Well I'd first like to say that I LOVE this website! I'm on here atleast 3 hours a night reading all the questions and suggestions, what an awesome place.

Now begins the questionaire My boss has asked me to do a two-tier wedding cake for one of my co-workers who is getting married in Vegas later this month. My first question is, do most of you use box-cake mix or start from scratch? When I took the Wilton classes my instructor said she ALWAYS uses the box stuff but atlers the recipe/bake time/etc. Next question is can you fill the cake, then freeze? Or is it better just to freeze the cakes, then take them out, and fill/stack? (She wants either chocolate mousse or raspberry but hasn't decided yet). Lastly, if anyone has any suggestions on how they would go about making poker chips, I'd greatly appreciate it! TIA

Hi there, welcome to CC.

Box mixes or scratch, its your preference! What works best for you. I am a scratch baker. So don't know much about box mixes. But I know there are loads of members here, use box mixes.

I do freeze cakes, but I only ones I did it with jam and buttercream filling in. I don't know whether you can freeze raspberry or mousse. But I personly would say to freeze just the cake. If you do that, take it out from the freezer the night before and put it out in the fridge. Then next morning take it out from the fridge and leave it on the counter to come to room temperature and then fill and cover it with icing or fondant. When you wrap the cakes to freeze, wrap them really well with saran wrap and then in foil and put it in a freezer bag too. When you take them out to thaw, don't remove the wrap.

Sorry I don't know any answer for making poker chips. Maybe you can use pastllage which you can make it at home or buy the powder and you just have to add some water and make the paste. The other thing you might be able to do is to make them with gumpaste. But hope some one who has made them can help you more!!

HTH.

I prefer a doctored box mix. I love the WASC recipes on here. They turn out wonderful. And you can change them into alot of different flavors.

Scratch vs box is based on preference, experience, and time. I only scratch bake, however I do not pick a customers cake to try out a recipe. I will either do a tester ahead of time to ensure outcome and taste or use a recipe that I know. If you follow that rule you will sidestep last minute problems in baking, like having a cake fall apart. You can freeze mousse but the cake has to be placed out in room temp at least an hour before serv for it to soften. You can do chips in gumpaste, pastillage (must work quickly with this cause it dries fast), print them on wafer paper cut out and place on round pieces of fondant/gumpaste. Many ways to do that. Good luck and have fun.

Believe it or not alot of this isa personal preference thing and what works for one person may not work for another. For example: fondant. Some like a bought brand like Satin Ice, others hate it, cause they say it tears on them. Others like Michele Foster's fondant over Marshmallow fondant. and a lot of people get different results from the exact same recipes. Some people swear ny freezing cakes, saying it makes them moister. I finally tried it and found that my cakes were a little drier and were a gummy mess on the outside. To each his own. Your just gonna have to get in there, try different recipes & techniques & see what works for you. The good thing is, if you make a mistake trying something, more them likely someone here can you help with your problem.

Thank you everyone for you replies I've decided I'm going to make the cakes this week and freeze them (basically just to save time). I'm going to fill them after I take the cakes out of the freezer since she hasn't decided what she wants yet, and I'm going to try my luck at some gumpaste and pastillage and see what works. Thanks again!