I'm getting married in a year and I am not a fan of cake. I really love cheesecake and want that for my wedding cake. What are my options as far as stacking the tiers, do they have to be separated? How thick are cheesecake layers, usually? What type of icing is used? I want 4 square tiers. The top photo is the overall design I like and the second photo is the decoration I want on two alternating tiers, with ribbon on the other tiers.

Cheesecake wedding cake help threads:

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-204911.html

HTH

I wasn't baking cakes when I was married, but really wanted cheesecake for the reception. I took the 'cheesy' way out...bought Costco cheesecakes and decorated them with fresh flowers. they turned out really sweet!

Of course this is beside the point, but you just reminded me...

Best wishes in your wedding and their plans!!

I did one for a bride, and it was fine. Baked them with bottom crust only, then iced with white chocolate cream cheese icing and put them on the Wilton floating tiers stand (which wouldn't work with squares as well). She loved them and has ordered one for every birthday and holiday since!

The pic is in my pics here, the only one on a floating tier setup, with red roses on the cakes and white-chocolate dipped strawberries around each (also not my favorite thing to do--the strawberries turn dull and weepy pretty quick).

Some things to remember:

1. If you have an outdoor cake table, I'd be careful with cheesecakes or avoid them altogether.

2. Even indoors, you don't want them sitting around at room temp for too long, so plan your cake-cutting/serving accordingly--don't wait til after the receiving line/meal/dancing/toasting/aunt mamie face-down in her drink.

3. Many bakeries won't provide them for the above perishability issues, and from a home baker, there would be health district issues with such a perishable dessert that would or could cause issues with any venue, unless your reception is at a private location (as in, your house).

Good luck--it's not impossible, but it is much more complicated. I actually decided not to offer them anymore for the above reasons.

A wedding cheesecake is typically baked in a single layer 3 inch deep pan. I've heard of people stacking two layers of cheesecake, but can you imagine eating a 1"x2"x4" piece of cheesecake? Here are some square cheesecake pans:

http://cooksdream.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=removable_Bottom_square

Cheesecake can be stacked many ways, including with wooden dowels, as long as you remember they are heavier than normal cake and might need more support. I baked my own wedding cheesecake 12 years ago, long before I ever took a cake decorating class, and I stacked five round tiers using Wilton's hidden pillars. The layers were 2.5" thick, there was .5" between each tier, and I stuck fresh roses from my mother's garden into the gap.

I used the white chocolate cream cheese frosting from Wilton, originally by Rose Levy Beranbaum in the Cake Bible, which tasted just like cheesecake and worked perfectly. I don't care for the cheesecake recipe myself, I adapted my own. The hard part is baking cheesecake in a large pan, my 14" tier was too creamy in the middle, although it tasted great. One tip I recently found is to insert an instant read thermometer into the cheesecake; it is done between 150 and 160 degrees, and will crack above 160 degrees. Here is the Wilton recipe that I took the frosting recipe from:

http://www.wilton.com/recipes/recipesandprojects/wedding/gki_sm3tier.cfm

Another Wilton recipe:

http://www.wilton.com/recipes/recipesandprojects/wedding/tieredwhitechoccheesecakes.cfm

A frosting recipe that would work:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-901-Whipped-Cream-Frosting.html

Websites for inspiration:

http://www.elegantcheesecakes.com/ECC_Weddings.asp
http://www.beau-coup.com/present_cheesecake.htm

Thank you guys for all the help! That icing sounds yummy! I'm actually going to be making the cakes and fillings, and just ordering the cheesecakes (either from Costco or the specialty cheesecake bakery near me). A decorator friend will be icing, decorating, and assembling for me. She's much more experienced, and has her own business, so I trust her abilities. Now my question is: if the tiers are alternated cake and cheesecake, will it hold up, even with lots of support? I do want a separation between each tier (not to exceed an inch) so I can put fresh roses.

I think alternating cheesecake and cake would hold up just fine. But you need to consider the thickness of each layer so it looks balanced. 3" deep cheesecakes on top of 4" deep cakes might look fine, but alternated would look out of balance.

Costco doesn't generally take custom cake orders outside their standard sizes (which is 10" round for cheesecake). Have you asked the other cheesecake bakery if they provide custom sized square cheesecakes? They might only do rounds. Can they do two 2" deep layers that you could stack? Or could you do a 3" deep layer of cake in the middle? I would make sure you can purchase square cheesecakes now before you figure out the details.

Your decorator friend might not want to frost someone else's cheesecake; most wedding cake decorators have clauses that say all cake at the wedding must be baked and provided by them. Consider the liability aspect...if someone gets sick and claims it was from the cheesecake, your friend would be held liable. Plus the quality of the product reflects on her business. Your friend may have been too nice to say no, but I do think it is unfair to ask her to do this.

Yes, the bakery does squares. They specialize in cheesecake wedding cakes, and offer several shapes and sizes. I'll have to ask about 2" and 3" layers because I'm not sure what they do. The dummy cake in the window looks to be about 4 inches, but again that's a dummy and doesn't necessarily reflect the size of the real layers.

My FI's decorator friend does know all the details. I didn't ask her to do this either, she offered (unless he asked without my knowledge, but I don't think he did). My original plan was to order the tiered cheesecake from the bakery and bake some cupcakes to sit with the cake (so those who hate cheesecake can still have dessert!). If, after we figure all the details, she decides she doesn't want to do it, then I will go with plan A and order the cake. It's not a big deal to me. I've made sure to set aside enough to get the cake I want, but if I can save some money that's just icing on the cake The only thing I needed to know (because she's never done a stacked cheesecake) was HOW to go about assembling this thing. And I do appreciate all the help I've received

I used these hidden pillars to stack a five tier cheesecake and it worked just fine.

http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=3E3119F0-475A-BAC0-5772682F766C019C&fid=63EB9DA7-475A-BAC0-522158B536D3E04A

I transported it with two layers stacked together and assembled the rest of the way at the location. I'm sure other systems would work as well.

You may want to look at the book The Cake Bible too.
Most public libraries have it. [/u]

There's a cake bible? Awesome!

I'll check that out, thanks!