okay, so please don't think i'm an utter, complete idiot...maybe just a regular old idiot.

because i specialize in cupcake weddings (yes, i know some of you don't like them, but that's not what i'm inquiring about here), and when i do tastings i offer 3 frostings, fillings and cake depending on what they ask for. but, i am getting more interest in traditional stacked cakes and (this is where the idiot part comes in), if they want buttercream frosted cakes, then the buttercream that they choose has to be the same for each tier, right? unless it's under fondant. they can have flavored buttercreams as fillings but the exterior bc should be the same for the entire cake, right?

when guiding them on their stacked cake, they should choose their cake and filling flavors based on the type of buttercream that will best accentuate each of the cake/fillings???

i do realize that if i have to ask this question that i probably shouldn't be making wedding cakes but i'm posting anyway

ashley

It's not a stupid question .... it's really a pretty good one!

There are no rules in wedding cakes. Each tier can be a different flavor, a different color .... whatever.

I've only used one icing for 25 years, so no matter what flavor cake/filling they select, they all have the same icing on it.

I would discourage the idea of multi-flavored icings on each tier, though. Every time you have to make a different batch of something, that's extra labor you're putting into this cake. Much faster for you to be able to make one big batch of icing to cover the whole cake.

In 25 years, I've never had a bride ask about different icings on different tiers .... we walk thru the selection of cake and filling flavors and it's just a given that the cake will be iced in "my" icing.

I have had brides ask at the consultation " Different cakes have different icings so how can I have different flavored tiers"? Easy you match the filling to the flavor but you still ice in Buttercream. The outside of the cake looks uniform, fillings match the flavor and I can't think of any cake that is not complememted by the taste of buttercream.
Buttercream is the cake decorators neutral, it goes with everything.

Jibbies

What they said. Different cake flavor and filling every tier, all the same bc on the outside.

thanks! that's what i was thinking but just wanted to make sure i wasn't missing anything.

ashley

Yes, all tiers need to be iced in the same icing, unless you are deliberately going for different color combs, like every other one chocolate or something.

Almost all of mine are iced in standard vanilla BC, but sometimes almond, and every once in a while lemon. You might think that since these are all the same color you could combine them, but once they are placed side by side, they are not really the same color. Vanilla will be a shade darker if you use real vanilla extract, and if you use lemon juice to make lemon BC, the acidity of the juice bleaches out the icing and make it whiter.

Like others have said, the filling should complement the cake flavor of any given tier, and the icing should be complementery to all flavors, which is usually vanilla BC. It goes with everything.

Ditto all the above. When you think about it, very few guests even get a piece that has icing on it, so it would just make extra work for you to flavor each tier differently. Most guests will get the 'inside' slices that have no icing on it other than a small strip at the top of the slice - hardly enough to notice whether it's been flavored or not!

Good luck,