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Planning a wedding cake


sherribabee

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I am going to be making the cake for my brother's upcoming wedding (eek!), and I need a little help with the logistics.

There will be ~350 people and the bride wants a 5 tier contoured, round cake with white rolled fondant. How big should each tier be? Should I have a couple of cutting cakes in addition to the tiered cake? I think that a cake of 18", 15" 12" 9" & 6" would look nice (and serve about 250(?)), but I want to get some expert advice here before I start planning.

Any other advice/tips you guys have will be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

Sherri A. Jackson
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Hi Sherri!

You're in for some fun! I did cakes for my sisters' weddings.. a different adventure for each. :smile:

While I can't recall off the top of my head the number of servings from each pan, the good people at Wilton have a nifty chart that provides this information:

Wilton

I also use their fondant recipe because it works like a charm and with the addition of some clear vanilla extract, I have gotten positive comments on the taste.

I don't know if you have done a project like this before, but I can recommend some tips from my experience. Feel free to PM me if you like.

Renée :smile:

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Wilton is a good place to start, but I have found that the amount of servings that they suggest is a little on the high side ( 100 servings for a 16" cake is hard to fathom - I would say closer to 80 is more like it), but you can get a good estimate from them.

You may also want to go the sheetcake route. Create a cake that looks and tastes great, but make it only for about 200 people and then make additional sheetcakes that are identical on flavor and appearance to serve after the " main" wedding cake has been cut and served. This is done quite often for many reasons: 1st, it enables you to make a wedding cake that can be done efficiently ( imagine trying to do a wedding cake for 1000 people with only 3 or 4 layers :unsure: ) You can create a cake that looks stunning, and have sheetcakes ( which I feel are easier to do ), in the back kitchen or some other spot unseen by guests, which can be cut quite easily by a member of the kitchen staff ( or family )

2nd -it is easier to make sheetcakes like I have already mentioned. Nobody usually sees a wedding cake being disassembled, that is usually done behind closed doors, so the wedding guests will be no more the wiser for having not seen the cakes ( and/or sheetcakes ) being cut away from the action.

You can make a great looking cake that doesn't have to be 5' tall and have to feed everone, you can make a smaller cake with sheetcakes to serve in additional to the original cake.

good luck,

Jason

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I did a fondant covered three-tier, dotted swiss cake for a friend's wedding. It took ten years off my life. The night before the wedding I started rolling out the fondant -- which I had spent the afternoon making, but there was freakish weather and 100% humidity and it was a disaster. It cracked, it broke, it was useless. So the next morning finds me standing in the rain outside a Michael's crafts when they opened, begging for all their white boxed fondant. They didn't have any, but they walled the next closest. 65 miles and a nervous breakdown later, I was back in the kitchen, rolling out storebought crap.

The cake was georgeous. I got it boxed and into the wagon to transport to the church. While I was stopped at a stoplight, a 16-year-old girl rear-ended me. I swear, I was like lunatic-in-a-box! I was shreaking hysterically! I'm certain she was so traumatized she never drove again! Luckily, I am neurotic, so I had packed a good emergency repair kit. I put the patched side of the cakes towards the back and nobody was the wiser. I cried all through the wedding. Then the caterers (who were responsible for cutting and serving) stole the $60 round 3/4" thick piece of tempered glass I had made for the cake base. Those bastards.

I was just asked to do a cake for a wedding in May. I said yes, but not until they agreed on the "no fondant" rule.

Aidan

"Ess! Ess! It's a mitzvah!"

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I did a fondant covered three-tier, dotted swiss cake for a friend's wedding. It took ten years off my life.

Yikes!

I'm lucky enough to have the entire day before the wedding in the on-site kitchen at the reception site to bake and assemble the cake. I will probably sleep there too to make sure no one sneaks in and ruins it.

If I had to drive with the cake (this will be in pot-hole city, OH), I think I'd have a breakdown.

