Wedding Cake: the beginning
Can I show you what’s going on in my kitchen these days?
So far it’s just a bunch of lists (lots of lists) and empty cake pans. Somehow… by Saturday it’ll all be a pretty pretty wedding cake.
I don’t make wedding cakes very often.
They stress me out.
They mean stacking cake on top of other cake and then driving in a car. Seriously scary.
I have nightmares about the cake for an entire week leading up to the wedding. Nightmares like… oops I forgot to make the cake! Nightmares like… oops I forgot to wear pants to this wedding. It’s just what happens.
What helps the nightmares go away? Wilton. They have answers.
The best part of this wedding cake situation? I get to go to the wedding and see my friends Zach and Nicole say important things to each other. Then there’s wine. Then there’s dinner. Then there’s dancing. Then…. then!!? Cake. I get to make a cake and eat it too.
Oh! And since I’m in wedding cake mode… we’re all in wedding cake mode. Everyday from now until Saturday this place is going to be all wedding cake, all the time. Prepare.
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i hope you get to make a fabulous and delicious cake! it sounds so fun for a novice like me.
Good luck Joy! Just don’t spend any time looking at Cake Wrecks for a while, you don’t want to give those nightmares anymore fuel! I’m sure it’ll be fantastic and I can’t wait to see it.
all wedding cake all the time- i’m strapped in and ready to go. i love coming here- you’re like my baking kitchen life coach.
All wedding cake, all week? THANK YOU! I’m making my friend’s wedding cake in August, and as my first wedding cake, I’m already starting to enter ‘freak-out mode.’ I’m totally looking forward to your wedding cake thoughts!
Yay!! I love wedding cake!
I can totally relate, Joy! I’ve never made a wedding cake, but I made a tiered cake for a friend’s 40th birthday and one to donate to a fundraiser, and your description of stacking a cake on top of a cake and then driving it in a car – it sent shivers of recognition down my spine!
Besides the glorious Wilton, the other thing I found really helpful were the women to work at my local all-things-kitchen supply store. Full of great advice. So my advice to anyone attempting the feat – ask, ask, ask! This kind of cake-making is a cult, and if you find other cult members, they’re thrilled to offer their expertise!
I – and everyone else – can’t wait to see the finished product, Joy! Don’t be worried, it’ll turn out just great. You can do it!!
You’ll do wonderfully. How fortunate Nicole and Zach are to have YOU do this for them. Awesomeness…truly.
What a good friend you are to make a wedding cake for your friends!
I’ve made many cakes for friends’ weddings and I have a few tips, learned the hard way:
1. Do NOT put the cake together beforehand! Assemble the cake at the site. Put each layer on cardboard circles the same size as the layer, and put straws in the lower layer. Cut the straws just long enough to hold the cardboard a smidge above the surface of the frosting.
2. Transport the cake layers in a cool car (run the air conditioning ahead of time).
3. Spread a damp terrycloth towel on the surface that you put the cake layers on in the car. The layers will not budge, even when you go around steep turns!
4. Bring extra icing to fix smudges and dings onsite.
5. Use a great frosting like Rose Levy Berenbaum’s Mouselline Buttercream, that pipes like a dream and will not melt. I once had my frosting literally slump off the cake at the reception, it was so hot and humid! What a nightmare…
Nothing beats a homemade cake! The love you bring to it will overcome any imperfections and everyone will appreciate your incredible gift!
Can’t wait to see it unfold!
bless your heart.
Hi Joy,
I decorated and transported designer wedding cakes for 7 years when I owned my own wedding cake business. I had a spectacular baker who did that part but I did the rest. It seems to me you’ll have the baking well under control as you rock in that department. I could help with the other stuff though. I have to disagree with the above lady (respectfully).
1) dowel with wooden dowels, you can buy them at a craft store (same diameter as drinking straws, they just guarantee not failing because of weight) Dowel ALL layers that support cake, ie. the 14″ and the 10″, just not the 6 “.
2) you can purchase cakeboards at a craft or wedding store, which are better than cardboard because the the cakeboard is covered with a moisture proof covering, usually silver or gold. THey’re cheap too. You purchase them in the same size as your cake rounds are going to be, ie. 6,10,14″ cakes.
3) are you icing the cake or covering in fondant? If you know anything about fondanting it would make the cake last a lot longer in heat and it would allow you to safely stack your cake at home before transport.
(I’ve never just iced a cake, so I can’t speak to whether one can use the following transport with it.)
4)You can actually stack before transportation. You just buy a thicker dowel that is tall enough to go through all layers, then pound it through the center. (it goes through the cardboard perfectly, just use a hammer or mallet, goes through like butter. Pound it right into the drum board you have the cake on, then nothing is moving that cake off the board. :o)
5) Buy those mats that go under rugs so they don’t slip, you can usually purchase them in a grocery store. Put one 5 inch square between the cardboard box that boxes the cake and the drumboard the cake sits on. Then put a square UNDER the cardboard box, between the carpet of your car and the box with the cake in it.
