How To Prepare For Wedding Cake (First One)

Decorating By Cathrine123 Updated 20 Apr 2012 , 2:37pm by denetteb

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Cathrine123 Posted 8 Feb 2012 , 9:20am
post #1 of 13

Hello fellow cake makers icon_biggrin.gif

In a few months time I will be making my friend/colleagues wedding cake, what they want is 100 mini cakes with 50 of them having a strawberry conserve in the middle and the other 50 with cherry conserve in and they would like them to look like this, but white fondant instead of pink:

[url]http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2010/085/f/9/Sakura_Blossoms_by_Sliceofcake.jpg I hope this works!

I also need to do a diabetic cake for the MIL icon_surprised.gif and I've never done that type of cake before!



Anyway what I needed help/tips and advice with as this is my first proper cake for a special occasion, is on how to prepare myself, because I don't want to put myself in a panic and then freak out and then get the feeling that I never want to do this again. So I was thinking of possibly baking them and then freezing them however there is a problem if I wanted to do that as I only have a small freezer and it wouldn't be possible to have them all in there plus our frozen food too! I will prepare the fondant blossoms and butterflies 2 days before, if that is okay to do? and would I have to prepare the buttercream on the day of icing or is it okay to leave in a fridge over night before filling and crumbing? if you can see the photo the branches are on the cakes with brown fondant however the ones that I am making are going to be painted on since there is 100 to do, I am somewhat freaking out now because there is the question on how far in advance can I do this so that everything is done perfectly and not rushed and without the cakes tasking awful.

All feedback advice/tips will be greatly appreciated icon_biggrin.gif

12 replies
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LisaPeps Posted 8 Feb 2012 , 10:59am
post #2 of 13
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cathrine123

Hello fellow cake makers icon_biggrin.gif

In a few months time I will be making my friend/colleagues wedding cake, what they want is 100 mini cakes with 50 of them having a strawberry conserve in the middle and the other 50 with cherry conserve in and they would like them to look like this, but white fondant instead of pink:

[url]http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2010/085/f/9/Sakura_Blossoms_by_Sliceofcake.jpg I hope this works!

I also need to do a diabetic cake for the MIL icon_surprised.gif and I've never done that type of cake before!



Anyway what I needed help/tips and advice with as this is my first proper cake for a special occasion, is on how to prepare myself, because I don't want to put myself in a panic and then freak out and then get the feeling that I never want to do this again. So I was thinking of possibly baking them and then freezing them however there is a problem if I wanted to do that as I only have a small freezer and it wouldn't be possible to have them all in there plus our frozen food too! I will prepare the fondant blossoms and butterflies 2 days before, if that is okay to do? and would I have to prepare the buttercream on the day of icing or is it okay to leave in a fridge over night before filling and crumbing? if you can see the photo the branches are on the cakes with brown fondant however the ones that I am making are going to be painted on since there is 100 to do, I am somewhat freaking out now because there is the question on how far in advance can I do this so that everything is done perfectly and not rushed and without the cakes tasking awful.

All feedback advice/tips will be greatly appreciated icon_biggrin.gif




Wow, this is quite an undertaking for your first wedding order...

I would do a practice run on the minis, they are difficult and very time consuming. Get your cake, icing, filling ready. Start the timer, stack the layers and cover with icing. Stop the timer while you prepare fondant, then restart when you are ready. Roll out your fondant and cover. Paint your design and set the butterflies and flowers. Stop the timer. Multiply that time by 100 and that'll give you an idea of how long it'll take you. In theory it should be less than that time because you will be doing multiple at a once but use that time as a ball point figure. If it were me, I would pipe the branch on with melted chocolate (tempered is best as it is the ideal viscosity for piping, otherwise you just need to let it cool and get thick enough to pipe).

Diabetic cake... see this annoys me. Cake is meant to be sweet and have lbs of sugar in it. Not only that but it is the carbs which is one of the main issues. Diabetics have to regulate their diets by limiting their intake of sugar and carbs so cake should be no different. If it were me I would suggest (nicely) that the MIL enjoys a small piece of cake (which will actually taste good!) and include it in her diet intake for the day. That's just my opinion....

Keep a look out in local newspapers for cheap freezers... they are god sends lol!

Fondant covered cakes last for 2-3 days (I've had them last longer but that was just me eating it) so you can get started earlier that you think. Your icing will be fine in the fridge too. I would start the butterflies and flowers a week in advance. So long as you keep them out of sunlight and covered so they don't pick up dust etc... they will be fine for the wedding.

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AnnieCahill Posted 8 Feb 2012 , 1:34pm
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Honestly, I would run, not walk away from this. Even if you had someone to help you, it's still going to be way stressful. Are you sure you can't talk her in to having a normal wedding cake?

