Surprise...Another Cake!

I have 2 friends at church, who I actually met when I was about 11 or 12 years old, but we became reacquainted recently when they began coming to the same church I attend.

Anyway, the husband is an amazing artist and he makes the most magnificent banners for our church sanctuary. So when his wife called and asked me to make his birthday cake, I knew it was going to have to be something different than I've ever done before.

We knew he'd like a cross and lots of bright colors, but as far as a design, there was no plan. I remembered in the back of my head that I had seen a cross cake done in what looked like stained glass before, and I thought that might be a good way to use all those bright colors without using flowers and other "frou-frou" decorations.

When I mentioned the idea to his wife, she told me that he actually MAKES STAINED GLASS items himself! Can you say, "PERFECT!"?

So, I hit the internet looking for a picture to use as an example to get me started, and I came up with this design.
The cake itself is red velvet with a bright white buttercream icing. The "glass panes" are made with colored piping gel and outlined with black buttercream mixed with silver petal dust. The bright white buttercream allows the gel colors to remain pure rather than cloudy or muted. I piped the "beads" with the bright white buttercream mixed with an edible pearl glaze to help them stand out just a bit. The scroll work was also done with this mixture. The dove is painted in black buttercream on a fondant disk that was allowed to dry until firm.

Oh, and pay no attention to the dates on these pictures...my son changed the batteries in the camera for me, and I forgot to tell him he'd need to reset the date! I only just noticed that when I posted the picture! :)