Sherri A. Jackson
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one bit of advice...cake that has been refrigerated/frozen will be easier to frost, coat, whatever you're going to do with it...so if you're planning on baking and assembling the cake the same day, you might be pushing your luck a little bit.

i would advise making the cake layers ahead of time (a week is fine), making sure you have a little extra, just in case...freeze the layers, then a couple of days ahead, make your icing/filling/buttercream/fondant again, making sure you have extra for emergencies.

use that day before the wedding in the on-site kitchen to assemble the cake, etc.

i also agree with jason in that smaller tiers look more elegant, easier to cover with fondant, etc. so go with the five tiers that the bride wants, but make them a little smaller and go with the sheet cake backup. besides, who really wants a mouthful of fondant?! make a delicious sheet cake to cut up. also, depending on how traditional the bride is, she may want to save the top tier for the first anniversary :blink: .

that's all i can think of for now.

oh yeah...it was in another thread and i totally agree with this method of making cakes that have multiple layers (not tiers)...

instead of using cake pans, bake the cake on full sized restaurant sheet pans (if you have access). use entremet rings (cake rings, with no bottoms) to cut out layers of cake. you won't have to level the cake or try to cut even layers out of a whole cake this way.

also, when it comes time to fill and ice the cake, you use the entremet rings to assemble and the whole thing comes out a lot more even and cleaner. remove the rings and you have a perfect tier ready to crumb coat and cover with fondant.

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one bit of advice...cake that has been refrigerated/frozen will be easier to frost, coat, whatever you're going to do with it...so if you're planning on baking and assembling the cake the same day, you might be pushing your luck a little bit.

i would advise making the cake layers ahead of time (a week is fine), making sure you have a little extra, just in case...freeze the layers, then a couple of days ahead, make your icing/filling/buttercream/fondant again, making sure you have extra for emergencies.

How might freezing the cake affect the taste & texture? I want to be sure I have a cake that looks nice but also tastes and feels like heaven (yeah, I know -- hard to do with fondant, but I want the actual cake to make up for the fondant). :smile:

Sherri A. Jackson
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freezing the cake for such a short period of time shouldn't affect the flavor at all (if well wrapped...also, use cardboard cake circles to allow the cake to hold its shape), the texture shouldn't be changed either. it is just easier to fill/frost when cold...when the cake has had a chance to set up per se. when the cake is at room temp, it should be normal texture. it is much more difficult to deal with a cake which has been freshly baked and very crumbly.

trust me, this is what the professionals do. francois payard starts making his buche du noel cakes in june/july for december...and almost all of his sponge cakes and bisquits are made and frozen then defrosted for assembly.

by the way, what kind of cake are you thinking of using? and how many layers per tier? i used the "buttermilk country cake" from the "cake bible" for two of my friends' weddings. it is a very versatile and very delicious cake. at my best friend's wedding, her grandmother (who flew in from japan) took some cake home for the rest of the relatives...and most asians don't really love sweets! it is moist, flavorful without overpowering other ingredients and best of all, handles well.

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Hi again,

I've baked cakes and frozen them almost immediately. Freezing doesn't affect the taste/texture unless the cake is badly wrapped.

Even a chilled cake is easier to handle, especially when you're talking about moving around large layers.

If you can bake a few days ahead, you'll have an advantage.

P.S. If you flavour the fondant slightly, the combination with the icing and the cake should be terrific.

ciao

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I've been doing cakes for almost ten years...and my one piece of advice is to stay away from fondant. It took me a good 4 cakes before I got it looking like it should. I'm not a fan of the flavor, either. A classic Italian meringue buttercream is really far superior in taste and texture, and can add another flavor component to the overall cake. Fondant might look spectacular in magazines, but it's pretty frustrating to deal with (unless you're practiced) and an overall disappointment to eat.

Edited by phlawless (log)

"Godspeed all the bakers at dawn... may they all cut their thumbs and bleed into their buns til they melt away..."

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freezing the cake for such a short period of time shouldn't affect the flavor at all (if well wrapped...also, use cardboard cake circles to allow the cake to hold its shape), the texture shouldn't be changed either. it is just easier to fill/frost when cold...when the cake has had a chance to set up per se. when the cake is at room temp, it should be normal texture. it is much more difficult to deal with a cake which has been freshly baked and very crumbly.

trust me, this is what the professionals do. francois payard starts making his buche du noel cakes in june/july for december...and almost all of his sponge cakes and bisquits are made and frozen then defrosted for assembly.

by the way, what kind of cake are you thinking of using? and how many layers per tier? i used the "buttermilk country cake" from the "cake bible" for two of my friends' weddings. it is a very versatile and very delicious cake. at my best friend's wedding, her grandmother (who flew in from japan) took some cake home for the rest of the relatives...and most asians don't really love sweets! it is moist, flavorful without overpowering other ingredients and best of all, handles well.

