smitten kitchen

I had a similar problem when I last made Swiss buttercream icing - I used Martha Stewart’s receipe and it completely separated and became a liquid. In a fit of panic I popped it in the fridge for a few minutes to see if maybe it would solidify - it didn’t. In a last ditch effort I ran a whisk though it and by some magical decree it all came together and became the perfect icing - I’m not sure if that’s your solution but it certainly surprised the hell out of me!

What kind of mangoes are you using? I wonder how the curd would turn out if you used Indian mangoes. Pricey, but, hey, you only get married once…

So, I’ve baked a couple cakes before, and here’s what I can offer…

No, I don’t agree with the Wilton sizings. They assume that people will want only one tiny slice of cake to finish off a large, sit down, meal. If your friends are having a fancy dinner at their reception, then the Wilton sizings may be appropriate, but I have to agree with you: more is always better. Only one slice is “ruined” per dowel used. Although I suppose with creative cutting you ruin fewer pieces. Since you’re making extra cake, though, it shouldn’t be a concern.

Yes to the heating core on a 12 inch cake. Better safe than sorry. And I speak from experience on that. Be sure to grease and flour the heating core well!

I can’t help you on the frosting issue…Sorry that you aren’t on speaking terms!

Assemble the cake on site. (This advice comes mainly from watching too many movies where bad things happen when people carry large cakes. But I suppose yours is a real life, not a movie script, so who knows)

Have you made Swiss Meringue Buttercream before? Because it always turns into a gloppy mess at a certain point…. you just have to keep whipping it until it pulls back together. I promise, it’s not ruined! Check out this site: http://howtoeatacupcake.blogspot.com/2008/02/face-your-smbc-fears.html
It’s where I learned how to make SMBC (and how I learned that it really wasn’t ruined when it “curdled” into soup…)

Erin — Yes! I tried to chill it, but no dice. I’m going to try again tomorrow. I was reading another recipe that says that even if it looks like it has curdled, keep whipping and it will come back together. So perhaps I didn’t stick with it long enough! I sure hope that is all it was and not, as I believed at the time, a curse.

kathryn — Just regular red/yellow/green ones. But I’m open to trying other varieties; these are just what I am most familiar with. Are the Indian ones sweeter? More complex in flavor? Softer? I’m just trying to figure out the difference.

Cake Lover — Thanks!

I just got married and had a three layer cake and they didn’t even use dowels for it. So you may not have to, my cakes sat right on top of each other. My tiers were 4″, 8″ and 12″ (round) and we had 3/4 of the 8″ tier and all of the top tier left (there were 40 people at my wedding). They even severed ‘dessert’ sized portions which are larger. (Vanilla cake with a buttercream filling.)

Also, how are you planning to decorate? Fresh flowers to match the brides bouquet?

I am sure it will turn out wonderfully, especially with all the due diligence you are putting in beforehand.

Just continue mixing that buttercream — it will come together in a few minutes. That separation/curdled-looking thing is normal. Good luck with this ambitious project!

you have to transport it in layers!

and I love the cake strips, as does Rose the Cake Goddess :)
http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/

…but you will still probably need to level the tops a bit.

Kelly — It looks like the same thing as Swiss Buttercream. I think it goes by a ton of names!

Shannon, Jane, Anita — Thank you! Gosh, I’m so glad I posted about this.

Hi. I’ve been a fan of your blog for a long time and now I’m finally posting a comment. I’m a home baker with no professional training and I’ve made I think 6 wedding cakes thus far. Here are my tips:

1. Definitely freeze the cakes. They have an improved texture after freezing, in my opinion.

2. Assemble them at the location. Much less risky. Just give yourself more time than you can imagine you’ll need. I transported a cake for 250 people from New Jersey to Boston in boxes in the trunk of my car. The layers were covered with chocolate fondant, which made them very sturdy, but I did sweat and shake quite a bit during that 6 hour car ride.

3. I’ve used the baking core, and yes, it’s extremely simple. I had no problems with it at all. The cake strips also are winners. They virtually eliminate the need to trim the dome off the tops of your layers.

4. DEFINITELY make WAY more cake than those Wilton charts will tell you. Those charts are for dry, tasteless, for-show-only wedding cakes that nobody takes more than one bite of. Your delicious from-scratch cake will stun the weary guests into an initial shocked, incredulous silence, and then there will be a stampede. People will want to try the other flavor. Then they will want another piece of their favorite. And then the cake will be gone, and the stand will be licked clean.

5. If I were you, I’d stick with the frosting that never fails you. You’ll be stressed out enough throughout this whole project. A temperamental frosting could very well leave you babbling maniacally, piping roses on your husband instead of the cake. Save that for after the reception.

I am wishing you a spectacularly successful foray into wedding cake land. Keep us posted on how it’s going!!

oh, forgot this part… we had 51 people and our wedding cake had a 6, a 10, and a 14, all round. But I do think you’re right: If there are two flavors, people are going to want one of each.

Don’t skip the dowels, especially with a slippery filling like curd.

I thought we would have tons of cake left over but it was mostly eaten - I think the Wilton diagrams are for giving everyone a very tiny piece of cake.
I did not use a heating core OR the wet strips but I did use one of those cutting cake leveler deals - getting the cake absolutely flat was the hardest part - right after cutting the dowels. We were in Mexico and had to improvise because we forgot to bring any kind of cutting implement - I think we used a serrated knife. I may have blocked that part out.
It was spice cake with blackberry filling and cream cheese frosting. I baked it, froze it, frosted it, froze it, and then frosted it again, and then decorated it (with fresh blackberries) and put it in the fridge and then put it out about an hour before cake time. I did it all on site and even still the walk from the kitchen to the patio where the reception was taking place was the longest walk of my life.
Everyone loved it.

My goodness, people, you have NO IDEA how happy I am to see all this advice.

I’m excited and curious to watch this come together in the next two weeks- plus it’s fun to see everyone pitch in with help! I have no help to offer you, but would offer to help eat it. :) Thanks for sharing this endeavour!

Hello! I’ve been reading your blog for quite some time and it’s fast become my favorite. I’ve been a little to timid to write any comments but because I am an actual “professional” cake decorator I thought I would finally jump in and give you my thoughts. I only do the artistic part of the cake so I’m not much use for baking and making the icing but I can tell you that according to our bakery a 8″ double layer (I assume you are tiering the cake as opposed to layering) serves 20, 10″ serves 35 and a 12″ serves 50. All in all you should be good. Oh, I’ve also done quite a few wedding delivers in my time (like 5-8 every weekend) and seen Murfy’s law at it’s best so I suggest taking the cake in pieces. Even with dowels in, with as soft as your icing is going to be considering your not using fondant it’s probably best you set it up at the location. Let me know if you need any decorating tips, that’s really where I shine. Good luck!

I have found that buttercream can often require an excessive amount of whisking. Like a ri-di-cu-lous amount of whisking. Keep it in your kitchen aid until the sound of the motor feels like it is imprinted in your brain. Also, I have a fantastic curd recipe that will blow your socks off. It works with about anything, but with passion fruit it tastes like an oral epiphany. For 2 quarts:
Whisk 6 whole eggs, 6 yolks, and 15 oz sugar over a double boil. Add 12 oz fruit puree of choice in 3 additions, making sure to whisk the crap out of it between each addition- you want it to thicken up a bit between liquid addition. Whisk mixture until you can form 2 lasting figure-8s with the curd. Remove bowl from heat and gradually whisk in 4 oz diced, chilled butter. Transfer curd to a large shallow pan and refrigerate. Once cool, you can cover and refrigerate for 2 weeks. Hope this works.

Deb, I have a few suggestions from my professional pastry days:

-When making Swiss buttercream, beat room-temperature butter until soft then slowly add the meringue a small blob at a time. You’ll save yourself time and tears. (No matter what, I always beat the butter first then add the other stuff. Even when making brioche. It makes so much more sense and is much less prone to breaking.)