**if you’re assembling at the venue, box each cake using antislip mats for each, one inside the box for the cake to sit on, then one for each box that goes in the car so they don’t slip on the carpet. Antislip mats actually work great for anything in the car you don’t want to move, lol.
You can see one of my cakes on my blog http://www.justaddwatersilly.com, just browse down a few posts, I did one for a Nurses reunion.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email me, I am gladly at your service, Joy. :o)
Good luck!!
~Jenn
I can’t wait to see what it’ll look like! I’m sure it will be LOVELY and even more special to the bride and groom to have their cake made by someone that loves them.
What Janet said…with special attention to #1, having done 4 wedding gigs, including 2 tiered wedding cakes, I couldn’t agree more. Looking forward to the pix, you’ll do brilliantly, I’m sure!
All wedding cake- all the time!?
Let’s do this!
:)
I just made a wedding cake for a wedding last weekend, and it gave me nightmares too! It was a strawberry cream cake, meaning it could only be frosted the day of the wedding. Due to space limitations it had to be assembled and then driven over. Only 1 side got damaged! Then I spent the entire dinner watching it to make sure the whipped cream didn’t melt off or the cake collapse. But, all was fine, and will be for you too!
I’ve voluntarily become the dessert maker in my family, so whenever there’s a holiday, I usually bring 2-3 things. Anyway, someone in my family was getting married and casually asked me if I’d make the cake.
WHAT.
I’d made 3 layer cakes, but never anything tiered! They said they’d pay for all of the ingredients and such and that I could make whatever kind of cake I wanted. Free reign!
Anyway, I just decided to go simple (ok, my lack of decorating skills decided that for me) and tried to model it after your double chocolate wedding cake because I LOVE the look of it. I ended up making a chocolate stout cake with ganache and it actually tasted AND looked great!
But yeah…transporting it was the most stressful thing ever. I sat in the back of my parents’ SUV with it and said, “DAAAAD!” whenever he stopped too soon. XD
Sorry for such a long comment, but I’m really looking forward to hearing more about your cake, if you couldn’t tell. :)
The first real “I am gonna make a cake” cake I ever made was a wedding cake, for my mom’s wedding!! You are right–so stressful! But such accomplishment! I can’t wait to here and see more!
You’ll be fine!
Rules to live by from a former cake decorator (never had a wedding cake not make it there perfectly):
If its 3 tiers or lower, assemble beforehand! Use plastic dowels in each tier with weight on it and drive a long somewhat thin wooden skewer in the top of the finished cake all the way down for transport and remove when there.
If more than 3 tiers, assemble as much as possible (e.g.- 2 bottom tiers together, two top tiers for a 4 tier) that way you’re not spending eons at the site eyeballing if the tiers are on straight and have as many nerve wracking moments placing tiers on each other (especially if its not covered in fondant!)
DO bring touch up supplies and itll be a breeze. Im sure you knew lots of this anyways. Good luck!
thanks thanks!!
i made a two tier baby shower cake that i had to deliver a couple of years ago. for me, that’s just setting the perfect scene for me to have a stroke. i didn’t…but barely.
Ooo, Joy, you’re a brave soul. I can’t wait to see your finished product! I’ve done two wedding cakes in my life. The first turned out beautifully, and the second… I was 9 months pregnant and it was for my brother’s wedding, so I had to be a part of the wedding party AND squeeze in as much time as possible in the kitchen. And stay off my feet so I wouldn’t go into labor before the reception. And this was two days after we hosted Thanksgiving at our house. Yeah. Bad combo. Fun memories :)
OK, so I’m in L-O-V-E with those cake pans. Each pan is so super tall. I’d love to know what kind they are. Those look like you would only have to bake one cake of each size instead of two thin cakes of each size and then have to frost and stack. These pans are going on my must have list!
Good Luck Joy! Looking forward to reading about this fun cake adventure.
Whatever you do – do NOT assemble the cake and then drive to the site. Assemble it on site and bring a cake emergency kit with you (extra frosting, offset spatula(s), extras of any decorations you have added, etc.) Good luck!
Joy,I’m sure you will make an awesome cake!!
Woohoo wedding CAKE!! I know it’ll turn out splendidly :)
Like everyone else here, I’m sure the cake will be great. Don’t forget the pants/dress/skirt part, unless you want people to talk about something other than your cake:)
Cool! I hope it all goes well! It always takes a lot longer than you expect!
Good luck and I cant wait to see it!!