They want a very simple cake. Alternating chocolate and vanilla tiers -- no fancy fruit fillings, ganache, etc. Just a nice buttercream type filling between the layers.

I have no idea as to how many layers in each tier -- I guess I automatically assumed it would be 3. What are the relative advantages/disadvantages to 2 vs. 3 layers? I'm not going to even attempt 4 layers. :blink: Is it best to bake a thicker cake and simply slice it for the layers, or bake separate, thinner cakes for each layer and just level each one off a bit?

She wants the contoured look at the top of each tier, which I can only imagine doing with contoured cake pans, as I don't trust my cake carving abilities enough to do it free-hand. I've seen the countoured cake pan sets in depths of 2", 2.5" and 3" Any advice here?

Sherri A. Jackson
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I love my three inch pans, but you have to modify most recipes to use them. Rose Levy has a couple of useful tables in the cake bible.

"Godspeed all the bakers at dawn... may they all cut their thumbs and bleed into their buns til they melt away..."

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When you say the countoured look, does that mean you won't be stacking the cake? I am picturing a cake with a dome -like top (the part we usually slice off :biggrin: )

By coutoured I mean just like THIS (the cake in the big picture)

It will be nearly identical to this cake, only with 5 layers instead of 4 and a different design piped on.

Sherri A. Jackson
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i will try to get a picture on the site of my friend's wedding cake which i made. instead of fondant, i glazed the cake with italian meringue buttercream. you get the smooth look without the fuss of fondant...but the temperature of the wedding location makes a difference :smile: .

i contoured it a little by trimming the edge off of the top of each tier. it is pretty easy to do without much skill, as i had never done it before.

again, i'm used to being able to use full sized sheet pans and a large convection oven. i don't like having to slice a cake horizontally to make layers. it just seems like more work than necessary. i like the cake scraps (you can make something else from them) that are left over from baking in a flat pan and cutting out the circles. but if you don't have cake rings and you do have cake pans, then i guess it isn't worth buying more equipment (can't believe i said that... :biggrin: ).

i'll work on the picture.

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i2181.jpg

i hope this works! a lot of juggling with photo shop to get the right sized image.

edited to say: again, this is italian meringue buttercream. i made it, then melted it down to glazing consistency and poured it over the finished (crumbcoated) cake tiers.

i used gumpaste or some such concoction for the "fences" around the tiers

sorry about the image quality, but this is a digital photograph of some actual photographs. the color may be off a little. i think it wasn't so yellow in real life, just sort of vanilla-y colored. oh well.

Edited by alanamoana (log)
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By coutoured I mean just like THIS (the cake in the big picture)

It will be nearly identical to this cake, only with 5 layers instead of 4 and a different design piped on.

That's a lot of piping.

Trust us all when we tell you not to attempt to bake, decorate, and assemble this cake in one day. You're setting yourself up for a nervous breakdown. bake and freeze teh cake layers ahead of time. If they're well wrapped they won't lose anything in texture and flavor. In fact, most cakes taste better after a day or two anyway. If you haven't worked with fondant before it might be a good idea of make a practice layer ahead of time.

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By coutoured I mean just like THIS (the cake in the big picture)

It will be nearly identical to this cake, only with 5 layers instead of 4 and a different design piped on.

That's a lot of piping.

Trust us all when we tell you not to attempt to bake, decorate, and assemble this cake in one day. You're setting yourself up for a nervous breakdown. bake and freeze teh cake layers ahead of time. If they're well wrapped they won't lose anything in texture and flavor. In fact, most cakes taste better after a day or two anyway. If you haven't worked with fondant before it might be a good idea of make a practice layer ahead of time.

Well, I'm flying from NYC to OH for this wedding, so I'll only have a day and a half to do it. Baking ahead of time is not an option.

The most I could do is bake really late on Thursday night and freeze until Friday afternoon. Although I'm not sure that's an option either as the kitchen I'll be using (at the reception site) isn't available until Friday morning. Then assemble the cake on Friday evening. The wedding will be on Saturday afternoon.

I'm not doing that intricate piping design that you see on the cake in my last post -- the design I'm doing is going to be very simple and I'll have a cookie-cutter sort of pattern that I can just press into the fondant and trace. I'm not too worried about the piping.

