Image:Morguefile

Really, if you have been reading all along there isn’t that much to add. Making a wedding cake is not much different from making a birthday cake, only you have to deal with more layers and make sure that the construction is stable.

It is best if you work according to a written schedule. Weddings are a chaotic, hectic, stressful time and it is easy to forget to do something. Write it down! You may find the following schedule to be helpful.

Four months before the wedding:

Do your research and decide what shape, style, flavor and size of cake you want. Look at as many cakes as possible. Many hobby and craft stores carry the Wilton books and magazines that deal exclusively with wedding cakes. I like these because not only do they show excellent pictures, and have great instructions, they have a list of the tips and other items you will need to successfully finish your cake.

Order everything you need. Tips, decorating bags, pans, separator plates, icing colors, edible glitter…whatever you are going to need order it all at once. If you are using boxed mixes start buying them now as they come on sale. As a rule of thumb a box makes 6 cups of mix. I suggest using the 2-inch deep pans and not the 3-inch deep pans. Weight becomes a difficult issue to work around.

One box of cake mix will make:

2 8- inch layers

or

1 10-inch layer

You will need a box and a half to two boxes for any larger layers. Again, mixes vary so plan accordingly. Use this very helpful chart at Wilton.

3 months ahead

bake your cakes, wrap securely and freeze in heavy duty foil.

2 months ahead

Recheck your supplies and instructions for the cake you are making and order in anything you may have forgotten

1 week ahead

Make any melted chocolate decoration you may be making such as:

• scrolls
• monograms
• shells

4 days ahead

Remove cakes from freezer and allow to thaw completely. Keep wrapped.

Make icing and tint in all of the colors you will need. Fill your decorating bags. Practice techniques you are new at on a piece of parchment.

Icing Specifics:

These amounts do NOT include the icing needed for actual decorating.

2 8- inch layers-4 cups of icing

2 10-inch layers- 5 cups of icing

2 12-inch layers 6 cups of icing

2 14-inch layers 10 cups of icing

Remember that one batch of icing yields about 3-4 cups

3 days ahead

Ice your cake with crumb layer

2 days ahead

finish icing and decorating your cake. Set it up to make sure everything will work. Adjust as needed. Disassemble tiers and place in containers for transport.

Put together a container for any “911″ decorating you may need to do when you reassemble the cake. Put in bags with icing, any glitter or sugar, and decorating tips, and well as an offset spatula, and an icing knife.

Day before

Transport cake carefully. Assemble cake on cake table and make any adjustments, or fixes you need to make. You may want to leave the tiers unassembled and have someone you trust to do it just before the reception. Admire your work. Great job!

Day of the wedding

Check the cake, or have someone check it to make sure everything is o.k. Assemble the tiers if you have not yet done so.

Congrats!

Review

Wedding Cakes 1

Wedding Cakes 2

Wedding Cakes 3

Wedding Cakes 4

Wedding Cakes 5

More Cakes for Inspiration: 

Wedding Fantasies:The Most Awesome Cakes in the Universe- I did this post last fall, but it has some incredible cakes pictured on it!

Post from: Baking Delights

Image: Morguefile 

Buttercream is a luscious frosting, but if you are making your own wedding cake I would not suggest using it. Why?

Buttercream has alot of butter (duh!) and if you use it you must keep it refrigerated until just before the reception unless the building is very cool. While confectioners icing made with crisco is not as delicious, it is temperature friendly and you can set the cake up and not worry about it. In fact, you could set the whole thing up in the reception hall the night before the ceremony, and only check on it to make sure everything was still o.k. and your best friend’s cousin’s nephew didn’t run his hot wheels cars through it.

The confectioner’s frosting is also easy to decorate with, takes colors well, and holds it’s shape. Again, you can make your own wedding cake but you really aren’t going to want to take a lot of chances with it.

The best icing recipe I have found for wedding cakes is this one:

1 c crisco

1 tsp clear vanilla extract

1/2 tsp butter extract

1/4 tsp almond

1 lb confectioners

2 tbs cream

Mix the crisco and flavorings. Add the confectioners one cup at a time. Stop to scrape sides and bottom of bowl once in awhile. When all the sugar is mixed in the icing will be dry looking. Add cream, a little at a time, until you achieve the correct consistency. You want it to be slightly stiff.

3 cups

You can vary the flavors easily by adjusting the flavorings. Remember that if the flavoring has a color to it the frosting will not be totally white.

Review

Wedding Cakes Part 1

Wedding Cakes Part 2

Wedding Cakes Part 3

Wedding Cakes Part 4

Post from: Baking Delights

You have read Wedding Cakes part one, right?

There are so many ways to put together a wedding cake. Some are more complex, while others are simple, but honestly, with some attention to detail you can do this.

Wedding cakes come in all shapes and sizes, so the first thing is to decide how many guests you plan to have. If it is going to be a small, intimate gathering then perhaps you will just want to do a large sheet cake, cupcakes, or a layer cake. Even with these types, there will still be shapes to decide on.