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Cathrine123 Posted 8 Feb 2012 , 2:22pm
post #4 of 13

Thank-you all for your replies, very helpful icon_biggrin.gif

@Anniecahill I just spoke with the bride and inquired about the cake the last I heard from her in regards to number of cakes to make was 100 however she just informed me that a lot of people have declined the invitation and apparently there are only 27 people so far who have RSVP'd I must say I would have expected them to know the numbers by now but hey ho.... so maybe after all this i might only have to make 50 I think I should be okay with that I feel that I won't be as stressed as I thought I would be if I was going to have to do 100! icon_surprised.gif

@ Lisapeps: Thank-you for your great feedback that has helped me to balance out everything rationally I was mainly concerned about the cakes being covered for a few days, but it is okay for them to be stored in the fridge with fondant on and they wont slide off cause of condensation or anything? I will also speak to the bride about the MIL's cake. Because to be honest I really have NO idea what to do about frosting and things like that for a cake like that, I have looked for recopies and stuff but I always end up like" ugghh I don't know what to do" icon_sad.gif

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Texas_Rose Posted 8 Feb 2012 , 2:50pm
post #5 of 13

I've made fondant-covered mini cakes before. I work fairly quickly. It takes me 6 hours to do 18 of them, usually.

I make a sheet cake, cut the edges off, split into two layers, then fill and put a layer of buttercream on the top. Lay waxed paper over that, smooth as much as possible, then wrap the whole thing in plastic wrap and then foil and freeze at least overnight. Cut the mini cake shapes from it with a deep cookie cutter (ateco makes some that are 4" tall), put them back in the freezer. Take out a couple at a time to cover, or one at a time if you're not super quick at covering them. Don't frost the sides. Don't use anything to glue the fondant down. As the little cake thaws, the fondant will look shiny for a little while and then dry.

For that particular design, I'd make the flowers and butterflies well in advance...even a week or two early is fine. Pipe the branches on with a round tip. Melted chocolate would work well, or royal icing. That will be faster than painting and you can attach the blossoms with it too.

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Cathrine123 Posted 20 Apr 2012 , 9:46am
post #6 of 13

Hi Guys and Gals,

There has been a big change in the order, a few weeks ago, I spoke to my friend and explained that I was worried about such a drastic order for my first wedding cake and she said that it was okay so we decided that it would be easier to do a two tier Japanese blossom cake ( her original idea) so I need a little more advice from you guys, I am looking at how to properly stack the cake, I read instructions online saying that a cake board should be between the two tiers, a little thing piece of card? I feel this is a really silly question but is that really necessary? I know that it will probably help the chances of the cake collapsing in on itself, but I just wanted to know will the cake be okay with the dowels that I have? And I don't feel that the cake batter is too dense for it to collapse.


Thanks,

Cat xx

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emma_123 Posted 20 Apr 2012 , 10:06am
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You really, really, really need the cake board underneath the cake otherwise the dowels are useless as they won't be supporting anything just resting against the bottom of a sponge cake, when the cake is covered in icing it is heavy so it needs something to support its weight which is why you use the cake board and dowels. There are some great videos on youtube about stacking cakes which show it all step by step and if you haven't done it before I really would suggest a practice run too.

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Cathrine123 Posted 20 Apr 2012 , 10:29am
post #8 of 13
Quote:
Originally Posted by emma_123

You really, really, really need the cake board underneath the cake otherwise the dowels are useless as they won't be supporting anything just resting against the bottom of a sponge cake, when the cake is covered in icing it is heavy so it needs something to support its weight which is why you use the cake board and dowels. There are some great videos on youtube about stacking cakes which show it all step by step and if you haven't done it before I really would suggest a practice run too.





Hi Emma_123,

Thankyou for that advice I will make a test run first, thumbs_up.gif better to be safe than sorry! icon_biggrin.gif

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mcaulir Posted 20 Apr 2012 , 11:05am
post #9 of 13

Yes, you really need the cake board. If you have the time and funds, please do a practise run of at least baking, icing and stacking the cake, if not decorating. It's harder than it looks!

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Cathrine123 Posted 20 Apr 2012 , 11:06am
post #10 of 13

Double post :S

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CWR41 Posted 20 Apr 2012 , 1:40pm
post #11 of 13
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cathrine123

I read instructions online saying that a cake board should be between the two tiers, a little thing piece of card?




Don't use thin card, use corrugated cardboard.

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Tails Posted 20 Apr 2012 , 2:14pm
post #12 of 13

Petit fours!!! Run away!!! icon_biggrin.gif

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denetteb Posted 20 Apr 2012 , 2:37pm
post #13 of 13

Yes, you need a cardboard. Think of a support system as a table. The table top is a cardboard, the table legs are the dowels. The bottom tier just sits on the sturdy bottom cake board (sturdy so it doesn't bend with the weight of the cake/cakes). Then picture the dowels going through the bottom tier. If you then put the top tier on to the bottom cake, the dowels don't support anything, they are just table legs with no table top. The heavy weight of the cake and filling and decor now pushes on the delicate cake below and can cause the bottom tier to squish, slide, etc. Now picture the dowels and cakeboard sitting on/in the bottom cake. Then picture the cake placed on the cardboard. Now the dowels and cardboard keep the top cake from pressing down and squishing on the bottom cake. The weight of the top cake is sitting on it's table and no weight is going into the bottom cake. Well supported. The only difference in reality is that you already have your top layer on the cardboard as you decorate it and then set it on the legs/dowels.


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