How long must the cake freeze in order to be easy to work with?

I've got 5 months to practice. I've already received a few leads on good recipes, so I plan to bake them all up in small batches and conduct taste tests on my guinea pig coworkers. :rolleyes: I'l also try to practice with the fondant and piping on these test batches.

Edited by sherribabee (log)
Sherri A. Jackson
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You could bake those suckers way sooner than that. Pace yourself and do it over the course of a couple of weeks. Well wrapped, cakes have a good life once frozen. If moisture is a real concern, use a soaking syrup (either with a pastry brush or spritz bottle) between the layers. Either way works like a charm. :smile:

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You could bake those suckers way sooner than that. Pace yourself and do it over the course of a couple of weeks. Well wrapped, cakes have a good life once frozen. If moisture is a real concern, use a soaking syrup (either with a pastry brush or spritz bottle) between the layers. Either way works like a charm. :smile:

Two problems with that:

1. I have a tiny NYC apartment with a midget-size fridge/freezer. Not really adequate room to keep any cake.

2. Even if I did have the room, transporting it would be an issue. I'd have to drag it all to work with me on Thursday, then to the airport, then ON the plane. I don't see that happening. :blink:

I'm restricted to whatever I can make and assemble within roughly a 30 hour time frame. Surely making a good cake in 30 hours is not impossible?

Sherri A. Jackson
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Ahhh, I see.....

Got any friends/relatives with chest freezers? Or, even if you wanted to begin a couple of days early, refrigeration would work.

As for the plane ride, I didn't know about that part. Sorry. I thought this wwas a local thing.

Yes, 30 hours can work. Don't be scared! :biggrin: Just don't expect to do much dancing at the reception. I took my sister's cake to the West Coast for her wedding where I did the frosting and assembly. I was so zonked at the reception I could hardly stand! :laugh: But, they loved the cake, and the effort that was made for it..... :wub:

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hey, i think that we've scared sherribabee enough. the point is just to get the cake cold. so bake it really early and shove it in the fridge. while it is chilling get the rest of your components ready. i'm a procrastinator and when i did the cake for my friend, i baked the cake early (less than a week, but it was ready to go), i had the buttercream made (a day or so ahead), etc. and i still ended up staying at the restaurant until 7am the next day (i...i'm a pastry chef :blink: . of course i was working that day on restaurant production, but i still didn't think it would take me as long as it did...and i had the cake and icing ready to go!

i just think that for that many people, make the cake itself smaller than you want and do what jason said, make sheet cake. that way, you won't have as much to decorate.

i do recommend doing the glazing technique instead of fondant unless you're already well versed with fondant. you aren't giving yourself much room (time) for error. with buttercream, it is much more forgiving. since it is winter, you don't have to worry about the cake melting.

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OK -- I made this suggestion to a friend a year or so ago and she cried and told me she hated me and that I was a terrible friend for not having any faith in her abilities. She arrived 36 hours before the wedding and did a cake for 250. She did exactly as I had told her and everything went really, really well. She hasn't spoken to me since, but the bride is now a colleague, so I heard all about it. (And saw the pictures. Nobody -- NOBODY looks good in strapless lavender hoopskirts. Come on, everybody. Say it with me. NOBODY...)

Make a fake cake from styrofoam -- available at craft stores. Sculpt it exactly as you like then cover it in soft white fabirc (well pinned on the bottom) and then fondant and decorate it with royal icing, which dries very hard.. (I suggest making a "cutout" in the back to facilitate the picture taking ritual. You can then piece a piece of cake into the right spot later.) Have it carefully packed and shipped by Mailboxes, Etc. or the ilk a week in advance.

When you arrive, make three sheetcakes, frost with a buttercream and cover with fondant. Maybe even pipe a bit. But who cares. They are going to stay in the kitchen and be cut up before anyone sees them. Far faster, since you aren't worried about exacting designs or perfection. And the guests get served faster because the behind-the-scenes cakes can be cut and plated without waiting for the picture taking thingy.

Or you can do what a friend of mine did -- say you are making the cake, then order it from a fancy bakery. Just make sure the fancy bakery doesn't put lables on the cake rounds. You get caught that way.

Aidan

"Ess! Ess! It's a mitzvah!"

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