This Tall, Elegant, Luxury Wedding Cake with Sugar Flowers is a cake that brides dream of. It was the height of nine tiers covered in buttercream with delicious fillings and stunning sprays of white sugar flowers including roses, peonies, tulips, and more!
This cake was a dream come true for the bride! That's literally what she had to say on Instagram:
This cake couldn’t have been anymore perfect than what it was. Who needs Sylvia Weinstock when they have you to make all of their dreams come true. This cake truly made me feel like royalty on my wedding day. 🤍 thank you to you and everyone who helped make mine and Kyzar’s cakes. ~ Mary Elizabeth Jordan Huff, bride
And honestly, it was a dream come true for me as well! I'd never had an opportunity to do a cake like this. I was honored that Mary Elizabeth's family trusted me with her cake dreams. All of the cake designs that she liked were gorgeous and I was immediately excited to do a new design and be challenged to expand my skills.
The venue, Dunleith Historic Inn in Natchez, MS is a gorgeous home already. But for Mary Elizabeth's wedding, it was so much more! Everything there looked like it was straight out of a magazine. It was beyond dreamy - just like a fairytale. There were thousands of white flowers, a gold gate, stunning bridesmaids' dresses, and so much more! Not to mention the bride ... just wow!
Tall, Elegant, Luxury Wedding Cake with Sugar Flowers
There were too many perfect details to mention but here's one photo that was taken in the room with the cake. Isn't that gorgeous?
So... for all of you cake decorators out there, here are all the details:
Wedding Cake Flavors:
- This cake was all white almond sour cream cake.
- All the tiers were filled and frosted with vanilla buttercream.
- To add some variety, I also used strawberry filling in every other tier (starting at the bottom tier). The strawberry filling is made exactly like this raspberry filling using this recipe.
How big were the cake tiers?
I know you're asking... it's the most common question I've gotten about this cake. Here are the sizes, starting at the top and going down:
- 4-inch dummy cake (to accommodate the sugar flowers). It was 5 inches tall.
- 6-inch tier (double barrel, 8-inches tall)
- 8-inch tier (5 inches tall)
- 10-inch tier (double barrel, 8-inches tall)
- 12-inch tier (5 inches tall)
- 14-inch tier (double barrel, 8-inches tall)
If you're doing the math, that's 39 inches of cake (including the dummy). But that didn't include the height of the flowers on the top tier. The flowers easily added 4 or 5 more inches. I estimate that it was around 45 inches tall in total.
Shop my favorite supplies:
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
However, the stand (provided by the venue and the biggest I've ever seen) was at least 10 inches tall (and 30 inches across). So it added even more height and grandeur to an already tall, elegant cake!
Here's a photo of my friend/helper/assistant Susan and me with the finished cake:
Sugar Flowers & Pearls
Because of my hand/arm history, I can no longer make sugar flowers. For a short time, I really enjoyed that craft. But now it's excruciating for me (the longer I work, the more I hurt). Instead, I now choose to outsource most sugar flowers. It gives work to artists really gifted in this area and spares me a lot of hand pain.
For this cake, I purchased close to two hundred flowers including peonies, sugar roses (in different sizes and varieties), tulips, and cherry blossoms, plus filler sprays of berries, hydrangeas, and leaves. I didn't end up using them all but I wanted the cascades and sprays of flowers to be showstoppers. And I knew I'd need a lot of flowers to accomplish that!
All of the flowers and leaves were white with white wires/stems to keep the design clean and gorgeous. It didn't photograph well but I sprayed some of the flowers with a pearl spray to add a little more pizazz. This added depth and a pretty shimmer while keeping the all-white aesthetic.
We also trimmed every tier with white sugar pearls. My daughter Sarah made these for me using these pearl molds and homemade marshmallow fondant.
I was a little concerned about how to attach the flowers but my friend Minette (who is amazing and a pro with sugar flowers!) assured me that there was no big secret to it... just push them straight into the cake. For this cake, all the wires were wrapped and/or dipped in this Safety Seal coating. You could also insert the wires into coffee straws then push those into the cake to create a barrier between the cake and the wires.
Shop my favorite supplies:
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → How do you transport & assemble a cake that tall?
Every cake I've ever made has been assembled with single-layer cake rounds, bubble tea straws, and wooden dowel rods. Every single cake for 12 years... including this one. But this cake was taller than any cake I'd ever made and I wouldn't recommend my method for a cake this tall.
What I'm saying is, I'll probably do it differently next time, if given the chance. I'll explain more below.
For 99% of my cakes, I assemble them at home and transport them to the venue. They're fully chilled and generally still cold when we arrive. Obviously, that wasn't an option this time. So we only assembled the bottom two tiers at home, then assembled all the rest on site.
They were all cold when we loaded them at home but because it took hours to assemble and decorate - they were not still cold when we finished. Again - something I'll have to consider next time. Below are a few photos of our vehicles that day. We had to take two and it was around a 45-minute drive.
