Hi There,

My son's 2nd birthday is coming up next month and want to bake the cake at home.There going to be 60 guests including kids. 

I am going to use Donna hay's ready made chocolate cake mix which got a chocolate ganache mix.

Also I would like to cover this cake with fondant.

with 21 cms round cake tin, how many cakes do I need to bake for 60 serves?

is Chocolate ganche OK for a fondant cake?

Which brand fondant is good and easy to work with? How much fondant is needed for this cake?

Can I bake the cake one week before and decorate it the day before the party?

Please help me.

Thanks,

Jyothi

Hi,

According to my calculation your pan is slightly larger than an 8-inch round pan.  You would need to bake quite a few of those cakes to feed 60 - at least four of them (three layers each).  Maybe consider a sheet pan instead since it feeds larger crowds.  Having to frost and decorate a bunch of smaller cakes separately is more time consuming than doing just one large cake.

Ganache is great underneath fondant - some prefer it over frosting because it smooths very well.  

People prefer different fondants...I personally make homemade marshmallow fondant.  It's much cheaper than store bought and surprisingly easy to make.  Just google for recipes - Elizabeth Marek has a great one with a youtube tutorial.  Whatever you do don't use Wilton fondant - no one likes it.  It's dry and tastes bad.  Ironically, Elizabeth Marek's recipe does add a little Wilton fondant to her homemade recipe for structure.  There are other marshmallow fondant recipes out there.  If you want to buy it some brands I see recommended here are Satin Ice, Fondx, and Fondarific.  Here's a chart on how much fondant you might need.  I would buy/make more than necessary because fondant can be wrapped and kept for months.  

http://www.wilton.com/decorating/fondant/fondant-amounts-to-cover-cakes.cfm

Definitely bake your cakes and freeze them a week ahead of time.  I do this with a lot of big cake projects.  Freezing will actually make your cakes moister and it's easier to handle a chilled cake (less likely to fall apart).  Once your baked cakes are completely cool wrap them in a good quality plastic wrap (all brands are not equal) and then in a layer of tin foil.  You want to protect the cakes from frost and any scents possibly in your frig/freezer.  Make sure you wrap them completely - cakes are like sponges and will absorb whatever is around it.  I usually double wrap mine.  The morning before the party remove them from the freezer and defrost for an hour.

Good luck!

Hi Kate,

Thanks for your help.

baking 4 cakes is fine. Can you please explain me what you mean by three layers each?

I am thinking of layering 4 cakes and cover them with ganache and freeze the cake.

Then cover with fondant the day before the party.

Below is the cake design I have in mind

Please suggest. Thank you.

Jyothi

"A layer cake is a cake consisting of multiple stacked sheets of cake, held together by frosting or another type of filling, such as jam or other preserves"

The cake you show pictured consists of 3 to 4 layers from what I can tell.  You will need to bake 3 to 4 separate pans of cake to build just one cake.  With at least three layers to each cake and four finished cakes that means baking 12 separate pans of cake must be baked.  

Here is a quick diagram that might help...

You do not have to slice each cake into three layers (torting). I think most professionals do, but I don't always. I would bake the four cakes, leave them whole, put icing/filling in between the layers (you now have 4 layers), then cover in ganache, then fondant.

AOne box of mix generally makes one 8 inch cake that can be as tall as 4 inches depending on how many layers you make and how much filling you use. One 8 inch cake that is 4 inches tall is going to give you between 12 and 24 servings depending on how small you cut the slices.

What Kate meant is you're going to have to bake 4 boxes of mix to get 4 separate cakes (each with 2 or 3 layers) to get 60 servings, or make one of the cake you have planned and a larger, simpler sheet cake for the remaining servings,

You can't just stack 4 cakes, each made out of one box of mix, and fill between those, of course it will fulfill your serving requirement but your cake will look insane, and be impossible to cover with fondant.

If you only have the one pan, I'd suggest baking your mix at a lower temp and for longer, you could get away with just splitting it into two layers and filling as long as it rises enough. If you have three or four pans you could split the batter up between them to have your layers already done and avoiding having to split them, that is one of the most intimidating things for most people.