Miniature wedding cakes

[alligande]

Anne loved your wedding pictures, what a great way to get married, I still have not figured out why you would want 300 people at your wedding!

Karen

[chefpeon]

I still have not figured out why you would want 300 people at your wedding!

Shoot, I don't think I even KNOW 300 people!

On that subject, I have always wondered about those huge guest lists. They must be inviting their garbage man, dentist, doctor, attorney, mailman and all their kids....My extended family doesn't even come CLOSE to that many people!

I'd charge more then $25.00 per cake.

You're probably right, Wendy.....but I did say the prices would START at $25. That's just for the cakes.....oh, you want me to DECORATE them? Well, that's extra......a LOT extra!

Edited January 29, 2005 by chefpeon (log)

[K8memphis]

Wull, we got to 250-300 because she went to high school, college, grad school here, taught college, attended two churches and now teaching high school which her students are invited too - then there's his side - he grew up here too...toss in a coupla neighbors...it was easy to get to 250-ish.

But if you just keep one or a handful of relationships from each of those plus family and their kids - then with her students coming...it's a small private school but still...family will be flying & driving in from around the country.

It's a big deal celebration. All the grandparents are all gone on our side so this will be a great family get-together time too.

[yvegeny]

I think that I would do cupcakes as well, since I recently attempted 250 individual cakes. I guess I don't really understand what is meant by filling a chocolate mold with cake. Wouldn't the cake be rather crumbled? If someone could explain that, I would love to hear thr process that is being used. As far as icing each one, that is literally a nightmare. People really love them, but my gosh... I didn't charge nearly enough

[K8memphis]

Wull like you just pipe a dab of icing in there and place a circle of cake - y'know that you cut out like with a cookie cutter and place it in there and do that for each tier - is what I am told - I have not made any like that with the mold - but my friends rave about this concept. I have only done the poured and rolled fondant ones and probably some buttercream iced ones too. Y'know you can fill in the cracks with a squirt of buttercream.

In fact they used to sell these molds on ebay - I couldn't find any though.

I was just passing this info on to plk.

[22tango]

I just thought I'd chime in, that if you're looking for the elegance of the mini cakes with the simplicity of cupcakes, you might try the idea (above) of making larger than normal petits fours wrapped with ribbons, which sound just LOVELY!

OR you might consider using a silicone baking mold to bake your cupcakes in an interesting shape (ie. pyramid, heart, brioche, etc.) that could then be inverted and coated with ganache or fondant, and decorated, etc...

Good Luck!!

Edited January 30, 2005 by 22tango (log)

[plk]

All of these ideas are very interesting. And we may well end up doing cupcakes or petit-fours. Either way, I'm sure, would be very nice.

I'm going to try doing some mini cakes, perhaps for valentine's day, just to see what is involved and if the process can be sufficiently streamlined for the wedding. If it's too big of a hassle, we'll go with another idea.

Since the wedding is in July, and outdoors, I think that fondant would hold up better than buttercream. When covering these cakes in fondant, do you use one piece of fondant, drape it over the entire cake, and mold it, or do each layer individually, and then stack the layers?

For flavor, I like the idea of a lemon cake with a lemon curd filling. I live in Northern Cal and have Meyer lemons coming out of my ears. However, considering the eggs in the lemon curd, that would mean refrigerating the cakes. Is there anything similar to lemon curd that I could use as a filling, but would not need to be refrigerated if left in the cakes at room temp for at least a full day? I think that the egg in lemon curd functions mainly as a thickener. Lemon marmalade is thick enough, but not creamy. Maybe a lemon buttercream crumb coat under the fondant and between the layers will be good enough.

For decoration, I think I'll stick to a simple bead at the bottom and right where the layers meet, and a slice of candied lemon for the top. Given that the cakes are so small, I don't think that the decoration needs to be particularly ornate. Eh?

[K8memphis]

Clicky here for an adorable "Individual Wedding Cake Story" from Just Fabulous Pastries in San Diego. It will answer a lot of your questions.

[plk]

Ah, great, thanks! Looks like draping the fondant over the entire thing in one sheet will do it.

[K8memphis]

Clicky for a picture of the Wilton mold.

Edited to say - the advantage here is that you can make the mold in advance and stick the cakes in a coupla days ahead and there's no smoothing issues. But there's the (white) chocolate learning curve.

Edited February 2, 2005 by K8memphis (log)

[plk]

That's a good idea, and it's an option I would definitely look into, except that I would be concerned about melting. July wedding, in Sacramento. We're having everything in the evening, hoping that it will be cool enough to not be uncomfortable, but I'd still expect temps to be in the high '80s for at least part of the evening. Although, if the cakes were kept indoors long enough, I could do that, or even buttercream.

[K8memphis]

Yeah - kind of a toss up -

Whatever works best for you, I just wanted to give you all the info I have so you can make the best decision. I mean even at 80 degrees they would not melt unless in the sun or wind - but they sure would soften - but that sounds wonderful too. But the idea of having to smoothly cover 50 of those little mammas more or less at the last minute with fondant, when the chocolate shells can be made a coupla weeks in advance and be all smooth is what makes me lean toward choco or the ever popular cupcake.

For cutting the circles of cake - my best experience was with cake baked so it was short y'know so it's already the correct height. Then I used a nested set of cookie cutters that are the bomb for this kind of thing - cut frozen cake of course.

Happy Wedding Cake to you!