I am going to make a weddingcake for a happy couple marrying in a couple of weeks time. The bride just now has requested a top cake which she does not want to cut, but take home and keep until her first anniversary. She says she wants a 'traditional' topcake.
Can anyone help me find a recipe for such a cake? She could just freeze a cake I normally make but I don't think it would taste just as good after one year. Also, it's definitely not the 'traditional' cake the bride is talking about. I have read once that such a traditional cake 'for keeps' just gets better in time.
Please help! She just now came up with this idea and I have limited time. Thanks so much for any tips or advice!

I'm assuming by traditional cake she means a fruit cake? They keep a long time and improve with age.

Here is a recipe (I know it says Christmas cake but they are the same!) http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/christmascake_2359 I leave the nuts out if I know the cake will be left for a long time - if anything is going to go off it will be the nuts turning rancid and you don't really miss them. Soak with plenty of brandy over a few weeks after baking too as this will preserve it longer.

Cover with marzipan and fondant or royal icing.[/url]

i'm not sure what "traditional" is in Netherlands. But here in the US, we typically make the top tier the same as the others and then freeze the cake for a year. If frozen properlly it will taste just as good a year later as i did the day off. (big thing is wrapping properly and making sure it stays frozen)

If it's something that "just gets better with time" i'm wondering if it is a fruit cake of sorts? But i don't know enough obout fruitcake to know if it would stay good that long. Hopefully someone else can help with that.

Hi everyone!

Thanks so much for your replies. As I myself am not sure what the bride means, I have asked her if she would prefer a fruitcake (thanx for the recipe Bunsen!) or just part of the regular cake. However, she hasn't even chosen what kind of weddingcake she wants just yet... (I know, very last minute order for a wedding cake..).
MikeRowesHunny: I never use mixes for my cakes, I make all of my recipes by hand (& heart ) but I have frozen a 'biscuit' cake before and I do find it doesn't improve in time. I agree with you on that one! Wow, I think it's great you make cakes for expats! Do you ship them? How do you wrap them and do they make it oversees? Is it expensive to send them? I am curious! Recently a friend of mine living abroad had a baby. I very much wanted to send her a decorated birthcake as a present but I just didn't know how to wrap and send it so that it would also keep well. What's your experience? Well... maybe a fruitcake would to the trick
By the way, good tip leaving out the nuts Bunsen! I shall keep that in mind! And you are so right with the costs of a fruitcake MikeRowesHunny! Definitely one to keep in mind! (allthough I think if even just for fun, I now can't resist making a fruitcake if only just once.. )

Thanks all for your tips! I will definitely let you know what we decide on!

I'm thrilled to hear you mostly make cakes from scratch (although I did read on your website that you do offer biscuit taarts !), that's not very common in NL as I'm sure you know - not by the Dutch anyway.
I don't ship cakes, I live in a highly Expat populated part of NL and have built up a very good reputation for offering the 'proper' cakes that we like. I have never met an expat who doesn't hate slagroom taarts and all the other things that pass as celebration cakes here - and don't even get me started on Dutch 'wedding cakes' !

Fruit cake is a good choice, but it really doesn't have time to mature properly in 2 weeks. I will be making my fruit cakes for Christmas in a few weeks time (a few months maturing and feeding with alcohol is what makes the best quality fruitcake).

Good luck with whatever you do!