Hello, this is my first time using cake central and I am very excited :)

Anyway I am making my very first wedding cake and I need some help on flavor combinations and recipes. The bride wants a 3 tiered, 'naked cake' (google the term and examples will come up). She isn't very picky but she definitely wants to have peach jam in it. The middle tier will be chocolate cake with vanilla bc and strawberry jam for filling. But its the top and bottom tiers that I am worried about.  They will be vanilla cake with vanilla bc and peach jelly for filling.

Should I use white cake or just classic vanilla cake? Can someone recommend a recipe?

She made the peach jelly and it's a bit runny. What should I do about that? 
Thanks so much!!

think of it this way -- who would willingly use a runny filling in their cake? 

answer: no one 

if I made the jelly i would cook it down till it was nearly waterless ad very thick and tasry --- so it didn't run and a little could go a long way and you could do this with that but i would not use it at all myself -- uh ugh i don't need to willingly create a problem for myself -- just say no --

but what is your relation to the bride are you being paid for this?

not to mention the contrast between the dark and light colored cakes is a design element that will need some work to make it nice looking 

like for the design element -- if you could do some small  cascading leaves for example -- light colored on the chocolate cake and dark colored on the white cake to give it a sense of continuity -- it could still be buck nekkid but it needs some cohesion there because of that difference kwim -- you need to sell her on that idea -- if you want to --

or a handful of butterflies or flowers -- and this could be a light dusting as in a small amount but it will need that I think to have a chance at being pretty -- skinny ribbon is another idea where most of the sides are still exposed but just to wind it around the tiers at little bit different angles and in the contrasting colors -- think there's a cake on here lately like that with skinny ribbons criss crossing different angles --

and a side note -- dust your cake pan in prepararion for the chocolate cake batter with cocoa so the white flour doesn't show through the big reveal naked part later on -- and I'd sift it onto all the pans (flour for vanilla of course) but no clumps or anything --

Momofuku is known for their naked cakes. You may want to get a copy of their cookbook or search online for their recipes.  If nothing else, I think reviewing their method might be helpful.

There are two methods for making a naked cake: traditional cake pans in which there is an outside crust; the other is cutting layers from a sheet cake.

 Using traditional pans makes for a stronger structure because you have the crust.

 but the sheet cake method has a number of advantages: The cake bakes to a even 1 inch layer so there is no torting and no leveling. The layers are identical because they are cut from the same cake ring.  Assembly is done in a cake ring with acetate strip, so there's sharp alignment of layers. There's no crumb coat layer on sides.

the link below pictures a naked cake that was made with the sheet cake method.  

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/milk-bars-birthday-layer-cake

regarding white vs vanilla cake.  Vanilla is simply a flavoring that is added to a cake batter.  A white cake is always made with vanilla. Vanilla is also added to a yellow cake.  The difference between white cake and yellow is the egg: white cake contains egg whites, yellow contains whole eggs.

I don’t trust myself enough to make peach jelly, could y’all recommend some brands of jam/jelly for me?

The bride is my brother’s fiancé and I have known her for a while so I think she will understand.

I’m not too worried about the contrast between the tiers because she wants it slightly iced. It kind of looks like an elegant crumb coat. Here is an example : http://www.southboundbride.com/naked-cakes-for-autumn-weddings/  The first cake with the title is the one she wants it to look like.

Wow! That Momofuku method of making cakes is cool! I will definitely look into this more.

What I need help with is finding a peach jam that tastes good and finding what cake would taste best. Would a plain vanilla cake taste better than a white cake? Or the other way around? Once I find a peach jam should I mix it with a buttercream to make it thicker?  

Thanks so much for all of your help!

PEACH FILLING

Adapted from:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/homemade-peach-filling-for-cakes-52591141

INGREDIENTS

3 cups ripe peaches (about 3 large peaches), peeled and diced
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp. corn starch
1 tbsp. water

PREPARATION

Mix 1 ½ cup peaches, brown sugar, and lemon juice in small sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Smash peaches with potato masher to break down into more of a puree. Add remaining peaches and simmer for an additional 5 minutes. Combine corn starch and water until smooth. Add cornstarch mixture to peaches. Simmer until thick. (Will thicken more as cools).  Chill in fridge.

that sounds like a good recipe plus you could get some polaner all fruit -- we used to put a smear of that in between layers for a filling -- used a lot of polaner blackberry that way -- polaner is all fruit but I mean any good non-runny jelly would work --

the jelly she made could work if you warm it up slowly to a boil so it doesn't burn then add a slurry with cornstarch and water -- dissolve a tablespoon of cornstarch in water and boil for two minutes stirring all the while -- but it probably will change the color to cloudy -- you can make this well in advance of the wedding and if it doesn't work you can switch to the next idea --

try a small taste test of your peachy buttercream and see how you like it -- 

we get fresh strawberries here all year 'round but not peaches so depending on the timing of the wedding you can get frozen peaches if you go that route --

i mean i don't know the difference between plain vanilla and white cake -- would be good with either