For the filling, you might not want to make mango curd– curds are tough to get thick enough, especially in large quantities, and for a cake that might have to spend some time sitting out at a summer wedding, you risk slippage and leakage no matter how well you dowel it. Consider making a thick jam-like spread with mango puree, sugar and lemon juice.

You also might want to consider spreading each filled cake layer with a thin coat of ganache. That will help seal in the filling and moisture and make a smooth crumb-free surface to spread the frosting.

Hi, new here..love your site..beautiful pictures. The cake sounds so yummy! I would assemble on site..now..I have never done this..but I’ve watched Ace of Cakes and seen them do this a hundred times…so I’m thinking it’s a good idea! I would also make more cake ..those charts are for teeny tiny pieces of cake..and what if people want 2nds? Good luck on the frosting..I’ve never made a Swiss buttercream..sounds yummy though..give it another try and if it’s still not right go with your back up! Good luck..I’m sure it will turn out great!

This probably will sound strange, but my family buys mangoes by the crate and we cover the mangoes in uncooked rice. No clue why, but the mangoes ripen much nicer(as in more evenly and sweeter). However, I do not know whether or not they ripen faster compared to no rice. Just my 2cents :).

This is fantastic! I’ve always wanted to make a wedding cake. I can’t wait to see how this turns out!

I don’t have any practical advice on baking wedding cakes (sorry!), but I will be so interested in seeing how this all turns out because someday I want to make a wedding cake for my sister. However, I did want to chime in and say that those serving sizes must be itty-bitty because I’ve made plenty of 8- and 9-inch layer cakes and no way in hell did I ever get 32 servings!!! More like 12, 16 max if it’s very rich. So this is why I always get such tiny little measly “slices” of wedding cakes whenever I go to a wedding, huh? Yeah, so it’s usually not that great, but still, talk about ungenerous. So yeah, I guess my point is, assume people will want a *real* slice of cake, especially since it will be so delicious. Good luck!

I just thought I’d post a link to another buttercream recipe. I don’t know if it’s any different than the one you have, but it also says to just keep beating, so hopefully it’ll turn out if just just keep at it!

http://bakingbites.com/2008/05/real-vanilla-bean-buttercream/

Good luck, Deb! I can’t wait to see how it all turns out.

Thanks for all the serving advice. I should qualify that the way cakes are cut at weddings and by caterers are different from the way we cut them at home, the latter being much more generous. (This I actually remember from our wedding–the slices were thin!) In fact, when I made those three birthday cakes a few weeks ago, each was 8-inch square and I remember that we actually got a ton of slices out of each because they were so thick, and the wedding cake layers will be mad thick as well.

That was my defense of the Wilton slicing guide. All that said, I do agree that home-baked cake gets people eating a lot more cake than they normally would, and it would be better to be safe than sorry.

Also, note to self: Ask Bride if they’re serving any other desserts!

It is true that the SMB will look like curdled soup before it comes together, especially if your butter is very soft like it gets in hot weather. It can still seem really ‘wet’ when it is done, but it is a dream to ice with. I have made a few wedding cakes and I really like The recipe from Baking with Julia. It is for chocolate SMB, I just make it w/o the chocolate and it always turned out great. Making wedding cakes is a stressful thing for sure! My first wedding cake was for my sister-in-law and I made myself so ill with worry, I couldn’t even go to the reception! It had a dome for the second layer and I had made crystallized flowers for decoration. I agree with assembling it at the venue and also using a baking core for the large cake. Good luck!

The Wilton diagrams seem to be giving instructions for cutting two inch by one inch squares of cake. That’s teeny! They’re insane, or serving cake where it’s either an accent with another dessert or at the end of a serious meal. If your cakes are as delicious as they sound like they are going to be, people are going to want much bigger pieces than 2 inches.

What a mensch you are to make that cake, my dear! Just remember that through this process. no one expects perfection.

So we made our own wedding cake, and gluten-free at that! My friend (and maid of honor) and I made the cake itself (chocolate-banana, based on the recipe from my book, actually) in one enormous cake pan. Two feet across, purchased from the restaurant supply store. It took six or seven batches of the recipe to fill the cake pan. We had no idea if it would work. I kind of thought it would turn out like the pudding in Woody Allen’s Sleeper, which crept out of the oven and took over the room. But it was great! Perfect. We didn’t have any warming coils or special gadgets. It was easy.

We were going to make a second and third layers, but we decided the hell with it. That cake fed 110 people, no problem. And they were all happy.

Oh, and in the morning Danny made a chocolate ganache frosting. Easy and decadent. If you’re not loving the buttercream, I’d say go with chocolate ganache. Great with mango.

Ours didn’t look the way you envision yours. But it was fantastic. Different than we had expected, and better.

No advice..Have no experience with wedding cakes. Just wanted to wish you good luck and tell you how fortunate your friend is to have you!

A couple of things:

Given how intimidating Swiss buttercreams can be, what I’ve settled on for my standard buttercream recipe is what’s called a “Quick buttercream” in my cookbook, though I’ve seen it called a “German buttercream,” elsewhere. It’s basically a cooked pastry cream component, blended into a beaten butter/sugar component (I can post the recipe if you want). Its texture is remarkably similar to an Italian/Swiss buttercream, but it seems to be a lot let temperamental.

On to another point: if you’re concerned about the quality and/or ripeness of your mangoes, might I make the suggestion (albeit perhaps a sacrilegious one) that you try frozen mangoes? I know my local Trader Joe’s carries them, and they have the advantages that they’re not much work, there aren’t concerns about timing, and they’re frozen at the point of ripeness and usually close to where they’re grown, so there aren’t issues with bruising and damage during transport. I’ve found that once they’re thawed and pureed, they’re comparable in taste and texture to fresh, and, in fact, can sometimes be better, since they seem not to have the tendency fresh mangoes do to get stringy when you try to puree them.

Im not sure what formula you used but the swiss buttercream i use works everytime!

its 24 oz egg whites and 48 oz sugar and 3 oz of light corn syrup!
heat it up over the bain marie as usual and whip it GOODD hah
oh and 4 lbs of butter mmm

im not sure how big your mixer is .. this batch its pretty big so you might want to half it

only thing i can think of about it not emulsifing is that the meringue was too warm and melted the butter.

if it still pools put the bowl in some ice water while it whips to cool the butter!

i hope this helps!!! good luck!! :D

Deb, I would suggest that you make the bottom layer chocolate, instead of the middle one. This will provide a more equal distribution of flavors so that everyone can have a piece of each.

Also, I would recommend that in addition to freezing the layers, that you do the base/sealing coat of icing and freeze that too. That leaves you only the final frosting and decorating the day before the wedding. And frosting over the frozen sealing coat of icing is a lot easier than frosting over a still-soft sealing coat.

i havent made swiss buttercream before, but apprently you keep on whisking it on and on and on and everything will be alright and will come together…good luck with this project and we’ll be looking forward to your posts on the experiments!

Andrew — Great idea about Trader Joes–I’ll keep that in mind if these don’t seem right.

Jan — Smart thinking! I will take all of your advice.

If you can find Philippine or Manila mangoes they are the absolute best. It can also be found as a puree in most Asian stores. Look for the 7D brand

Something you might want to consider with decorating with flowers: florists’ flowers are often loaded with pesticides and chemicals - not necessarily something you want to be throwing on a cake people will be devouring! Unless, of course, the flowers are organic.

I’ve done… 4 wedding cakes so far, and I think you’re on the right track and getting good advice. Definitely dowel them (or use some of the hollow plastic dowels that Wilton sells — they can snap onto Wilton’s plastic cake plates, which will give you more stability).

If you want a no-fail backup option for frosting, look for a product called Rich’s BetterCream. It comes in a gigantic milk carton thing, frozen, and you thaw it and whip it up. It tastes like a mix between buttercream and whipped cream, and it doesn’t melt out in the sun (if that’s an issue!).

I think the amount of cake you have planned will be good — you may have leftovers, but that’s better than running out!

Oh, a little trick my cake decorating teacher taught us: to keep the cardboard round on the spinny cake wheel while you’re decorating it, use a little piece of that carpet no-skid stuff. It works great!

