Thanks in advance for your patience and any advice you may offer.
I am making my first wedding cake, to be brief the highlights are:
My niece [the new Dr.!!! 
], island outdoor wedding, 3 tiers(6 10 14), August in Maine (80-90 degrees)! oh yes, and a fab fiance! 
My thoughts/concerns/questions are:
Cake: 1 tier vanilla w/ roasted strawberry balsamic filling and 2 layers of buttercream or mousse or ???; 1 chocolate tier with caramel and nut filling and 2 layers of buttercream or mousse or ???; top to be saved. She wants something light in texture, but I need stability to tier. Is genoise suitable?
Fillings & icing: given temperature issue, will buttercream be ok? For icing, she does not prefer fondant, but will consider it. can I use Italian meringue or swiss buttercream (or other), to get smooth look (fondant smoother tool or paper towel trick). Is poured fondant an option? Will be decorating simply with stencils what would best form of icing would be to use with stencils and conditions ??? Dark blue on white.
Assembly: want recessed look to separators. Is 2 smaller base plate enough for each 6 and 10 tiers? Any trick to cutting dowels? How many dowels /tier? Are smoothfoam Styrofoam (different than standard styro) rounds covered in fabric strong enough (not sure if just 1 layer or 2they are 1 thick each round)? Wilton new base plates not available in size I need, and the foil is ugly! I thought 6 cake on 6 cake cardboard sitting on 4 smoothfoam round, similar for 10 (10, 10, 8). 14tier directly on cake stand. Should I run 1 dowel thru center of all, too?
Transporting cake (on ferry 45 minutes), unassembled & wrapped in plastic in some sort of cooler. Should I freeze the tiers first, with crumb coat? More I can do in advance the better!
If frozen in advance, should I frost after thawing? Can I do all (except stacking) and freeze or fridge for 4-5 days? (yep, Im doing the fresh flowers too!!!!)
Thanks in advance for your patience and any advice you may offer.
I am making my first wedding cake, to be brief the highlights are:
My niece [the new Dr.!!!
], island outdoor wedding, 3 tiers(6 10 14), August in Maine (80-90 degrees)! oh yes, and a fab fiance! My thoughts/concerns/questions are:
Cake: 1 tier vanilla w/ roasted strawberry balsamic filling and 2 layers of buttercream or mousse or ???; 1 chocolate tier with caramel and nut filling and 2 layers of buttercream or mousse or ???; top to be saved. She wants something light in texture, but I need stability to tier. Is genoise suitable? With proper doweling and structure you can tier jello. Genoise is a cake that not a lot of Americans are used to because it's dryer in texture and not as sweet, then you add moisture and sweeten it up by adding a flavored syrup. So, basically, whatever cake flavors you want is what you should use.
Fillings & icing: given temperature issue, will buttercream be ok? You will have ti use an American buttercream with a Crisco base. Butter melts at 80 degrees and will slide right off your cake at temps that hot. For icing, she does not prefer fondant, but will consider it. can I use Italian meringue or swiss buttercream (or other), to get smooth look (fondant smoother tool or paper towel trick)No, you can't smooth SMBC with Viva. It does not crust. You work with it completely differently then American buttercream. Is poured fondant an option? No Will be decorating simply with stencils what would best form of icing would be to use with stencils and conditions ??? Dark blue on white. Royal icing on fondant.[/]
Assembly: want recessed look to separators. Is 2 smaller base plate enough for each 6 and 10 tiers? Any trick to cutting dowels? How many dowels /tier? Are smoothfoam Styrofoam (different than standard styro) rounds covered in fabric strong enough (not sure if just 1 layer or 2they are 1 thick each round)? Wilton new base plates not available in size I need, and the foil is ugly! I thought 6 cake on 6 cake cardboard sitting on 4 smoothfoam round, similar for 10 (10, 10, 8). 14tier directly on cake stand. Should I run 1 dowel thru center of all, too? There are countless threads on how to dowel a wedding cake and tons of different methods. Check out Google or do a search here.-
Transporting cake (on ferry 45 minutes), unassembled & wrapped in plastic in some sort of cooler. Should I freeze the tiers first, with crumb coat? More I can do in advance the better! Refrigerated should be fine. Frozen cake contracts, then expands once it defrosts. It can/will crack your icing.
If frozen in advance, should I frost after thawing? Can I do all (except stacking) and freeze or fridge for 4-5 days? (yep, Im doing the fresh flowers too!!!!)
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