Hello everyone! I'm fairly new at this site.. this is my second post. Anyways... I have been decorating cakes for a couple years now, but this past year I have been the busiest I have ever been. I started off with cupcakes and slowly worked my way to some stacked cakes and working with fondant and now wedding cakes. 

One of my really good friends is getting married this October... she asked me to do her cake. She wants a 4 tiered (square) all buttercream, with just burlap around the base of each tier with navy blue ribbon in the middle of the burlap and sunflowers scattered all over the cake. My question is... what is the best type of cake to use for wedding cakes? I want this cake to look great and taste amazing. I'm thinking of using a cake that is a little on the heavier dense side? will that work? I do watch Cake Boss a lot and I see that he usually uses spongecake for the wedding cakes. I personally have never tasted spongecake before but I can see that it's more dense and that it can be stacked very well..I want the cake to be moist as well ( along with everyone else in this world). Will spongecake be too dry? I just don't want the cake to be too soft if that makes any sense... IDK PLEASE HELP and if you guys have any outstanding recipes for me to try that would be GREATLY appreciated!!!  Everyone on here seems to know what they are talking about so I trust you guys!!!!

AWhat cake do you normally use? And what cake does the bride want?

I wouldn't call a sponge cake a dense cake, it's pretty much the opposite, a light and fluffy cake.

AHonestly, sometimes I'll use box mix and doc it up a little bit (customers know I do). The bride says she doesn't care. She just wants the tiers layered of course with the top layer vanilla and bottom layer chocolate.

AFor a four tier cake, you're going to have enough to worry about without introducing a new cake into the mix. If the bride is happy, use what you're used to. You don't need a more dense cake to do multiple tiers as the support structure is not cake, it's the dowels and boards/SPS that you are adding.

Just remember you don't want burlap to touch the cake or icing, it's nasty and it sheds. Someone has mentioned burlap ribbon or the like and there are threads on how to protect the cake from the burlap on this site.

i use wasc with self rising flour -- it is a nice resilient work horse white cake that can withstand being made in advance enough and retain it's moisture content and texture -- it can go in and out of the fridge/freezer and return to it's nice soft room temp stage --does not clump nor crumble so it slices and serves beautifully --  after it is sliced and sits out for an hour or two as can happen at a wedding it does not dry out -- 

and here's a tip for whatever cake you choose -- consider using a simple syrup splash -- equal parts sugar and water boiled until the sugar dissolves -- then add whatever flavoring you want-- oils, extracts or liqueurs then brush/sprinkle/squirt onto the baked cake as you assemble the layers into tiers -- adds a great nuance of flavor and ensures moistness --

my default splash is grand marnier--an orange liqueur --

i'll getchoo a link for the wasc recipe --

best baking to you

AWell im not too worried about the actual 4 tier itself. Im pretty good with the dowels and stuff. And my plan was to bake a small cake of the new recipe and let them try it. She has actually never tried my cakes before but she has asked my previous customers about the taste and they had no complaints. I knew burlap against buttercream is a bad idea. I figured id just put a piece of saran wrap between the 2.thats what one of my instructors does. Hes been at a famous bakery in my area for 40 yrs.

http://www.cakecentral.com/a/the-original-wasc-cake-recipe

i use 4 egg whites and i delete the salt

(i toss in an egg yolk too for good measure ;)

AThank you k8memphis. I've never heard of a wasc recipe before

just to make this a degree more intense -- the recipe was written before cake mixes were all made smaller -- so what i do in that case is buy extra and add enough to make each cake 'mix' about 18 ounces -- 

;)

K8- what does the self rising flour instead of AP do to the cake?

ARosie -- it provides it's own ability to rise and not weigh the cake mix down -- the cake mix has enough leavening to hold itself up -- when you add all purpose or cake flour it weighs down on that -- self rising flour has salt and baking soda/baking powder in it so it supports itself -- I guess most people use non self rising though -- apologies and all due respect to kakeladi for personalizing her famous formula --

fwiw -- I think white cake is a blank canvas for amazing filling/s, icing and splash and this makes a great white cake

Thanks K8 that is exactly what I was thinking... It makes sense. I have used Kakeladi's recipe for a long time, but I might just try the self rising flour.

As always you are a great help!

Once you go wasc, you never go back.

AK8- I just want to make sure I read thr link correctly. So it's... 1 box cake mix 1 c flour (self rising) 1 c granulated sugar 1 c sour cream 1 c water 3 whole eggs 1 tbsp flavoring (You omit the salt, you use 4 egg whites instead of 3 whole eggs, and you add an egg yolk)... Is that correct?

geez i've really morphed the recipe -- i should have looked it up in the first place --

• 1 box cake mix plus additional cake mix to get to 18 oz (i use duncan hines)
• 1 cup self rising flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 cup sour cream
• 4 egg whites

and i bake at 350

ALol thx! Does that yield 2 8in?

you are very welcome -- it yields 8 cups of cake batter so that would be two 8's and a 6

;)

I would be inclined to agree with what "winniemog" has to say

When I did my first strawberry marble cake, I did it strictly for family. And I think I'd already done two by the time I did one as my own 50th birthday cake.

I seem to recall that lemon is considered very traditional for wedding cakes, in some circles, but I'll also say that there are plenty of people who don't like lemons, don't like lemons in their water, and don't like lemon cake (or lemon chicken) unless it's so mild you can't tell it's lemon. (In case you haven't guessed, I fall into that category.)