Do the dowelling at home, but do the final assembly at the site. Bring more frosting than you think you’ll need, and more pastry bags, and lots of tips. And scissors, for cutting the flower stems. And florist’s tape for taping the stems, in case the flowers are toxic (or you can buy little flower tubes from, you guessed it, Wilton). Bring an apron, and lots of paper towels! And remember that flowers cover a multitude of sins. :)

Make sure the bride and groom have a cake knife and server, or bring your own — will you be serving it?

And don’t forget your camera! :)

Oh, wow, just chiming in to wish you good luck and maximum calmness! I acn’t wait to see how it turns out… Re: your wedding cake having been dry: when we got married in France, i really wanted to have a big american style tiered wedding cake. Every single patissier asked refused because the vstyle would compromise the flavor. Somehow, I am sure this wedding cake of yours won’t!

I don’t know if it is insulting to suggest this, like if you do this already, but… From my days working as a baker: When using a curd between layers of cake, especially heavy large layers, make sure you pipe a “buffer” of buttercream around the edge of the top of the layer and then spread the curd in the center. What you want is a centimeter of buttercream around the edge to prevent curd leakage.

Also, doing a light crumb coat, letting harden in the fridge, and then adding another layer of buttercream looks really smooth and is a way to keep your sanity while icing.

Definitely assemble on-site.

Another idea is making a very concentrated mango paste and then blending that into buttercream. A bakery near me does this with concentrated passionfruit puree (or maybe juice concentrate?) and the flavor is just amazing: tart, fruity, and a nice way to cut the richness of buttercream. Also very unexpected.

Best wishes!

Not insulting! In fact, if you look at the last photo I have there (7-minute frosting going over a lemon curd-filled cake) you can see that I always forget the buffer around the curd. Always. I hope I won’t this time!

I agree with everyone’s comments - we just can’t wait to read about your adventure and the final product - which will be beautiful! If you are trying to ripen a mango, you can place it in a brown paper bag at room temperature (like ripening an avocado). Once they are ripe, then you can place them in the refrig for only a few more days. I do agree however that Trader Joe’s frozen mangos are perfect. Best of luck!

You have to keep whipping! And it has to be at a high speed but not too high speed. And the butter has to be incredibly soft - to a point it is almost melting. I tend to hold it in my hand as I drop bits in to the mixing bow so it’s ‘blood’ temperature. If that makes sense. Just think - just keep whipping, just keep whipping.

Transport in layers and build on site. Please. My nerves can’t stand the thought of you doing otherwise.

This is so much fun!

Like so many I read you religiously (I have your feed up on my netvibes homepage) but I have never commented until now just salivated and laughed and got a little motivated in the kitchen. Thanks for that.

As another former pastry chef I say that the Swiss Buttercream is WAY worth it. All the advice on here is bang on. I second adding the meringue to the butter not the other way around, it’s always worked for me. I also highly recommend taking the layers separately to the venue. If it’s hot out it will do distressing things to the buttercream and you could have some nasty slippage. Refrigerate it well (I used to stick them in the freezer just for a little safety margin).

As to the Wilton slicing guide, it’s based on the old fashioned fruitcake based wedding cakes and the slices were tiny.

Best of luck, have fun, it’ll taste fabulous and look delightful…I’d bet on it.

all I know is that I’m actually going to this wedding and the chocolate portion of this cake had better be good. ;-)

Also, there are a lot more chocolate lovers in the world than mango, so that middle section better be BIG, otherwise u may find some pmsing bitchy bridesmaids pitching a fit! Ok, me pitching a fit! Xoxo!
Joce

We had nearly those exact layers for our wedding cake last year! At around seventy people (and keeping a good part of the top layer) there wasn’t a lot of cake for each slice, so I applaud the idea of more cake! Everyone loves cake, and wedding cake is the cream of the crop. Mango filling sounds yummy!

Congratulations and best wishes (to YOU, the baker!) on the big event.

The memory of my old housemates assembling a large, tiered wedding cake in our kitchen is still emblazoned in my mind over a decade later. A few thoughts:

* Definitely use dowels, if for no other reason than it allowing you to keep the successive layers level by smoothing over any “tilt” in a given layer with extra frosting. The dowels helped rescue the construction I witnessed.

* If you plan to assemble onsite, make sure you can turf out enough workspace there for your tools and staging space for the separate layers.

* I second the TJ’s frozen mango suggestion — peek through the clear part in the back of the bags to choose one with the deepest colored fruit inside

* Consider picking up some small orchids for cake decoration (very Thai!). TJ’s usually has these as well.

* Don’t forget to bring the full complement of whatever cake cutting/plating tools you plan to use, including a pitcher or vase for dipping the knife in hot water between cuts, plus extra napkins or paper towels.

Can’t wait to read about the yummy-licious outcome.

* If you have access to a car with a hatchback or a high side door through friends, family, ZipCar, etc., you’ll save yourself the stress of raising and lowering your layers in/out of a back seat or a car trunk.

If you are going with the mango curd (slippery) you may want to make Italian meringue buttercream, as it is a bit more stable. A white chocolate variation would go well with the mango and make it even a bit more stable. I make the one in DeDe Wilson’s Wedding Cake Book. Yes, it is 10 years old, but I always go back to it. Easy if you make it a day ahead with a laser thermometer, refrigerate and let it sit out and rebeat it before you frost. Don’t forget you need a lot of frosting — it’s much more relaxing if it’s ready ahead of time.

The book has generous serving sizes, suggesting a 6″,9″, and 12″ layer for your size wedding, where each layer is 4″ tall. This assumes your cake is delicious and everyone wants a healthy piece. If you’re going to double up on servings, maybe 6″, 10″, 14″ Consider how much “ledge” you want between layers, not just how many servings you want.

Put the wooden dowels in before you transport so you have plenty of time to cut them and make sure everything is even, and then refrigerate the layers so (at least initially) the buttercream is helping to lock the dowels in.

Good luck! This is a very generous gift!

I just made my best friend’s wedding cake last month. Unlike you, I’m not a baker at all and had a hell of a job creating something edible nevermind pretty! Blogged about it:
http://teach77.wordpress.com/category/the-wedding-cake/
Best of luck to you! Look forward to reading about your progress.

Just wanted to comment on Indian mangoes that came up in this discussion. They taste nothing like the ones you have tasted till now. Not even mangoes from Mexico can beat Indian mangoes…..these are sweeter, more complex, more tropical than any fruit you have ever tasted. India, IMO, only boasts of one thing….and that is extremely gorgeous mangoes.

My mom has been doing all sorts of cakes for over 20 years, though for the last 15 or so she was doing them out of our home. For wedding cakes, though, she uses the clear dowels from Wilton that have a plate that snaps into the top of them. That way she can put the dowels into the cakes beforehand, completely assemble and decorate the cake, and then carefully take apart the layers for transportation. Then when she gets there she can just snap the layers back in place, et voila! A finished cake with no stress because of decorating away from home.

It sounds like you’re very prepared, though, and I think you’re going to do great! I’m excited to read about your adventure in wedding cake making, it’s going to be interesting and I’m sure it’ll be delicious as well!

I made a friend’s wedding cake about a year ago, my first time and so stressful. Things I learnt (and which will hopefully help when I make my sister’s soon):
1. Definitely get and use a core. I didn’t - it was complicated and stressful.
2. Assemble at the venue. I made the cake up before - a cake for 90 people - and shaved ten years off my lifetime whilst transporting the cake. Also, it was a little damaged by the time we got to the venue; no one noticed, but still.
3. Get as many people as possible to help with transporting the cake; the more hands to hold things still and carry, the better.
4. You will have PLENTY of cake (I underestimated according to the cake cutting diagram and there was still lots left over). Always better to have too much rather than too little, though.
I learnt many other things as well (planning ahead! freezing! etc.) but you seem to have those down already.
Good luck and have fun!