I suggest you look at the theme of your wedding. For example, is it country-simple? Contemporary? Elegant? What is your gown like?

Take these things in to consideration when deciding on a shape for your cake but don’t be afraid to break out of the expected and serve 500 lime green polka dotted cupcakes at a very elegant reception!

There are tons of pan shapes but here are some of the ones you will most frequently see:

• round
• square
• hexagon
• oval
• heart

Wilton also has a set of petal pans, which have a daisy shape to them, as well as a set of paisley pans, which are shaped like a curved tear drop. Expect to pay $35.00-45.00 for the pan sets unless you have enough time to find them on ebay for less.

Once you have decided on a shape then you need to decide if you will stack it, tier it, or use a cake stand.

A wedding cake stand is easiest of all, because you just put the individual layers on their proper places on the stand and you are done! The can be very elegant and if you are uncomfortable with the idea of tiers or stacks this is the way to go. Some of the stands even mimic the tier type cakes. One of my favorites is this Wilton Garden Cake Stand But there are several more styles you can choose from. If you are looking for a more traditional looking tiered cake stand check out Wilton Tall Tier Cake Stand Set. It is a bit less than the garden cake stand, but very elegant.

Here are some cakes that are made using the cake stands:

• Garden Cake Stand
• Floating tiers cake stand
• Tall tiers cake stand
• Simple cake stand

Next is the stacked wedding cake.  In this there are several layers stacked, one upon another.  Usually you don’t use more than three or four levels for this type of cake.  Dowels are pushed down into the baked cake to help support the tiers. The cakes rest on plastic separator plates at each level. They can be any shape.

Remember that the top cake is usually saved for the first anniversary, and so do not count that cake in figuring servings.  Here are some examples of stacked cakes:

• Four layer stack
  
• Unusual stacked cake
• Oval stacked cake
• Elegant stacked Cake

Finally we come to the tiered wedding cake.  These are a little more involved, as they are usually a combination of a stacked cake with one or more layers held up by columns of some sort.  They also use dowels for support, and are really not that much more complex than a stacked cake.  Because of the space between tiers you have room for creative decorations of many types.  There are many types of columns and separators as well.  Look at some of these tiered  cakes:

• Tiered gazebo cake
  
• Tiers using cake separators
• Tier stack combo
• Some of my favorite wedding cakes are here

You can see how many different looks you can get in each type.  Once you do one, you will be surprised at how easy it is.  Next we will get into the looks of the individually shaped pans.

Image: Morguefile 

Post from: Baking Delights

The first is from Maisie Fantaisie in the UK. I fell in love with nearly every cake in the wedding cake gallery! This however, takes the cake, so to speak, as my favorite. It should have been my daughter Erin’s cake because it looks so much like…her! I love the exhuberance, the excitement and the absolutely stunning design.

The next is from Sweet Art Cakes. I love this cake, with it’s old fashioned, stencilled rose design. It is just romantic simplicity to me!

Another UK Bakery! This time I really couldn’t decide between two cakes from Sweet Unique,
.

I am sure you can see why. The first is so elegant and classic, but the second is so full and luscious! All of their wedding cake designs were beautiful!

If you are looking for floral wedding themes, and I mean intensely colored and beautifully done floral cakes then Wildflowers is where you want to look! This cake is so unusual but nearly every cake she has pictured has a plethora of flowers in all colors and shapes, absolutely gorgeous. Every bit of this is edible I think.

This is from Kendall’s Cakes. I really like the swags, the combination of smooth and texture, and the romantic, soft color. I can imagine this by candlelight…Perfect for a small romantic wedding

Celebrate Cakes has got to win for one of the most unusual frosting styles..I would be almost afraid to eat this….

If Jennifer at Offbeat Homes ever gets married I am going to personally fly out and do this cake for her…It is a fabulous arrangement from Sugar Artistry By Susan

This cake is ready to go…Perfect for the couple on the way to their honeymoon! Planet Cake is an Australian Bakery that has some really imaginative stuff.

Just Fabulous Pastries is…well…just fabulous. I am ending with them because I was so undisciplined that I couldn’t decide between cakes and I ended up pulling out 11 of them before I forced myself away from their site…Some are not wedding cakes per se but were just so cool that I could not resist. Theya re all edible, all cake, and all amazing. Enjoy!

This cake is covered in old, edible black and white photos of Paris, if I remember correctly…Tres Romantique.

Tassels!

I just love each of these more than the last.

Mosiac….I think I have some antique tiles that look like that…

Doesn’t this look like enamelware?

This is so frou frou..not me at all..but beautiful. I think this cake is for blondes only.

This is a birthday cake but it oculd be a wedding cake if the couple’s picture was added to the faberge egg.. Of course, I would not turn it down for my birthday….in April.

How do they DO this?

Arabian Nights…..Serve with a harem outfit.

I think this one was called, Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend. I know a few girls that would love this!

And this is the last…but not the least. I know that I strayed from the wedding cakes..but I imagine you can see why. Any of the brirthday cakes could easily be adjusted to be wedding cakes… wow…just beautiful, don’t you think?

Post from: Baking Delights