I was practicing the presents cakes because I had this wedding cake to make.
This was a very complicated cake. The bows were piped ahead of time out of royal icing. After the loops were formed, it had to be put together by putting a big blob of icing down, and stuffing all the loops into it so that it looked like bows. Some bows had been colored gold, some silver, and one pearl.
Everything else was made from buttercream icing except for the ribbons on the side of the middle and end cake, and the stripes on the first cake. Those were formed from fondant. The reason the two little cakes look that color is that the bride wanted coffee flavored cake and icing. To each their own.