As a future bride and current wedding cake taster :) I have loved reading your post + the comments… which are not the usual ‘that looks pretty’, which is nice to hear, but I prefer this interactive dialogue you have created. I will be making my mother a birthday cake in the next few weeks and will be attempting the Swiss buttercream - do you know how to make it chocolate flavoured…. is it best to use unsweetened cocoa powder or melted dark chocolate???

No cake baking advice here (sorry…) but a few tips from someone who did luck out with a homemade wedding cake! My husband’s step-brother is a professional chef and as a wedding present he agreed to make the cake. I actually don’t like cake (I know!) so the husband was in charge of all that (because he LOVES cake). It was chocolate with a chocolate ganache frosting. Anyway, I tried a bite and the cake was good (as far as cakes go) but I swear to god everyone at our wedding LOVED the cake. People still talk about the cake - and this is four years later. Just this weekend, in fact, at a family party, I was talking to a good friend who wasn’t at our wedding and another friend told her that she really missed out (I quote), “the cake was awesome!”

You are doing your friends a real service by baking this thing. I am sure it will turn out to be one of the most memorable moments of an extremely memorable day! And I do recommend making a lot. People went back for thirds at our wedding. And we had 90 people, so went through a lot of cake that day (and we still had a piece or two left over for the husband to nibble on the following day…the man loves his chocolate cake).

Wow, that is absolutely amazing and what a terrific gift. I sadly have little advice to give on the cake baking kind, but can guinea-pig and taste whatever ;-) of course, i am sure i’m in line behind many people, especially Alex.

I do wedding cakes for friends only- it is quite an undertaking. I typically bake a 14″ base, and I’ve never used a heating core, never had a problem. Be careful about the icing you use- those hot, sticky NY summers can make a real mess out of a formerly great-looking cake.

A couple of decorating ideas that are easy to do onsite- I have a white metal cage, purchased from Wilton several years ago that is the same size as either my middle or top layers. I use it with fresh flowers- typically roses in the Bride’s colors- lined up inside the cage blossoms facing outward. I also like to use a simple, gossamer ribbon around the cake layers- not too wide- rather than overdoing with a ton of small detail icing handwork. I leave that stuff to the pros- there’s just too much to mess up, and after a while it looks great, but my hand hurts so much I can’t finish.

One last thing- if you use fresh flowers, do not stick the stems directly into the cake itself. I had this happen at my own wedding (dumb florist did it) and that layer of cake tasted like yucky flower stems.

Good luck to you, and plan ahead for weird crises- you just never know.

Gotta say - baking a wedding cake is on one of my top ‘Wants To Accomplish’ lists as well. So, I must commend you for doing it!

Sounds wonderful…I’m looking forward to the finale…

Deb:

Best of luck to you. I’ve taken the Wilton decorating series twice, so I appreciate your determination. I’ve never heard of a heating core, but I will look that up. Here are a few suggestions (keep in mind I’m a gadget freak and a Cook’s Illustrated devotee)

-Wilton Bake strips: yes you need them. Cakes bake evenly and don’t dome.
-Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Cake Bible: This answers every question you could possibly have about cakes and icing. Check out my review on Amazon because I either listed or posted a link to the errata

-Williams-Sonoma Gold Touch Cake Pans: expensive, but worth it

-CakeCentral.com: great site for inspiration

-YouTube.com: lots of cake decorating videos

Good luck and keep us posted.

I have done one wedding cake for friends and 15 dozen wedding cupcakes for another friend. Even if I did this on a regular basis, I don’t think you’ll never not get the fear. I can never sleep before a cake gig, and if it’s a wedding cake gig, I really can’t sleep. I suggest hot bathes and meditation for before and loads of stiff drinks after! I would definitely get my hands on Dede Wilson’s book: Wedding Cakes You Can Make: Designing, Baking, and Decorating the Perfect WeddingCake, as it really gives you all the tips & tricks, diagrams, support and ideas that you need. I really found it a lifesaver. I used her serving size recommendations for a 60 person wedding, and ended up with pretty a big cake (without checking my notes, I’d say it was 6-9-12 inches.

Anyways, on to your questions:

Size: like I’ve advised, check out Dede Wilson’s book

Biggest layer: DEFINITELY use a a heating core, and be careful not to overfill it. I always do and then you have to do more then torte it. As for the “magic” cake strips, use them. As they really help to level out a cake, I’d actually use them for all the layers.

Icing: Italian Meringue Buttercream is what I’ve used for all my cakes and I used on my first wedding cake and it was a roasting 90 degrees (very unusual for the NL) on the day itself. If you haven’t, tryMartha Stewart’s recipe, I like it as it’s not overly sweet. I use her measurements, but cook the sugar and egg white together before throwing it all int the KA and finishing it off. Easy as pie. I kept the cake in a huge fridge on location until it was time to serve. I tell you that was the longest walk of my life, from the fridge, down the dirt path to the table service table (outside location).

Filling: I’d go with a mango buttercream, as curds are too slippery and unstable. You can make the curd and fold into the buttercream.

Travel: On-site assembly is best. Make sure you make your list of what you’ll need to have on hand, and don’t forget tea towels. I actually pre-wet a few tea towels and store them in a ziploc bag, for easier clean up of the all the sticky stuff. Take an apron too, you don’t want to be at the reception covered in buttercream! ;-)

I know that you’re going to rock this challenge and I look forward to reading all about it! If you want to read my honest account of my first wedding cake for a good laugh, then click here

I am a complete spectator here but I love your blog and I just wanted to tell you I am here, cheering you on!! I cannot wait to see pics of the finished cake, I am sure it’s going to be a huge hit!!!

It sounds like you have it all under control.

The only think I question is the freezing of the curd. I am thinking that it might break down when thawed.

I have heard that the strips are good, but you are still going to have to level out your layers, so I just fill my cake pans a bit fuller. Then you can save the bits you level off to eat at will when your crumb coat doesn’t work, and the icing refuses to smooth out.

I would drive (if you have a car) the cake for delivery. It isn’t that far.

I have never heard of a heater core or whatever you mentioned.

Are you going to sponge the layers with a sugar syrup before you fill and ice? That is one thing that many quality bakers do to keep the cake moist.

I got married at Christmas and my Mother in Law made our wedding cake - she is a trained chef but taught herself sugar craft. We had a cake with the theme of 12 days of Christmas - it was spectacular - go and have a look http://jamandclottedcream.blogspot.com/2008/05/my-wedding-cake-12-days-of-christmas.html.

I definately think you should asemble on site, and my mother in law made a spare tier to ours just in case there was an accident!

Good luck, Im sure it will be fine! Can’t wait to see the finished article

When I make the swiss buttercream, I get the butter so soft it almost looks melted. My frosting almose looks like it will break come the last addition of the butter, but then by a miracle, it is fine. I then stick the kitchen aid workbowl into the fridge before using the frosting so it will stiffen up a bit. I also think it’s a bit harder working with that type of frosting in the summer months when it’s so hot and humid. Better crank up your air!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Plus I think it’s so WEDDING CAKE appropriate!!!!!! Cannot WAIT to see your finished product! Sounds FAN-DAMN-TASTICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOOD LUCK!

I tried Martha’s Strawberry Swiss Buttercream and it was a total, total disaster. It was just a liquid mess, and despite my best attempts (frig, meringue powder, whisking the heck out of it) - it could not be revived. I’d go with your tried and trusted never fail frosting, especially for this intimidating project - it’ll reduce the stress level a bit. Good luck! I’m sure you’ll do beautifully!

Hi Deb! I have no idea if anyone already suggested this site to you, because I don’t want to read through all the comments. ( http://www.earlenescakes.com/ckserchart.htm) I completely disagree with Wilton’s serving chart, because I have been burned by it. The serving chart on Earlene’s website is amazing, because it is correct and it has all sorts of cake shape and sizes. Last summer I made a very ambitious wedding cake for a friend, and like you, I am not a professional, I am just a very good cook. It was stressful as hell, but it turned out really well and I felt stupid for being so stressed out. Perhaps you should skip the stress part. I used a frosting combo of my own devising, which worked really well in the hot hot summer heat. I made a traditional buttercream (the kind that gets crusty and stands up to everything and tastes like wax), and a cream cheese frosting and mixed the two together. The frosting stood up to the heat, and tasted excellent. I would be worried that the Swiss would melt in the heat. And finally, if you decide to assemble there, make a ton more frosting than you think you need. If you run out and the cake is half frosted…you are effed. Good luck!

