Creating your Wedding Cake
- COVER
THE FRUIT CAKE WITH THE MARZIPAN: How to do it:
Boil the apricot jam with 2 tbsp water and sieve into a bowl. Brush the
15cm cake board with a little of the apricot jam. Cut off the rounded
top of the cake and turn upside-down onto the board. Measure across the
top and sides of the cake with string, cut to length and set the string
aside. Brush the cake all over with a thin layer of apricot jam.
- Dust
the work surface with icing sugar and roll the marzipan into a circle
big enough to cover the cake top and sides, using the cut string as a
guide. Lift over the cake and smooth with your hands. Trim the marzipan
to the base of the cake (so you can’t see the board) and leave to dry
for one day if time. If not, the cake can be iced straight away.
- FILL
& COVER THE CHOCOLATE & LEMON CAKES WITH BUTTERCREAM: Adding
good-quality lemon curd or silky chocolate ganache transforms
simplebuttercream into an indulgent filling.
- How you do it: First make the buttercream. Beat the butter until creamy, then gradually beat in the sifted
icing sugar. Weigh 600g/1lb 5oz of the mix and stir 5 tbsp of the lemon curd into it.
- In
a small pan, bring the cream just to the boil, then pour over the
chocolate. Leave to stand for 2 mins, then stir until smooth. Once cool
but still liquid, fold into the remaining basic buttercream.
- Once
each cake is completely cool, level off the top using a long serrated
knife. Spread a little of the corresponding buttercream over the
matching thin cake board. Turn cake upside down onto the board and brush
all over with a thin layer of the sieved apricot jam – this helps to
prevent stray crumbs getting into the buttercream.
- Cut
into three layers horizontally - don’t worry if you cut the layers
unevenly as it won’t affect the finished cake. If it’s a hot day or warm
in your kitchen, refrigerate the cakes for a while – it will firm them
up and make cutting and lifting much easier. Lift off each layer as you
cut it, and set it aside so that when you re-stack the layers they are
in the right order.
- If
you’ve made the buttercream in advance and it has hardened slightly,
warm in the microwave on Defrost for 10 secs and beat well. Using a
palette knife, spread approx 1/4 of the buttercream over the first layer
of the cake. For the lemon cake, swirl another tbsp or so of lemon curd
over the icing. Stack the remaining layers this way, spreading all of
the remaining icing over the top and sides of the cake, smoothing it
down to meet the cardboard cake base. Smooth all over with your palette
knife and set aside. The cakes are now ready for covering with
ready-to-roll icing. Filled with buttercream and iced, the cakes will
keep for up to 3 days.
- COVER
ALL THE CAKES WITH READY-TO-ROLL ICING: The next stage is to subtly
colour the different tiers with the ivory, dusky pink and cream
colouring pastes.
- How
to do it: For the marzipanned fruit cake only, first lightly brush with
cooled, boiled water to help the icing
stick. For all the cakes, dust the work surface with icing sugar and
knead the icing until pliable. Add a few specks of the food colouring
with a toothpick or the end of a skewer – be very sparing as a little
goes a long way. Work the colour in until you have an evenly coloured,
smooth paste. Add more and knead again if you want the colour to be more
intense.
- Lightly
dust the work surface again and roll the icing into a circle large
enough to cover the sides and top of the cake, with a little excess. Use
string to measure as before. Lift the icing over the cake, using your
rolling pin to help you.
- Smooth
the icing around the cake with your hands, then trim off the excess
with a sharp knife. Leave overnight to dry. Once iced, keep for 3 days.
- Once
you’ve iced the cakes, cover the 35cm base. Lightly brush with cooled,
boiled water and cover with ivory-coloured icing. Trim and leave
overnight to dry.
- STACK
THE CAKES: Dowels give stability and strength to tiered cakes. By
measuring and cutting
the dowels to the same length, you’re providing an even platform for the
next cake to sit on, even if your cake is a bit wonky. For this cake,
the tiers are stacked like steps, just off centre.
- How you do it: In a large bowl, gradually beat icing sugar into the egg white until thick and smooth. Cover with
cling film until ready to use.
- Starting
with the chocolate cake, insert three dowelling rods in a triangle,
slightly offset to one side and no wider than the base of the lemon cake
that’s going to sit on top. With a permanent pen, lightly mark where
the top of the icing comes to on the dowel.
- Carefully
pull out the dowels and line up on the work surface. Using a ruler,
re-mark each rod to the highest point. Score the dowels with scissors
around the new marks and snap the plastic cleanly.
- Re-insert
the rods in their original holes, rounded end down. Cut the thin ivory
ribbon to fit around the thick base board, securing at the back with
glue or double-sided tape. To stack the cakes, spoon a little royal
icing over each of the dowel holes. Carefully lift the chocolate cake
onto the covered board, then stack cakes on top of one
another, positioning each cake and gently lowering one side of it onto
the base or cake below. Slide your palette knife under it at this point
and gently lower the cake down. Slide the knife out at the last minute.
(If you’re moving the cake to the venue, put the cakes into their boxes
and take the icing with you.)
- THE
TIME PLAN: UP TO A MONTH AHEAD: 1. Make the fruit cake and cover with
marzipan. 2. Make the chocolate and lemon cakes if freezing – they will
freeze for up to 1 month (although they are best made fresh if you
can).
- UP
TO 4 DAYS AHEAD: 1. Make the chocolate and lemon cakes if making fresh –
keep well rapped in baking parchment and cling film in a cool place. 2.
Make the chocolate and lemon buttercream and keep in the fridge. 3.
Make the chocolate and lemon cakes if making fresh – keep well wrapped
in baking parchment and cling film in a cool place. 4. Make the
chocolate and lemon buttercream and keep in the fridge.
- UP
TO 3 DAYS AHEAD: 1. Fill and cover the chocolate and lemon cakes with
buttercream and cover all of the cakes and the board with icing. 2.
Insert the dowelling rods.
- UP TO 2 DAYS AHEAD: 1. Frost the rose petals.
- ON THE DAY: 1. Stack the cakes and decorate with petals once the cakes are in place
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