, of course) to see a wrecker try out some of these designs.

[Richard]

I designed and created the light up deco cake. We've done this design a few times, and in different sizes.