Just unlurking to wish you good luck! I’m fascinated by all the comments and am toying with the idea of baking m own wedding cupcakes. I’m far too scared to actually make a layered cake! (Breads, ice cream, muffins, tortes, now those aren’t a problem!) Best wishes and calmness are being sent your way!

This webpage has some tips on how to save a curdled buttercream. It’s the last box on long, busy page.

http://www.baking911.com/decorating/cakes_buttercream.htm

Also, you said you made Dorie Greenspan’s Perfect Party Cake, right? Did you try the buttercream recipe accompanying it? I’ve made it several times and it’s the easiest buttercream recipe I’ve worked with. Of course you’d want to drastically reduce the lemon juice so it would match the rest of your flavors.

Good luck! You’re totally going to rock this! Don’t forget to have fun with it.

Our wedding cake was terrific, because it wasn’t just one cake we had 6. Each cake was in a different flavor/style (chocolate & almond, filled cream puff tower & spun sugar, etc…) and there were cookie banners to unite the theme (love, respect, joy, etc…).

If you find that you cannot make up your mind on the style and option you may want to consider something similar.

I just found your site and am looking forward to seeing the evolution of this project. I’m not that level of baker–I can bake up tasty things, but tasty and beautiful and elegant and in huge quantities? No way! I’m sure I’ll learn a lot following your adventures.

A delicious homemade-style wedding cake is so much better than the bakery ones. Ours was made by friends and despite having something like 15 other incredible desserts and enough food for four times as many guests as we had (this is what happen when foodies do a pot-luck reception!) we had to fight to save a piece for the anniversary.

The cake sounds lovely! And delicious. I’ve been drooling over your blog for a while and had to comment on this subject.

In my family, I’m the one who makes the birthday cake. I’ve travelled across the city many a time with a layered cake on a plate on my lap, lifting and tilting appropriately for bumps and corners.

That being said, I’ve also learned that if you layer and decorate the cake before you arrive, you can expect to do touch ups when you arrive (and wipe chocolate off your pants).

Considering the size of the cake, you probably won’t be carrying it on your lap (unless you’re a body builder), and considering the importance of your cake, I wouldn’t want to run the risk of having the icing smucked on the way to the restaurant… so I would assemble it on site.

I cannot wait to see the results of your trials (and hopefully few tribulations)! I just made a lemon curd over the weekend, and it did indeed try to make a run for it after being transported in our car for an hour to the beach, so I’ll second (third?) the recommendations for a good, strong buttercream buffer. Also, I found the cooking tips and recipe on this site to be winners: http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/articles/foolproof-lemon-curd-method.aspx
http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/recipes/lemon_curd.aspx
By whipping everything together before heating, you don’t have to worry about straining the curd afterwards to remove any pesky lumps of uncooked egg, because there aren’t any. The curdled mixture looks awful before you warm it up, but I found that it smoothed out and thickened up beautifully. Good luck!

Wow, thanks everyone! This is officially my most helpful comment section, ever. Just one response, for now!

Bridget — It was actually Dorie’s Perfect Party Cake’s buttercream that flipped out on me (and then me on it, in all honesty). However, it is definitely sounding from the comments that a) it’s not the recipe (didn’t actually think it was, since I know a ton of you have made it) and b) I didn’t keep whipping it for long enough after it flopped. I will try again today or tomorrow.

Of interest, I loved that tender, pure-white cake in the recipe and tested for the wedding cake (what you see in the top photo), using lime zest instead of lemon to compliment the mango. In the end, I think it may be too soft and light to give the structure I need (like an Angel Food Cake with butter, for those of you who haven’t seen the recipe). I tried out a more classic buttermilk/yellow cake yesteday that I think will be better.

One more thing: I will pick up some of those strips today. I know the cake still needs to be levelled–I am going to use an actual level, even, a suggestion from a cookbook–but I hope it will offset the fact that the chocolate cake domes quite a bit.

… Which has also given us a chance to taste it, and it is delicious!

i have absolutely no advice but as i aspire to making my own wedding cake (or cupcakes) some day, this is all good to read. good luck!

Hi
*Serving sizes - I use earlene’s serving chart - its a little more realisitc. http://www.earlenescakes.com/ckserchart.htm
*Heating core - you can just use an upside down flower nail (greased) this way there is no chunk of cake to deal with
*SMBC - just keep beating it. it should come togther. maybe put in fridge for a few minutes and then keep beating it.
*SkyHigh - i rented that book from the library. I love it. I going to buy it soon!
* Dowel, Dowel, Dowel!!! or use the SPS system if you want to transport fully assembled. http://www.sugarcraft.com/catalog/wedding/Wplates-pillars.htm
*i know you said your cakes are square but FYI - here is a much simpler way to cut round cakes (wiltons way is too complicated)http://cateritsimple.com/_wsn/page9.html
*And you can always check out Cakecentral.com or baking911.com for info……they are lifesavers.

Year-old frozen cake would not be good eats, so my Mom gave me a special anniversary surprise. She went back to the bakery where we got our cake, and had them bake a small cake for my first anniversary, in the same flavor. So, after you get through this, put it on your calendar for next year to bake a little cake for the newlyweds.

I have made several wedding cakes with no disasters to report. So the first thing is to take a deep breath and relax. Your friends are lucky to have you!

I agree about assembling on site. Get a separate bakery box for each layer. The baking strips are KEY for getting even layers. Never used a heating core and never had a problem.

Stay away from Martha Stewart recipes. Why haven’t we all learned that by now?

Rose Levy Beranbaum is you friend. Her book, The Cake Bible, is amazing. She has a blog, too, called Real Baking with Rose. Anyway, her neoclassic buttercream recipe is the best (and easiest!) The one piece of advice I have that differs from what others have said, is that I use really cold butter. When you add the hot syrup to the eggs, normally you wait until the mixture cools and then add the butter. But if you use cold butter, it cools the mixture for you and there’s less chance of it breaking. Trust me, it works!

Good luck! I know you can do it.

Deb,
The first and only wedding cake I ever made had a few adventures. We were catering a wedding - first and last on that, too. My thoughts - definitely assemble there. Stacking tiers if they’re not too big can really work without dowels and I found dowels to be a bit of a pain. If the weather is warm, buttercream will melt so an icing that can hold up is key. We loved a chocolate cake recipe from Maida Heater at the time but I can’t find the recipe but it’s from her chocolate desserts book. It was straightforward and baked up well. We also bake and froze and get this - because I was so nervous about having enough and managing slicing the cake, we baked extra cake in a long layer pan - split it and filled it and it sliced up like a dream, making everything a bit easier. Good luck.

THIS is gonna be fun!!! (for us)

Fun! I’ve done this. Baked a square, three tier, flower-petal decorated wedding cake, for my brother’s wedding. I used Rose Levy Berenbaum’s buttercream — shiny, pretty, and fail-proof (I tried!). You’ll definitely want to do the assembly at the site — 8 blocks is a long way to carry a slippery, shiny, glossy, three-tiered confection. I baked for 100, went with a 6 inch top-tier, a 10 inch middle-tier, and a 14 inch bottom-tier… and easily had cake for everyone, with some to spare. I found that without at least 4 inches difference between the sizes of the tiers, they didn’t look as pronounced as I’d hoped.

For a chocolate cake, the double-chocolate-cake recipe on Epicurious (the one with approximately a million ratings) is lovely, though I substituted Guinness for the coffee, which gave it a nuttier, warmer flavor than the original recipe. Good luck!

I suck at baking and can offer exactly zero words of wisdom, but know that you are being sent good wedding cake vibes at regular intervals over the next 12 days! Best of luck!!!

