The holiday inspiration continues with our newest cake series, The 12 Cakes of Christmas! We’re celebrating twelve days of beautifully festive cakes, created especially to inspire you to holiday greatness! Twelve talented bakers were asked to create innovative and elegant cake designs appropriate for both Christmas parties and winter weddings. And along the way, we get an up close look at what inspires this talented group. It’s 12 bakers baking…. it’s The 12 Cakes of Christmas!
The eleventh cake in our series comes to us from Erin Schaefgen, owner of Three Little Blackbirds in Denver! You probably remember Erin from previous features on our site (like this ocean coral cake or this vintage cowgirl birthday). We have been crushing on Erin’s cakes and her amazing hand-painted details all year. And rightfully so! Using cake as her canvas, she works magic with her brushes. Creating scenes that are seriously frame-worthy. And this time, her subject is jolly old Saint Nick. You better watch out… because Santa Claus is coming to town! And he is more magnificent than ever. It’s The 11th Cake of Christmas!
Erin builds upon her childhood memories of simple, cozy Christmases to bring us a design that’s nostalgic and current all at the same time. Tiers of cake, wrapped up as presents, in oh-so-popular brown kraft paper. Sparkling with just a touch of glitter and gold. A vintage Santa so jolly with his twinkling eyes, snowy white beard and cherry nose. All intricately painted by hand. Old Saint Nick has never looked better…. he is simply spectacular! And he’ll have you feeling like a kid on Christmas morning!
Erin of Three Little Blackbirds shares the inspiration for her design:
“My inspiration for this cake was vintage nostalgia. I took some fond memories from my childhood, such as Christmas presents wrapped in brown paper. Growing up we didn’t have much money, so we were always creative at Christmas time, wrapping our few gifts in cut up brown paper bags and newspaper. We always did our best to make them look pretty by hand coloring on them or adding glitter or ribbon. I still love the look of gifts wrapped in brown paper and embellished with hand made items. I love how rustic yet classic they look. Today, I love to decorate with vintage Christmas décor, my favorite being images of vintage Santa Claus or vintage toys.”
Erin of Three Little Blackbirds tells us about her technique:
“I matched the fondant color to a brown paper bag. Then after covering the tiers, I hand painted a jolly and vintage looking Santa using the Vintage Santa Christmas Card. Finally, I added some sugary, glittery embellishments because it is Christmas after all!”
As I survey the few presents already under my tree, wrapped in brown kraft paper and tied with glittery red bows… I can help but wonder how many of us will be giving gifts with a similar look this year? But I do know one thing. Erin captured the simple elegance of this style in her design. And created the perfect stage for her fabulous Santa to shine. Let’s take another look at this jolly old guy….
A huge thank you to Erin Schaefgen of Three Little Blackbirds for inspiring us with her vintage presents and marvelous painting. It just wouldn’t be a Christmas series without Santa coming to town!
VENDORS & CREDITS:
Cake : Three Little Blackbirds
Wow wow W-O-W! Awesome is not even good enough to describe this!
This is amazing. I love the hand painting and now the brown fondant has the look of a brown paper bag. My Mom taught me how to wrap boxes to mail using brown paper bags. Great post and beautiful cake.
So much detail with the handpainted Santa! Love it!! Beautifully done!
Davvero capolavori!!