Wedding cake

[storynanny]

My partner's lovely daughter has asked me if I would like to make her wedding cake as she likes eating my cakes! Im ok with basic baking and it would be a tiered sponge with plain white icing as she wants to drape flowers over it. Im flattered to be asked and would really like to do it, however I've got a few questions that I hope you can help me with!
How do you size up ingredients and cooking times?
Is it easier to ice round or square cakes?
Can I make the sponges and freeze them to decorate nearer the day?
If so, do they need to defrost before icing?
Hope you can help, thanks

Contact Squires Kitchen in Farnham Surrey They will have all the answers to any questions you have

Can't help with your questions, but practice the icing on a cardboard box first.

You can also - but it is not conventional just have iced boxes with ready cut up cake inside, so the bride and groom pretend to cut the cake and then lift up the box.

Storynanny, do mean royal icing? or fondant icing?

Not sure, have you any pros and cons? It will be 3 layers so will need the dowel supports if that is significant. I might cheat and buy them!!!

Storynanny, theres a big difference between the two, as one spreads on with a palette knife and dries hard but powdery when eaten and the other you roll on like pastry and remains soft. Do you know which one your doing?I have a wedding cake for next June to make, i know its fondant icing but really not sure what she wants yet.

Storynanny, theres a big difference between the two, as one spreads on with a palette knife and dries hard but powdery when eaten and the other you roll on like pastry and remains soft. Do you know which one your doing?I have a wedding cake for next June to make, i know its fondant icing but really not sure what she wants yet.

I don't want to put you off, but one of the hardest things to do is a plain white cake. If anything goes wrong, there's no-where to hide.
You can buy cake dummies (eBay if you've nothing local) to practice on.
Don't ice a frozen cake - as the cake defrosts the condensation ruins the icing.

I am rapidly regretting this!!!!! Might be researching sponges to purchase!

I'm def going to have go at the practice ideas and I've been watching you tube. Do I def need to buy the smoothing tools for ready to roll icing? I've decided on round as they seem easier

I would get two smoothers. they do make a difference.

maybe a wide white ribbon to go around them?

Thanks, I will get 2. Yes I had thought about wide ribbon too.

Nanny theres lot of good tutorials on the internet - are you on Pinterest ?? - you will probably find a lot on there that might help you too - if you want an invite send me a PM & I'll send you one - I do a lot of sugar craft, so have a decent cake board on there to start you off for ideas & some will be tutorial help -

As said above, the right tools are all you need to get a professional finish, the smoothers are a big help, though I manage fine with one.

& yes you need dowels for tiered cakes - you can do it without, but I wouldn't recommend it as they are quite unstable, so not good if transporting far.

1st off decide on your cake design & then shout for help from there, once you know what you are doing

Amazon is good & cheap for tools & coloured sugar paste if thats what you are using, but if you can handle a piping bag, you might find piped royal icing easier

oh & glitter dust covers a multitude of sins

& Nanny, you CAN do it & you will really enjoy it & be proud of yourself in the end, it just seems a bit daunting now - keep it simple & have fun, honestly its easy enough with the right tools, good planning & patience

THIS CAKE has an easy to do, hide faults easily & still look stunning & could be iced in either butter cream, or royal icing

HTH

And this Here could help with portions needed

sorry wrong link - portions to cake size info HERE

Thanks so much, I like the idea of glitter to cover the imperfections

storynanny, i too have a 3 tier wedding to make in June, not too sure what she wants yet, hopefully we can swop notes as i haven't made a wedding cake in ages.

Well, as it was a wet Sunday I had a go at a mini top tier, was quite pleased with result and she liked it. I used a Madeira recipe 6" round tin, covered it with buttercream and then ready to roll icing. Put a ribbon round it and did some small icing piped rosettes at the base to cover the imperfections. I have persuaded the bride to be to have a fruit bottom tier tho so it can be made in advance and support the other tiers safely. I've got a year to practice so we will all be very fat in our wedding outfits after all the cake testing. Decided also that I will have a couple of back up plain iced shop bought sponges to keep behind the scenes at the wedding in case of last minute disasters!
I have also made and frozen an uniced version as an experiment to see how long in advance I will be able to make the sponge tiers. Will let you know what it tasted like. Got the bride to be sister popping round in the morning to give me honest opinion on my icing efforts..... And some cake tasting of course.

Re ideas, I typed in the sort of decoration she wants( going to be artificial flowers to match her bouquet) + wedding cake and then clicked images on google and came up with hundreds of pictures for her to look at. I can't believe they cost about £500 to buy.

storynanny, i know i cant believe how much they cost either, i have till june to cost out my cake and i'm not sure how much to charge yet. At least you get to put artificial put your cake where as it looks like mine is gonna have pearks and beads and tiffany coloured ribbon.

duh, i meant pearls.