Transporting the cakes...
Above is truck number one. I drove this truck which we lined with a black sheet, then non-skid mats, and we had sheets of insulation on each side to block sunlight. You might be wondering about the stacked cakes.
Well... I had two other weddings that day too. So there was the 4-tier cake, the 3-tier cake, then all the pieces of the big cake I'm sharing in this post. The only tiers not pictured were the top 4-inch tier, which you'll see in the other truck, and the double-barrel 6-inch cake. Susan held it for the entire drive because we were afraid it would tip over.
You can see my hubby below carrying in the already-assembled bottom two tiers. I had also added most of the flowers on those tiers at home to try and shave off some time at the venue.
Then there was truck number two:
This truck was also lined with a black sheet and non-skid mats. My husband and Sarah rode in this truck where we carried the shotgun groom's cake (a post for another day), 12 dozen chocolate-dipped strawberries, the pre-made sugar pearls, the top tier (in the box with a roll of paper towels), and all of my tools and decor for all the cakes, including the step-stools, extra buttercream, the flowers, etc.
We were fully loaded and ready to roll! I'm not sure we could've taken anything else even if we'd needed to.
Update: currently I use Sugarworks Cake Porter boxes for transporting all of my cakes. If I'd had them for this cake, it would've been a game changer!
Confession time...
Now here's a confession for you - I don't think I'd do a cake with these dimensions again or assemble it in the same way. At the very least, I'd have a better plan in place for structure.
Specifically, the 6-inch double barrel cake was (almost) a big mistake. After all the trouble we had with that tier, I decided then and there I'd never do a cake again with a tier taller than it was wide.
A little backstory - both my husband and my friend/assistant Susan were with me for the whole process. My daughter Sarah was also present for an extra set of hands and to document the assembly with photos.
Everything was going great until we added the 6-inch tier, then the 4-inch tier loaded with flowers on top. Simply put, I underestimated how wobbly the cake would be once assembled, and that 6-inch tier wobbled the most.
The pictures are grainy but I had to share because Richy (my hubby) stood on a stepladder, in that position, holding that top tier to prevent the whole thing from wobbling. He stood that way for more than an hour while Susan and I added flowers and pearls and smoothed the buttercream.
My cake hero:
I still consider him my hero for that day! He took the top tiers on and off for me (more than once!) while I brainstormed for how to make it stay stable and secure. And Susan... she kept me sane.
She talked me through a near panic attack the first time I realized it wasn't as sturdy as I'd hoped. And she kept all bystanders out of the room so I could work without an audience (which adds even more stress for me).
At the end of the day, the bubble tea straws and dowels had held everything wonderfully. God answered all the prayers and kept the cake in place. It did feel secure when we left but I was still a wreck - worried that someone would bump the table and it would all come tumbling down.
I could not have been more relieved to see pictures from the wedding of the bride and groom cutting the cake and it still standing tall and beautiful. It was like a weight was lifted off of me and I could finally truly enjoy what I had accomplished with this Tall, Elegant, Luxury Wedding Cake with Sugar Flowers!
Aren't they a gorgeous couple? At the end of it all, I was so proud of how beautiful it was and that it was a cake I made! It was breathtaking in person and it felt surreal to be able to claim it as one of "my cakes!"
Even with the stress of that top tier, looking at the pics now, I'm still in love with the cake and so happy I did it. The experience reaffirmed my love for wedding cakes and I'm actually excited to do another one like this having learned so much about what I could do to improve my process!
- The beautiful couple: Kyzar & Mary Elizabeth Jordan Huff
- The venue: Dunleith Historic Inn
- Portrait by T.G. McCary
Here are some other posts you might like:
- How to Smooth Frost a Cake and How to Get Sharp Buttercream Edges {Video Tutorial}
- How far in advance can I bake cakes?
- Elegant Tall Lace Wedding Cake with Gold Monogram
- Vintage Lace Wedding Cake with Sugar Roses
- How do you package cakes for delivery?
- Vertical Lines in Buttercream Luxury Wedding Cake
- Barely Naked Wedding Cake with Floral Wreath Cake Stand
Denise
Amazing! Fantastic job!!
Rose
Thank you Denise!! xx
Linda King
Magnificent! Most beautiful cake ever! Congratulations Rose and family!( and with 6 kids at home! Yes
Rose
Thank you so much!!
Debra
Wow!
So impressive.
Beautiful job.
Massive undertaking.
Rose
Absolutely! Thank you!
Maseno Cleophas
Rose for six years,have enjoyed good cake showcase's but this is fantastic
Rose
Thanks so much!
Linda Mickelberry
Beautiful and elegant.. a masterpiece! How would you support the cake the next time? with pipe armature?
Rose
Yes, probably so!