I had to laugh when I read the bride and groom’s reaction to the saved cake tradition. My husband and I felt the same way.

We were completely disgusted by the idea as well, but I had read in good ol’ Fannie Farmer that it is equally appropriate to recreate your cake instead. If it’s good enough for Fannie, then it’s certainly good enough for me.

Therefore, I make our yellow butter cake with cannoli filling and fudge icing every year for our anniversary and find something new each year to put on top of it for a bride and groom.

But what to do with the giant hunk of cake in our freezer? It seemd sacreligious to just dispose of it, so we planted it under our “wedding tree” (a little oak sapling that has self-seeded in our yard the year we were married and that we moved with us out of state) when we bought our house.

I’d like to think that cake was very nourishing to our tree. The tree is strong and growing and now nearly eight years old, just like our marriage.

Ooh — also, the strips work wonders, and instead of a heating core, I used a flower nail, inverted, and sprayed liberally with cooking spray, in the center of the largest (14″) layer only — everything came out beautifully.

I think you should make a “trial” cake for Mom and I, and then you can learn from it. In fact, you won’t have to worry about the transportation part. We’ll come to your house to eat it!

The cake strips work like a charm. Your cake will bake completely flat, which looks kind of weird. As a result, you’re have a taller layer because you wont have to cut of a domed top. I use them every time I bake a cake.

Ok, I admit it, I haven’t read every single comment, so I know I’ll be duplicating some people, but…
1. Yes, Wilton is crazy, I made a 12″round, 9″round and 6″round and it just covered 75 people at my sister’s wedding. Especially depending on whose cutting it because everyone has their own idea of the ‘correct’ cake piece.
2. Heat core and wet strips, probably a good idea, but not absolutely necessary. So if something happens, so worry, a 12″ cake can still bake fine without them.
5. Definitely assemble onsite! You’ll need to do touch ups either way and assembling on site gives you a little more flexibility to deal with whatever comes up!
6. Have a great time!

1. I don’t agree with Wilton’s cutting diagrams. They say 2 inch pieces per person, are you kidding me? People will be pigging out (or is that just my family?).

2. Personally, I wouldn’t be able to bake a cake bigger than a 9 inch without a heating core. The middle would be mush. They’re simple to use, just make sure you grease it.

3. For the icing, follow your gut. (But have a backup handy)

4. No advice, sorry.

5. Transporting an assembled cake will be difficult. If you decide to assemble it on site, how early will you arrive? Will you be alone or will you have an audience? People will sit and watch you and tell you that you missed a spot etc etc.
I would assemble them at home (frozen of course) and make sure everything is gravy then unassembled and refreeze, box up and transport. By the time you arrive they should be thawing and you should have enough time reassemble and do touch ups.

Hope that helps!

Hi Deb!
I made a wedding cake for a few friends a few months ago…whew–it’s a lot of work, but extremely rewarding when everybody raves about the cake (remember this when you are baking/decorating into the wee hours of the morning!) As to your frosting dilemma, it is extremely common for the frosting to break when you start adding the butter; however, if you keep beating it for a few extra minutes it should firm up for you. I have used both the Martha Stewart and the Dorie Greenspan recipes for swiss meringue buttercream and must admit that I like Dories a little bit more. Plus, Dorie’s was more white(probably due to a lower butter ratio), instead of light yellow. Also, I used to work for a wedding cake bakery and commonly cut the cakes on the weekends. The Wilton model for cutting cake gives guests the littlest portions!!! I say–go ahead and bake the sizes you were planning on! The wedding sounds like it is going to be a casual affair, one in which minuscule pieces of cake are not welcome. And, judging by the other goodies you make on this site, the cake is going to be absolutely delicious, so people are going to want more than one piece.
Good luck with all the baking and decorating! I look forward to seeing the big reveal.

WOW!!! I can’t wait to see how this pans out. I’ve always wanted to do a big wedding cake. I say take it unassembled and put it together there. GOOD LUCK either way! So exciting!

No experience on the wedding cake front myself, but watched my mother make many many in her years of running a wedding cake business. ABSOLUTELY assemble on site. My sister, as a three year old, provided some comedy to my grandmother’s second wedding by sitting on the cake in the back seat of the car on the way to the reception. Beyond the comedy, I can still remember my mother’s panic. Ouch

Given all of the choices for what cake I would like to eat, it would have to be Wedding Cake. Maybe it is the romance of it, the beauty or even the fact the Wedding cake always seems to taste good. I have alsways said that we need a bakery that just sells slices of wedding cake. I would be there…and probably 20 pounds heavier!
http://lifeislikechampagne.blogspot.com

I made my sister’s wedding cake. Same dimensions as yours. Also square. All my research said (and it turned out to be true) that no heating core was necessary under 14″. I made a chocolate cake with raspberry filling and a swiss buttercream. It was incredible. You must be far braver than I. I started six months in advance trying out recipes. I had baked thousands of cakes before this one and the first three practice cakes flopped for three different reasons. I wanted the process to be as streamlined as possible. Freezing is good. Icing the day of is perfect. Good luck! Oh, transport it while frozen, it will make everything easier. And, I’m sure you know this but a crumb coating is needed for a wedding cake!

Don’t know if this will be of any help, but I once saw Alton Brown level off a cake using a couple of boards and a hacksaw blade. He got a pair of 2 x 4s (I think) and set them up in a V shape, putting the cake into the V. He then laid the blade flat against the boards and cut across the top of the cake. I imagine you could use any kind of long, thin blade—the important thing would be making sure your boards are the exact same size.

Best of luck! I’ll be looking forward to reading about your progress.

Good luck! I’m in the same boat - volunteered to bake the cake for my best friends reception for 200!!! (Also, my first wedding cake) I’ll be watching to see how it goes, hopefully, I’ll even learn something!

good luck.

my friend just made one for her brother’s wedding. the bride picked one from the martha stewart wedding cake book.

I wanted to visit the cake, but decided it was best to stay away for a few days. I am waiting to see pictures.

ok, I´ve never made a wedding cake before, so I can´t offer advice on assembly or transportation, but what did cross my mind as soon as you said mango was orange. I´d totally do an orange cake for the mango curd filling, orange and mango just love each other and make each other shine. Just a suggestion.

Good luck! This sounds like a mammoth undertaking. Just a quick note about Indian versus Mexican (or whatever you get at the regular store) magoes. There is a material difference in taste, texture, and sweetness, the Indian ones being WAY better. You can get them at any Indian store, and probably tons of places, given that you live in New York City! Having said that, the grocery store mangoes have hugely improved in taste (even from 5 years ago), so Im sure you will make it work no matter what type of mango you decide to go with.

Best fruit ever!

I worked as a wedding cake decorator for a couple of years and we almost always assembled the cakes on site. The layers were kept in a walk-in freezer before transport so we wouldn’t have to worry about layers sliding about. (For smaller cakes, we would usually use drinking straws instead of dowels!) But, the most important thing to keep in mind when you are stacking the layers is not to fuss over their placement– once you put a layer down don’t try to shift it. And definitely don’t move the assembled cake once it is at room temperature. Anyway, Good luck! The cake sounds delicious and I am certain you will do just great–the size should be really manageable.

I have one trick to share. Have any of your books/sources told you to use wooden dowels in between layers? I had to bake a wedding cake last fall for a friend and so i did a search on youTube. I saw a woman use those fat, bubble tea straws (neon pink that you can buy in Chinatown mini marts) in place of the dowels. It worked like a charm. You just stick the straws in and snip with scissors. Much easier than dowels.

My cake came out well, except for the decorating. I’m not the best froster and so I tried to cover up all the blemishes with rosemary branches and kumkwats (the theme of the wedding was Greek) … not as pretty as it sounds.

Good luck! It’s going to be beautiful.

You are so brave! I’m eager to keep reading about your trial and errors (although I hope there won’t be very many of the latter). Mango curd sounds amazing!

Good luck! I can’t wait to see the photos. I’ve got absolutely no advice on the cake, but do remember to relax a bit and and enjoy the experience. If the worst happens (and it won’t) it’s not the end of the world and fabulous cake in a heap is still good, just less pretty!

