This is my first wedding cake and I need LOTSA help! I got a bunch of cake pans from my sister and a friend asked me to make her a wedding cake. It is fairly simple, three tiers, square, covered in white fondont with roses between each layer and a satin ribbon around the bottom. Not too tough (I think). I tried a practice cake the other day and had to make some adjustments. So, onto my problem. She wants an 18" square base, a 16" second layer and a 12" top layer. Problem is the largest square cake plates I can find is 13" -- so, what do I do? The wedding is on Friday and I am in Germany. Oh, PLEASE Help? Any ideas? I will be using 7" Crystal-look spiked Pillars between the layers and I just got a 13", 11", 9" and 7" square seperator plate in the mail today. Any ideas? Please!
For that big of a cake, you will need something very sturdy. A simple piece of cardboard would never hold up. What I like to do is take a piece of plywood and cut it to size. You can get it as thick as you need it to support the cake. Then you can cover it in foil and decorate around the base to cover the board. Also, in making a wedding cake, the advice that was given me was to take it one layer at a time. Don't think of it as one huge project, but rather several smaller projects and take them one step at a time. Hope this helps.
First, Welcome to CC!
Holy Cow-that's a big cake! How many is she planning for the wedding? The cake you describe will serve 362 roughly.
For a cake this size and weight you are better off to use plywood as a baseboard. Not sure what you can use for the 16in tier as a base.
I have been told/read the spiked pillars are not as sturdy as the more standard pillars and you definitely want sturdy for a cake of this weight.
hth a bit!
I agree with chef-jeremy - ply-board is the way to go with a cake this big. Your local hardware/DIY store should be able to cut a piece to size for you. Welcome to CC by the way! Welcome to chef-jeremy too - do we have another man amongst our midst (hoorah!)? You both will love it here I'm sure!
Thanks, I think I will be OK on the bottom layer, but what about layer 2? I don't have cake boards for it (and can't find any), so I don't know how to stack it. If all else fails I will use a 14" bottom, 12" second layer and 10" top layer and hope the bride doesn't notice. However, I think she might. Sheesh. BTW, did I mention that not only am I doing the wedding cake, I am photographing the entire event?
For my big cake projects, I go to the local lumber guy and get formica-type plywood board cut to my specifications. These boards vary in thickness and are used for kitchen countertops, so they're food safe. If you have time, you can probably order it in different colors (marble, solid colors, etc). I usually get the 1/2" thick in standard white and cover the cut edges in silver contact paper.
The bride wants to feed 200 people a large piece for the dessert after a sit down dinner and before dessert. You think I will be good with the 14-12-10 thing? She also doesn't want alot of cake left over, so if I downsize it I don't think it will be that big of a deal - she may be happy to have it smaller. IT is going to be red velvet and white with a cream cheese filling and buttercream mint out the outside covered in Satin Ice. Any other ideas for me? I have done several birthday and baby showe cakes, just no wedding cakes.
Sounds like you've taken on quite an order, and not just the cake, the photography too! Personally, I wouldn't recommend trying to change the size of the cake and "hope the bride doesn't notice", she could turn from very nice woman to bridezilla in a split second. You might want to talk with her and make sure she understands just how big this cake is and make sure it has to be that big. Best of luck to you!
Thank you all for your suggestions. I am learning. The photos are not a problem, I have been doing those for years - the cake worries me. I will bake it on Wednesday and freeze it. Decorate it Thursday night so I can get to the wedding in Frankfurt on Friday morning. Then I will transfer the cake to the reception site on Friday afternoon and I have a friend making the rose arrangements for the centers and she will help me put the cake together before the 6 p.m. reception
The 10-12-14 will put you at roughly 220 slices which sounds more like what she wants-enough to feed the guests without alot left over. Explain this to her and get her approval but this sounds like the way to go. I would still use plywood as the baseboard-18in cut to size, then you've got the cake plates for the other sizes. If you are not familiar with tiered cake construction read the info in the articles section here. It's essential to the survival of the cake.
Just got off the phone with the bride - whose reception had dropped to 70 people, so she wants to do four tiers now, a 12, 10, 8, 6 layer since she already ordered all the flowers for inbetween the tiers. That will be SO much better. Thank you for all your suggestions. BTW, just curious, how much fontant will it take to cover all of that? I have 5 1/2 lbs of Satin Ice.
This will give you something to estimate with:
http://www.satinfinefoods.com/ordering.shtml
Thanks dodibug, and everyone else. You are all amazing and so helpful. I am crazy to do everything I do - which involved two charities and working closely with the military along with photography and cakes. "I'm just a girl who can't say no" and I try to make everythign I try the best. I am so greateful to everyone for your advice. The bride is great about the changes in size and just happy to have someone making her cake. Thanks again!
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