Helen
So elegant and chic!! Your talent shines through.
Rose
Thanks so much!
Faye Grayson
Rose the cake was beautiful!!
My daughter is getting married September 25th, wish I could have had you make her cake.
Rose
Awww, I would've loved that!
Lara
Absolutely stunning! Congratulations on pulling off this masterpiece! When i saw the behind the scenes on Instagram, I was truly in awe. I do have a question- when you assemble on site and the cakes aren't chilled anymore, how do you avoid smudging the buttercream? I find it so difficult to smooth again after the tiers have been stacked.
Rose
It's not easy, for sure! But we did do some smoothing onsite with Viva paper towels and fondant smoothers!
Anne
AMAZING!!!!!
Rose
Thank you so much! xx
Dawn Drewry
the cake is very beautiful. Would you share the buttercream recipe you used on the cake. Thanks
dawn
Rose
Sure - it's my Vanilla Buttercream here.
Carl Ames
A very stunning and elegant cake! Great job Rose!
Rose
Thanks!
Chari Ruby
That is definitely a stunning cake!! I'm always afraid to put sugar flowers on the side of a buttercream cake after I had an incident with a flower falling off and I had to go back and put in back on. Since then I've always made them go with fondant if using sugar flowers on the sides. But this proves how possible it is to do that. How did you get the flowers to stay on the sides of the buttercream?
Rose
Each one had a wire and I pushed it into the cake. I placed the heaviest ones on first and used other flowers to support them.
Ann Boyle
This is absolutely stunning!!! Has to be one of the prettiest wedding cakes that I have ever seen & at my age, I have seen plenty. Thank so much for sharing not only this cake but all the other recipes as well.
Rose
Thank you for your kind words! xx
Pam Jeske
stunning work!
I recently watched your video of using a bench scraper to smooth the frosting on a round. I've been decorating as a hobby for 30 years, and this was a must try! It worked like a charm...very easily done! Thanks!
Rose
Awww, I'm so happy to hear it! Thank you!
Sandhya
Oh so amazing work of art. The cake looked like fairy like. My congratulations to you.
Rose
Thank you so much!
Mona Leo
I enjoyed your narrative so much, Rose! You are extremely talented. I almost want to get married again after 47+ years just so you can make our cake. Dallas isn't such a long trip, right? 😉 God bless you!!
Rose
Awww, thank you! xx
Teresa Carter
Looks beautiful and probably tasted even better. If it had fallen, you could have called me and I would have eaten it right off the floor. 😉
Rose
Haha!! Thanks!
Sonja
It is soooo beautiful, what an accomplishment, sooo lovely.
Rose
THank you!! ❤️️
Linda
You are fantastic, the cake was beautiful. You do such good work.
Rose
Thanks so much!
Caron Webb
I’m impressed! You are brave and amazing!
Rose
Thank you!
Kathy
Beautiful work. I know exactly how you feel. Several years ago I made a 5 tier wedding cake with each tier separated by 4" pillars. There were Sugar flowers between each tier as well as on the top. This cake was also on a cake stand which added an additional 6". My 6' tall husband had to put the top tier on for me using a step ladder. The completely assembled cake was about 40" tall. I was a nervous wreck and I wanted to put police tape around the cake table when I was finished because I just knew that someone would bump the table and the entire cake would come crashing down. Thankfully that didn't happen and the bride and groom were very pleased with the way it turned out. I was too, but I had sleepless nights leading up to that wedding.
Rose
Yeeesss!! It's so easy to get overwhelmed with the emotions and fear, but the end product is worth it!!
Pam
Wow! Amazing!!!
Rose
Thank you xx
Ola Savage
One of the beautifully Weddings cakes I have seen in awhile simply elegant
Rose
Thanks so much!
Nadine
I just finished watching your post on the Tall, Elegant, Luxury Wedding Cake that you created for the newlywed couple Kyzar and Mary Elizabeth Jordan Huff. This was a very outstanding and exquisite cake,beautiful simply beautiful. Your friend Susan, daughter Sarah, and hubby Richy,(what a man, what a man, what a mighty good man, yes he is) your dream team helped you Rose produce a lasting memory for the Huff's very special day!!!!! Bravo
Rose
Thank you!
FELICIA
Truly an amazing cake, awesome accomplishment.
Rose
Thanks so much!
Robin
This is a beautiful cake!! Such talent! Bride was blessed for sure!!!
My question is how long did it take you total to do a cake like this??
Rose
I really can't tell you. We spent an entire day/evening baking and then 2-3 days filling, frosting, and decorating.
Lidia Soares
Absolutely stunning! You're a great artist! Thank you for sharing!
Rose
Thanks!
Kay
Rose, thank you so much for sharing. I was feeling your anxiety while I was reading. I can't breathe until I know the bride and groom are happy. It is a beautiful cake. Great job!
Rose
Thank you!!