The only advice I can offer is to assemble on site and then watch it like a hawk. My mother made a lovely and delicious cake for my cousin’s wedding, put it together, and left to get an ice cream cone. While she was gone the people who ran the hall moved the table the cake was on and knocked it over.

I can’t believe how excited I am for you! I agree with the rec for Indian mangoes. As a kid, we’d go to Jackson Heights for crates of mangoes, if you can, try Patel Brothers (I think it’s called). My dad would wrap them individually in newspaper and keep them above the fridge (he said it was the warmth) and they would ripen evenly and taste like sugar. Good luck; you’re going to hit this one out of the ballpark!

Here’s a funny story for you…I was assembling my brother’s wedding cake in a conference room in the hotel where the reception was being held. The door was open and complete strangers kept wandering in to comment.

I had arrived the night before and the hotel staff directed me to their walk-in freezer to store the layers. But the freezer I was allocated was filled FLOOR TO CEILING with tray after tray of BACON!! I was terrified that the cake would have a tantalizing bacon aroma.

As I was assembling, a lovely woman from a party in the conference room next door came in to admire. I desperately asked her, “Does this cake smell like bacon??”
She took a big sniff and said, “Well, I’ve never smelled bacon, but I think it’s fine.” She was an orthodox Jew and her party had been a Bar Mitzvah!

The cake was delicious, a big hit, and did not have the faintest olfactory trace of bacon.

Deb,
Good luck girl! I know that this is going to be FANTASTIC! I can’t wait to see the final product.
You’re going to be awesome!!!!!

I am so excited to be following this!!! I’m currently yearningly obsessed with cakes and wedding cakes and wishing I could bake them (possibly a symptom of a new job which I hate and leaves me no time to bake anyway). So I will be able to do this vicariously.

You can do it! Thanks for sharing with us!!!!!

well i’m not sure if you’ll make it to my comment (especially since you’re going to be busy right now) and since i’m too lazy to read through all of them myself, which means i’ll probably repeat some stuff. :)
it was a relief to read that you were making your first wedding cake in less than two weeks… so will I!!!! i love love love my smb. i learned how to make mine from dyannbakes.com (click on “icing” on the right hand side and it will take you to a post with a video and directions on smb.) one word of advise i got from another site though was to make sure your butter was just soft on the outside, but still cold on the inside, NOT all the way softened to room temp.
one more thing, i never ever EVER trim the top of my cakes. here’s what to do. when the cake comes out of the oven, i grab a tea towel (or two) and press down evenly all around the top of the cake. this helps the cake to be more even and more dense. you’ll have to press and move, press and move, don’t stay in one spot for too long, otherwise that thin top layer will peel off with the towel. for the bottom layerof a cake i use the cake as is, then for the top layer i flip it over so the nice clean edge is on top. with all the filling in the middle, and the pressed cakes, the cake comes out nice and even all around.

When my husband and I got married last year, we had a cake with three flavors and ordered enough for everyone to have a little bit of each layer. Well, you know how things go with weddings: a few people cancelled last minute and there was extra of each layer left after the reception. We decided to take all the extra cake home with us afterwards, and it made for an amazing night. We didn’t get to eat that much cake ourselves since we were so busy schmoozing, and we were able to stuff ourselves with it that night before watching Scrubs and passing out (yes, that was my romantic wedding night). Obviously, I am of the opinion that making extra is a good good thing.

dear kitten,
i am a professional pastry chef and had a wedding cake business as well.
first relax you can do it
dont take the Xanex till after the cake is there and set up.
i will address your concerns
-Wilton cutting chart, yes it sounds like not alot but in reality after a cocktail hour and a multiple course meal plus distrated by dancing, you really dont need that much cake, but my theory is extra cake is not a bad thing, let them take it home, let the wait staff have a peice, especially if it is a small wedding you what the cake to look like something, so go big ! it is just flour sugar butter and eggs.
-Big layer, 12 inch is not big it will be fine in a regular oven, rotate it, i have done 16 inch in my non commercial oven at home. you dont need any gagets.
-Icing, find one that tastes good and you are comfortable with and will hold up in the climate you are working in.
-Filling i have great lemon curd recipie that i vary with other fruit but i have to adjust the sugar, mangos are real sweet and curd is supposed to be tart.
-Travel, do not stack the cake till you get there, put the dowels in at home, then all you need is a bag with your icing and do the finish work on site, give your self time so anunt jane is not standing over you telling you what to do.
I delievered cakes in the mountains of colorado on snow cats, gondolas, atv, planes as well, you name it, never stack the cake till you get there.
my golden rules are extra cake is good and never stack till it is on the table it will live on.
one experiance is a fire extingisher that was attached in vehicle that i had to use on the mountain for insurance reasons. anyway it fell into the bottom tier. but because i had made extra cake and had butter cream and my tools i filled the hole with butter cream and then told the staff not to use that part of the cake and they got the 100 pieces they needed out of it becuase i had extra and it looked great as well.
buena suerte and let me know if i can answer any other questions
michelle

1. Magi-cake strips (the aluminized cloth you soak in water and wrap around the outside of the cake pans) are AWESOME. Much less dome and much less fiddly leveling. HIGHLY recommended.

2. I have had similar buttercream drama (to the point of also being forbidden from making it under high-stress circumstances…), however, I think the major issue is temperature. The softened butter should look slightly waxy, but not oily. Not sure what the actual temperature of that would be, but I’ll pull it in and out of the fridge till it’s firm, waxy-looking, but has give when pressed.

3. Hooray for not using fondant. I’m in the midst of a flourless chocolate wedding cake that has to get from D.C. to Maine (urgh), so a nasty crust of fondant is kind of necessary for structural reasons.

I have made 3 wedding cakes for family in the past 3 years…

You’ve got a lot of good advice already so I’ll keep it simple.

The wet strips have never worked for me - always falling in the middle with the edges being done/over done. I’m interested in hearing how the heating core works for you - as I’ve contemplated this in the past.

I have found that of the cakes I’ve made - I always thought I had too much and ended up using every ounce - people eat it and some have multiple pieces.

Definitely bring it in separate pieces and assemble once you get there with the dowls cut to size already (no they didn’t ruin any pieces since its not like every piece comes out picture perfect when you’ve got tiered cakes going on) and a piping bag.

Make sure you study up on how to CUT this thing - I find that when I bring a cake I always assume someone else will be cutting it and end up with knife in hand and frosting up to my elbows by the end.

Be sure to pipe some frosting around the perimeter of each layer to “hold in” your mango curd filling” - otherwise it squishes out as it gets warmer and has bulges on the sides.

Good Luck - I want pictures!

Wow, you are brave! I was lucky enough with my own wedding last year. We have a German family owned bakery here and they make amazing cakes. We did 3 layers all in different flavors: Strawberries in Champagne, Bailey’s Chocolate,and Caramel Banana. We served it all b/c they make you a new top layer for your anniversary (how smart!). It was gorgeous and best of all they didn’t have to use any yucky fondant. Here’s a picture:
http://thefoodcourt.terapad.com/resources/9910/imageGallery/dads_pics_of_wedding___grad_078_iwy.jpg

How exciting! I have some suggestions on the buttercream, keep on mixing! Eventually it will some back together. If you have everything incorportated but it is just too warm, set a bowl of ice & water under your mixer bowl, to cool things down. Alternately, if your buttercream has been in the fridge after sucessfully being made you can use a paddle atachement and your blowtorch being sure to warm it evenly on your metal Kitchen Aid bowl and gently bring your buttercream up to temp. Best of luck!

i read a bunch of the comments on this but really can’t read all of them. i too am not on speaking terms with swiss buttercream. we just don’t get along. no matter of whisking helps either. i once let my kitchenaid run for 15 minutes to no avail. if you some how get a comment that’s helpful. i would LOVE a post on buttercreams. i’m even thinking of hiring a professional pastry chef to give me a tutorial on it.

Hi Deb!