I have those nightmares all the time. I do wedding cakes for people all the time. Even have one coming up next weekend. And I have night terrors about dropping it as I’m setting it up at the reception. Or it melting. Or somebody sticking their finger in it. Everything runs thru my head and I can’t breathe until the cake is delivered and I can walk away. I apologize if this adds any extra stress. I just really feel your pain.
Yes! Love this! I’m thinking of (gasp) making my own wedding cake. It would be my only DIY project and we’d be staying at the site where we’re getting hitched, so transport wouldn’t be an issue. The major issue right now is convincing my mom that I’m not completely insane :-). xoxo good luck with the cake, would love to see the recipes!
Your handwriting is absurdly adorable.
There is something truly magical and special about wedding cake. I think it is all the sugar and all the love that is in the room. Eat some of that wedding cake and make a wish – all your dreams will come true!
Holy Batman! Just thinking about a klutz like me attempting something like this someday makes me nervous. I am sure you will rock it though. Can’t wait to see it unfold :)
Can’t wait to see the finished result! The idea of a wedding cake terrifies me, but I’m sure yours will be amazing!
You must get this a lot but your handwriting is so very pretty!
I’d hire you for wedding calligraphy in a hot-second.
Good luck with the cake, I know it’ll be tasty AND beautiful.
Fun! The invitation is so cute.
I am sure your going to do just great. I have bookmarked your site so i can come back and see how it turns out.
Good luck :-)
I’m pumped. Bring it on
Have you seen the clear plastic wedding cake carrier with a rod that goes down the center? It’s amazing and now I can’t find the web site. The demo is on youtube.
Here it is. But it probably costs a fortune.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVw0st5hIhQ
GOOD LUCK =]
I’ve always wanted to make a wedding cake for someone. It’s been on my life list for quite some time.
So, no pressure or anything, but once you’ve nailed that wedding cake, you should totally enter this competition:
http://threadcakes.com/
Threadless t-shirt designs, in cake form. Some of the winners from last year are beyond amazing!
Good luck with the wedding cake. I’m sure it will go amazingly. Careful with your choice of frosting if it’s going to be warm!
FUN!!! Can hardly wait to see it and all your posts about it!
*love*
I’ve done it once and I was terrified. The fact that I had to carry 3 tiers all boxed up on the train from London to Edinburgh probably didn’t help with the stress levels!
I feel your pain and I’m sorry! Next week I am doing a 4 tier wedding cake for my grandparents 50th anniversary – no big deal, right!?!?!
I’m looking forward to your words of wisdom.
Good luck!
Thumbs up on the dowels… I’ve had one too many nightmares with straws, learned the hard way. Make sure you cut them precisely even so that each cake is level.. otherwise it’ll give you fits during assembly.
I also box each cake up separately for travel… use the rubber grippy shelf liner stuff, a square under each cake board inside the box, sheets of it under the cake boxes during travel. That stuff ROCKS cake deliveries.
Level your cakes before frosting them. If you’re using a filling other than buttercream, pipe a dam around the edges at least a half inch in from the edge of the cake… the weight of the cake will push it to the edge and you’ll avoid an unattractive side bulge when it settles (wish this worked for my torso).
One more thing… use a pan release for your cakes, Wilton makes one but it’s expensive so I make my own… equal parts solid shortening/veg oil/flour… whip in mixer for five minutes and store in container… brush on pans, line with parchment circles, brush on parchment. This will save you major headaches the larger the layers get.
Bring extra icing (or fondant and tools, if you’re using it), knives, paper towels and a big spatula (I use the big stainless one meant for grilling)… one with some heft to balance your cake on and evenly slide it onto the tier underneath. It would be good to try this slip/release at least once before you have to do it on the real deal… it’s kind of like flipping a pizza off a peel… you need to use just the right pressure and angle to avoid disaster.
Worst case scenario, you can hide almost anything with buttercream and/or flowers. Oh, don’t make eye contact with the photographer until after you’re done assembling. I’ve yet to meet one that isn’t overly chatty/distracting/infuriating when I’m struggling to set up a cake. ;>)
Your friends have the same wedding date as princess Victoria of Sweden!
You have lovely handwriting
I’m excited for this! Yay!
Best of luck!
you’re so brave, i can’t bring myself to do a wedding cake. and i loooove wilton, we have the wilton tent sale going on here right now–i got out only spending $135, but the woman in front of me–$2K!!! Unreal the deals they have, though…good luck with the cake!
Would love to bake my cake and eat it to. lovely
Such great timing. . I’m making my first wedding cake next week for a wedding on the 27th. I’ve tested four kinds of cake and several kinds of filling. The buttercream I have down though. Stressful and exciting at once. Good luck and can’t wait for the stories/photos.
Wow. Good luck with the cake. I get nervous just making a cake for a small party of 20 people. I bet it will turn out great and that everyone will love it. Awesome blog!