Dairy-themed wedding cake is crème de la crème

WHILE milk churns, cow tags and a tractor on top may not be the traditional accessories associated with wedding cakes, that was the brief Rachel Hickey was given by one couple for their big day.

Married to dairy farmer Brian, Rachel — owner of Daisy Chain Cakes in Ballydehob in west Cork — says the creation (pictured) took months to plan and three days to bake.

“Their brief was a fun-loving novelty farming wedding cake that was to feature Friesian-style cows and 390T Massey Ferguson. It took over three days to finish but it was worth the labour of love,” says Rachel.

“I came up with the design that featured cows, straw bales, troughs, fencing, green fields, milk churns and personalised tags.”

Rachel says she got in touch with Ursula Kelly of Cormac Tagging company, who “were totally on board with the idea”.

“They were really supportive and helpful with the idea. They’re not edible but they really added to the cake,” says Rachel.

Rachel says the success of the cake was all in the detail and thinks that’s the reason it recently took social media by storm.

“It’s in the expression on the cows’ faces, and filling the churns on the cake with white icing to give the look of milk, and painting the eyelashes of the cows, not forgetting the bull wears a top hat,” she says.

For Rachel making “a couple beam with joy” is key to creating the perfect cake.

“The couple in question with this cake were a lovely farming couple and were heavily involved in Macra. They came up with the idea and I sketched it for them and they loved it,” says Rachel.

“They were a really lovely couple and I was very lucky to work with them.”

This wasn’t Rachel’s first agriculture-themed cake.

Udderly in love

“Five years ago I designed another farming-themed wedding cake but it didn’t get as much attention online as social media wasn’t as big. It said ‘udderly in love’ on it and had cows and a dog on it,” she says.

Rachel set up Daisy Chain Cakes six years ago in the middle of the recession, having previously worked in a bank.

She and her husband Brian run the farm and the business themselves.

“It is a challenge because it can feel like you’re constantly working. It’s not a nine to five job and neither is farming. You have to love both jobs to do them,” she says.

For more information on Daisy Chain Cakes you can visit the Facebook page.