First Wedding Cake: Smbc, Refrigeration, Plus General "i'm Freaking Out" Questions
Baking By hellome Updated 19 Feb 2019 , 8:57pm by -K8memphis
Hello Everyone,
(Sorry for the long post, I just want to be as detailed as possible, so that my design and ideas are clear)
I am an experienced home baker who is making her first wedding cake, I am both excited and very terrified :) I have done my research and I know exactly what to do in theory, but I do have some questions that I need help with. I have read and re-read this forum and I have already found answers to some of my questions, but I wanted to be extra thorough and seek advice from the wedding cake pros on this site.
Here is my plan:
3 tiers (6", 9", 12"); each tier will have 4 layers.
12" tier: White Almond Cake with SMBC Raspberry filling (made with freeze dried raspberries and a dash of Chambord ;) ), outer buttercream will be SMBC
9" tier: Lemon cake with home made lemon cake filling, outer buttercream will be SMBC
6" tier: Red Velvet cake with cream cheese filling, outer buttercream will be SMBC
The thing I am most worried about is the SMBC and how it will do with refrigeration. I make SMBC a lot with all butter, but this will be an outdoor wedding in May so I am thinking of adding in some hi-ratio shortening for stability. My plan is to fill the 12" tier and decorate entirely on Friday, the day before the wedding, and leave out on the counter. I also will fill and crumb coat the 9" and 6" cakes and refrigerate, because of the lemon curd and cream cheese fillings respectively. I will decorate the 2 top tiers on Saturday morning, and stack the cake. And I will deliver stacked in the back of my SUV. The drive to the venue is about 40 minutes. (I plan to dowel the 2 bottom tiers, and use a center dowel all the way through the cake to the cake drum for stability).
Since this is my first wedding cake, I really want to finish decorating and stacking all the cakes on Friday and put the cake in the fridge so that I can tackle any issues with enough time, but I am REALLY concerned about the SMBC becoming too hard and not getting soft enough before it is cut at the wedding. Whenever I use SMBC, I never put it in the fridge. I did one time and it took about 6-7 hours for it to come to room temperature, and it was still a teeny bit hard.
So, here are my questions:
1. Is my plan to finish assembling the cake on Saturday morning reasonable? Or should I stack everything on Friday and put in the fridge? I have read that there are benefits to delivering the cake cold.
2. If I do put the stacked cake in the fridge on Friday, how many hours in advance of the wedding should I take the cake out to make sure that the entire wedding cake comes to room temperature in time to be eaten by the guests. I am terrified of people biting into cold SMBC. The wedding will be at 4pm, and the reception around 5pm/5:30pm. Outdoors. Early May.
3. Do you think that my plan for using both butter and shortening will help the frosting not get too hard and warm up quickly?
4. Have you ever had issues with SMBC being too hard outside the refrigerator?
5. Have you experienced your cakes being dry after being refrigerated under SMBC overnight?
Thank you in advance for your responses. I will take all the help that I can get.
<3
1. Is my plan to finish assembling the cake on Saturday morning reasonable? Or should I stack everything on Friday and put in the fridge? I have read that there are benefits to delivering the cake cold.
I keep my cakes cold all the way through -- no worries either way on that
2. If I do put the stacked cake in the fridge on Friday, how many hours in advance of the wedding should I take the cake out to make sure that the entire wedding cake comes to room temperature in time to be eaten by the guests. I am terrified of people biting into cold SMBC. The wedding will be at 4pm, and the reception around 5pm/5:30pm. Outdoors. Early May.
I don't know what you did but it comes to room temp in a few hours at most are you adding something into your smbc like powdered sugar or meringue powder? -- I mean how long does it take for butter to come to room temp? add I n a bit more for the whole thing being cold -- it doesn't take 6-7 hours for that to happen --
3. Do you think that my plan for using both butter and shortening will help the frosting not get too hard and warm up quickly?
not necessarily -- i'd test that out if I were you -- I tried subbing in some shortening and I did not like it myself although others do it
4. Have you ever had issues with SMBC being too hard outside the refrigerator?
never
5. Have you experienced your cakes being dry after being refrigerated under SMBC overnight?
never
comment for you -- I would recommend delivering it cold like you said in a corrugated cardboard box all sealed up -- the box acts like a cooler to keep it nice & chilly on the way -- be real real careful with that cream cheese icing -- it is hazardous and needs to handled very carefully
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