I'm also told that pound cake is traditional in some circles, and that in yet others, fruitcake is traditional (I think that's an English thing). And according to the long-out-of-print Star Trek Cooking Manual, a Vulcan wedding cake is something very close to a very light, very fancy, carrot cake.

If the people who will be serving the cake can be trusted to offer guests a choice, you might consider doing different tiers in different flavors, but whether you do one flavor or four, I don't think you want to try anything you haven't already done enough times to know how it's going to behave.

Keep in mind that I still haven't baked anything but sheet cakes and pound cakes (the latter in a Bundt mold), and the last time I baked a sheet cake that wasn't served in-pan, I think I was still in high school. The only wedding cake I've ever created is nothing but ink on a page, in a novel that may yet someday make it into print (but it did have multiple flavors, in spite of being baked and decorated entirely by advanced amateurs).

Question:  The above is for a white cake, correct?  How would you amend it to suit another flavor like lemon.  Would you not use 4 egg whites but 3 whole instead.  Just wondering.  Have wanted to try this.

i use the four whole eggs -- because the 18 ounces of cake mix requires 3 so the fourth egg is for the flour/sugar --

i worked at a place where they just used 4 eggs to every mix anyhow -- makes a stronger cake

A

Do you think if i bake it with bake even strips, flower nail and at 325, it'll give me less dome? Also i don't own a scale :( boo i know.. Approx how many cups does 18 oz make? :)

AI can't remember -- I haven't used any in a year 'cause I'm retired -- I'll see if I can find some notes on it if no one else answers -- how many ounces are in the new mixes -- i can figure it out from there --

as far as bake time & temp -- tons of people bake successfully at 325 -- I do better at 350 then if it's a whopper or not baking right I turn the heat down at the end of the bake and put a foil tent over it and leave it on till after i take it out and it cools down some too -- makes a big difference for me --

but the bake even strips should keep the dome down --- domes are not bad in my world -- the outer edge of the cake not being tall enough is the bugaboo for me -- if you put more batter so it bakes thicker around the edges then it bakes like crap -- so fasten your bake even strip this is a tmi alert :grin: i will sometimes bake say for a 9x6 outcome i will bake in a 10x7 -- this way i've got a little leeway to be fully confident i'll have my servings and i can cut into the outside and get to a sweeter taller spot so when i tort i have nice uniform thick layers--

and i only parchment on the bottom-- no grease around the sides or anywhere for tier cake -- if i did a lot of cakes i'd do like my friend and form waxed paper into all the nooks and crannies of the pan so no need to wash the pans afterward either!

as far as the value of a good dome, i use them to of course feed passersby and also to make two 4-5" cakes -- one for the first anniversary and one for the honeymoon -- often the b&g get just the bite for the pictures, or can't remember what it tasted like -- so my gift to them is to deliver these k8t cakes all boxed and ready to roll with the wedding cake --

sorry you asked? :lol:

AI use WASC all the time with the new smaller oz boxes and I don't change any of the ingredient ratio. This is what I do:

1 cake mix box 1 box small instant pudding or jello 1 cup all purpose flour 1 cup sugar 1 cup milk 1 cup sour cream 1/4 cup oil 4 eggs

Bake at 325 degrees until firm but still soft to the touch.

The cake mix and pudding/jello are matching flavors. For a chocolate cake mix I use chocolate pudding. For a lemon cake mix I use lemon pudding. For a strawberry cake mix I use strawberry jello....

My customers love my cakes. I have a 94.82% booking rate for consultations.

how many ounces in the new mixes?

I believe the new name-brand box mixes have gone from approximately 18 oz. net weight to approximately 15 oz.

Since most of the mixes I deal with call for 3 eggs, if I find that a particular mix is wimpy on volume, I'll weigh out 1 1/3 boxes (and increase all ingredients by 1/3) for a 9x13 pan, or I'll weigh out 2/3 of a box (and reduce all ingredients by 1/3) for the 8x8 pan I bought specifically to make 1/2 of any recipe that normally fills a 9x13. Beats trying to deal with fractional eggs.

(Then, I'll scrawl "1/3" or "2/3" on the box with a Marks-a-Lot, put both the inner bag and the box itself in zip-top bags, and put it back in the cupboard, for future use. Waste not, want not.)

thank you james -- great ideas on how to compensate and how to store too --

another way if someone doesn't have a scale is to measure out the contents and divide by 5 -- so if it's 2 1/2 cups then you need a half cup to add to a whole mix to get to 18 oz. -- i don't know how much is in there -- that's just a guess but just measure and divide by five to get the 3 ounces --

if it's a weirdly amount that doesn't divide even -- then get five equal sized cups and level out the amount in each one -- mark it and use that for measuring going forward  --

yeah fractional eggs are a pia for sure but i do half them sometimes and often the other half is sacrificed to the garbage --oops

Just baked your version K8! turned out perfect. I used 12 inch pans 3 inches high. Put baking strips around pan, flower nail in the center and baked for 1 hour at 300 degrees. Just a very slight uneven top

Think this recipe is a keeper Thanks!

well awesome, inga1

AThanks too for all the awesome insights! I tried the WASC just once to make vanilla and it was very crumbly. Is it supposed to be crumbly? I'll try again, mocha this time :)