I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but I love your blog. You and some of the other great ones out there have inspired me to start my own. I made my own wedding cake 6 years ago so here is my two cents. Definitely assemble on site. I made 12″, 10″, and 8″ round cakes for 75 people and there were not a lot of leftovers. If you are afraid of your icing - try the buttercream in the Cake Bible. You REALLY CAN make it ahead and then bring it to room temp (just make sure it is really room temp), rebeat it to perfection. Mine didn’t look perfect (since I was the bride, it was ok) but everyone said it was the best wedding cake they had ever had. Best of luck!

Make an extra chocolate cake…just do it!

My husband made our wedding cake ((3-tiered, 2 layers each) in April and, once my best friend tried it, she requested that he recreate the cake for her wedding in May. It was a huge success (both times)! Comments:

1. We had NO cake left for about 80 people. We did not have any other desserts. Agree with the other people who said Wilton cake serving diagram is tiny.
2. He is a Rose Levy Berenbaum devotee and, after lots of testing, adapted her recipe for Swiss Buttercream (flavored with vanilla bean) and another recipe (moist chocolate genoise, I believe) for the cake.
3. He transported the cake layers separately and DID use light wooden dowels for extra support. The dowels may have “ruined” a few piece but the caterers told him they cut around them and no one complained.
4. He made the cake base with a piece of plywood wrapped in pretty scrapbooking paper.
5. He swears by the magi strips; he still had to do a bit of trimming but it was mainly the corners rather than the top.
6. As you probably already figured, the cake frosting was yellow not white because of all the good butter and egg yolks. Feel free to email me and I can send a picture.

I LOVED that he made our wedding cake (and tarts for the rehearsal dinner). Who needs to freeze the top layer (a strange tradition, imo) when your husband can make the same cake on every anniversary? Best of luck!

This sounds like a wonderful project! I can’t wait to see its progress.
However, I am a little troubled by you ripening your mangoes in the fridge. Mangoes ripen best somewhere a little warmer. My parents used to put our mangoes in our rice container.

I’m so excited for you Deb! I’ve read your blog for a while now and finally decided to chime in. While I’m far from an experienced cake decorator, I’ve made swiss meringue buttercream on a number of occasions, and yes it can look like a gloppy mess. Just keep whipping it. You will love your kitchen aid more than you thought possible at the end of the 10 minutes or so of whipping that it takes to get the buttercream to look right. Follow Dorie’s recipe from the perfect party cake and you should be set. Best of luck!

Wow! Good luck with all that I’m sure as long as keep it simple it will turn out beautifully. I would assemble the cake at the location because there is less of a chance of something going wrong.

I have one extraordinarily important piece of advice. Has anyone checked with the reception place to see if you are allowed to do this?

At my reception, it was expressly forbidden in the contract for anyone except a licensed baker in the state of Illinois to create and serve the cake. It was because there are not health department regulations on someone’s personal kitchen.

Also, i believe it was the same deal with the place where we had our shower.

not to panic you, but i am certain that this was very important.

Obviously, no one cares if this reception is in someone’s yard, but generally (in IL) this is forbidden if there is a contract to be signed.

GOOD LUCK.

I would suggest http://www.cakecentral.com, those women (and men) know their stuff.

Good luck, can’t wait to hear/see the outcome.

I’ve never baked the cake, but I’ve done a small amount of catering. Pack up every tool you think you could use and a few extras. Arrive far sooner than you would ever think necessary. Pack some paper towels and a spray bottle of cleaner because the area where you want to set up to work may not be clean enough (sad but true). Make sure that the table linens will be set up on the cake table for your schedule.

Finally, I think you should visit a cake decorating store to actually see some of the hardware they have for the cake stacking and see if they have any recommendations. I have looked at a lot of books on cake decorating (I contemplated learning this as a sideline at one time but decided against it because of the weekend commitment) and I think you shouldn’t rule out that a shop may have something newer that isn’t much publicized yet. If nothing else they might be able to give you a sanity check on what you are planning to do, and sometimes that’s golden, too.

You are an AWESOME friend to do this and I know it’s going to turn out great!!!

I add another vote for an Italian buttercream, where instead of whipping the egg whites and sugar over a bain marie (always a pain in the butt, in my opinion), you drizzle boiling sugar syrup into your already whipping egg whites (a breeze with a standing mixer, though I’ve done it without). I use an Ina Garten recipe I found on the food network website and it’s never once failed me and always gotten rave reviews. GOOD LUCK!

I am making a wedding cake as well, but much simpler(one layer only) than yours due to a much smaller crowd. i was planning to use the buttercream from this recipe since I had good luck with it before.

I know absolutely nothing about making a wedding cake but I can only say how very proud I am of our Deb - look at all these people chiming in with their ideas and support!

All of which is richly deserved, honey. Go forth and bake!

Ah, wedding cakes…
1) Erring on the cautious side is smart. Is the cake the main dessert, or are the guests having another dessert as well?
My favorite pastry chef I have ever worked with never uses dowels. She has been known to use thin bamboo skewers. They are thin enough that they don’t really wreck any pieces.
2) a a12″ cake isn’t really that big. You can get away without using a core.
3) Several things could have happened with your Swiss buttercream, but probably one or a combo of humidity, temperature and barometric pressure. Or the meringue may have been slightly overbeaten, or ingredients may have been too warm or too cold at any time during preparation. I’d be more likely to go with a Seven Minute, or a white chocolate ganache, or even a cheese frosting made with ricotta or cream cheese.
4) I only have a recipe for lemon curd.
5) It’ll be easier for you to assemble it before transport, but easier to transport unassembled. yep, I’m no help on that one.
P.S. make sure the flowers you get from the florist to decorate with are okay for food- most are treated with chemicals to last longer, and some are extremely toxic to people- you might not want this stuff on your cake, even if it looks pretty. http://whatscookingamerica.net/EdibleFlowers/EdibleFlowersMain.htm

Hi there! I’ve been a fan of your site for a while but have not commented until just now. I think i might know what the buttercream issue might be. Something that I tried one day in class( I am a culinary graduate) that really helped me was to stick a bowl of ice underneath the bowl of the stand mixer while the meringue was whipping. You need cool meringue for success, it should be at least a few degrees cooler than your softened butter to hold up to the change in temperature.I’ve made dozens of batches of Swiss buttercream this way and each time successful. Hope that helps!

I’ve made a couple wedding cakes and have always used a striaght up Buttercream Frosting that has never failed me and is something guests have told me for years that what they loved most at the wedding was the cake and frosting.
Due to the heat this time of year and transportation and whatnot - I WOULD NOT do any sort of butter based frosting.
Straight up Buttercream Frosting
Whip on high speed until almost white and super fulffy:
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Cup Butter
1 tsp Vanilla
While that’s beating in saucepan over low heat:
1 Cup Whole Milk
4 Tbsp Flour
Heat and stir until THICK!
COOL, COOL, COOL
Combine Sugar/Butter Mixture with Milk/Flour mixture
Beat until smooth and DELICIOUS!

WOW - Bakers coming out of the woodwork! You can do this - piece of cake (bah-ha-ha).
1) Wilton sizes are usually too small (1″ x 2″ pieces) - but may be close if your tiers have 3 layers. For 55, you could probably do 10, 8 & 6 and still be good.
2)You do not need a core thing or a wrap for a 12″ square cake. To get a flatter cake dial back the oven temp to 325 and cook longer (1 hour for 8″ pan).
3)Swiss Buttercream - sounds like heat was a problem - use cool room temp butter - keep mixing (use that Kitchenaid). If it is still watery - chill it in the bowl for a while & mix again. It will come together. If not I have a great Ital. Meringue Buttercream (Whimsy Bakehouse) just send a note & I’ll share.
4)Filling - if you are going to freeze your layers & your filling, why not freeze you tiers filled & crumb coated - that way all you have to do is the final frosting?
5)assembly/travel - my vote is assemble on site. Don’t worry - you can use the flower petals to cover up any finger dents. Check out my blog from 6/25 to see a wedding cake w/ rose petals. Good Luck!!