We had a total blast creating Susie and Nick’s wedding cake at The Old Kent Barn last year. Three delicious flavours, three different decoration styles, and one amazing result!
The Old Kent Barn Wedding
We’d have loved working with this gorgeous couple regardless of where they were getting married, but it was the cherry on top (pun intended) to find out that we were making their wedding cake at The Old Kent Barn. That’s because the Canterbury-based venue is one of our favourite settings for getting married!
The venue itself is beautiful, an oak-framed barn set in two and half acres of stunning manicured gardens, with the gorgeous rolling Kent countryside beyond that.
“We looked at quite a few venues, but the moment we walked into The Old Kent Barn, we knew it was the perfect venue for us.” Susie explains. “We didn’t have a set style of venue in mind to begin with, all we knew was that we wanted somewhere with beautiful options for getting married inside and outside, as with a September wedding you never quite know how the weather will be and The Old Kent Barn has two stunning options.”
It’s also family-owned and run by the best team, so you feel totally looked after from the moment you set foot on their grounds. We can vouch for that, too – this venue is the one where we’re most made to feel part of the team, rather than just a supplier dipping in and out of the day. Put all of this together, then, and you won’t be at all surprised to hear just how much we love delivering to The Old Kent Barn.
So, let’s talk about Susie and Nick’s wedding cake design itself.
A blue and white wedding theme at The Old Kent Barn
Both the bride and groom were fans of the classic approach to wedding styling, of having a theme throughout all aspects of the day. As they both love it, they decided on the theme of white and blue, and used it throughout the decor, flowers, bridesmaids’ dresses and groomsmen’s suits, and – of course – their wedding cake.
With a nod to the Netherlands
Nick and Susie also wanted to include The Netherlands in their wedding plans somehow. It’s a place that holds special memories for them as they got engaged in Amsterdam and have many lovely memories of visiting there together. They also wanted to incorporate a nod to Nick’s Dutch family, and whilst they couldn’t make it to the wedding in the end due to Covid, it was lovely to have these touches included as a reminder.
Obviously, the blue and white colour scheme worked perfectly for this, as it’s the colour of the legendary Delftware pottery that the country is so famous for. As well as these iconic colours they included white tulips throughout their day. The catering team at The Old Kent Barn even made some Dutch canapés especially for their cocktail hour!
Wedding cake flavours
Susie and Nick’s wedding cake was a delicious three-tiered creation, with a base tier of coconut and blueberry, a middle tier of chocolate orange, and a rich fruit cake as the top tier.
As Nick and Susie planned their wedding throughout the pandemic, the first few meetings were virtual rather than face-to-face, but you better believe it, they still got some cake!
“We absolutely loved the samples you sent us,” they recall. “You had so many choices it was hard to decide which ones to go with – we were really glad that we got the chance to try less traditional flavours as we never would have thought to go for them otherwise! We often see you guys posting online about sample boxes and wish we could do it all again just for that – we had a lovely time drinking prosecco and trying the flavours at home during lockdown!”
A personalised wedding cake design at The Old Kent Barn
As well as having a unique flavour, we decorated each tier using different design styles, too. The base tier had gorgeous gradient buttercream ruffles, the top tier featured marble-effect wafer thin fondant, and we painted Susie and Nick’s initial on the fondant iced middle tier. This was actually the logo from their wedding stationery, which we recreated on the cake.
As a finishing touch, we also arranged our signature handmade sugar flowers in their colour scheme on each tier of the cake. These were especially made to match the flowers Jo their florist at Moody Blooms was using in the arrangements! We’re always happy to speak with your florist as part of our design process, so that we can make everything look and feel as cohesive as possible.
Choose between buttercream and fondant wedding cake? Have both!
When Susie and Nick came to us, they knew they wanted a mix of buttercream and fondant.
“The taste of your amazing cakes was of course what made us choose you” (thanks guys!) “but also a big part of it was how much you listened to our ideas.” Susie and Nick said. “A couple of others were not keen on the idea of creating a cake with both buttercream and icing tiers, but rather than saying no you spoke through the art of the possible!”
We love this feedback of speaking through the art of the possible — because that’s what we always aim to do in every cake we make. Plus, why choose between buttercream and fondant if you don’t want to?!
Thank you Susie and Nick!
It was a total pleasure creating Susie and Nick’s wedding cake at The Old Kent Barn. Since their wedding day they’ve ordered various things from our online shop (which will be reopening in Spring 2023), such as afternoon teas and special Christmas treats for their family, to keep the wedding spirit alive.
If you’re planning your wedding at The Old Kent Barn, then we’d love to hear from you! You can get in touch here. We can’t wait to read all about your plans.
Photos: Parker Shots Photography, Bluebell Kitchen
Venue: The Old Kent Barn
Stationery: The Little Paper Parcel
Flowers: Moody Blooms
Bluebell Kitchen are mother and daughter team, Erica and Charlie Bell. We’re Kent based cake makers and sugar flower specialists, creating bespoke wedding cakes and macarons in Kent, London and the South East. Get in touch to see if we can help you bring your cake design dreams to life! Join The Cake List to be the first to know more.
