The Icing on the Souffl

You don’t need to be a skilled pastry chef to create this wedding cake. Instead of tiers of chiffon cakes, stack up white porcelain souffl dishes and wrap them all in an “icing” of tulle. It’s a terrific shower centerpiece, and the bride can keep the dishes afterward as an early wedding gift.

Some souffl dishes are numbered on the bottom (8, 6, 4) to indicate diameter. You can adjust the size of the cake by selecting smaller or larger souffl dishes and creating either a two- or three-tiered cake, depending on the extravagance of your gift.

The dishes are held together with museum putty, which can be found in hardware stores; it’s especially common in California because it is also used for securing valuable objects to shelves in case of an earthquake. The putty will come off the souffl dishes when the bride is ready to disassemble her gift. It is nontoxic, but the dishes should be washed to remove any residue.

For a different decoration on top, you could use a cluster of fresh flowers, keeping them in water until the cake is complete.

You will need:

1 (10-inch) paper doily

1 (10-inch) cardboard cake circle

1 1/3 yards white tulle

1 (8-inch) souffl dish

1 (6-inch) souffl dish

1 (4-inch) souffl dish

Museum putty (white or cream)

Small silk flowers, optional

1 set (4-inch) plastic bride and groom

1 1/2 yards wired ribbon

*Glue the paper doily to the cardboard circle. Lay the tulle flat in a single layer and place the cardboard doily in the middle of the fabric.

*Center the 8-inch souffl dish upside down on the doily, using a little of the putty to secure it in 3 places around the rim.

*Place the 6-inch souffl dish upside down on top, again using some putty to secure it. Repeat with the 4-inch souffl dish.

*Arrange the silk flowers around the tiers of the cake, placing them over any pieces of putty that might show through. Place the bride and groom on the last tier, securing them with a bit of putty.

*Gather the tulle and bring it up around the cake, bunching it up around the base of the bride and groom. Tie the ribbon around the base of the couple, pulling it tight to hold the tulle and creating a bow.

*Cut off the excess tulle so that the top halves of the bride and groom are visible.