My Latest wedding cake

[stephaniebines]

Hi folks,

This is the cake I finished last week, the bride wanted a rambling rose look and this is what I came up with.

I'm still not 100% happy with parts of the icing but apart from that I was pleased with it.

I've got my daughter's wedding on 15 September so that's my next challenge, lord help us!

Stephanie
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[linscakes]

Hi Stephanie " WOW " the wedding cake looks great..... Linda

[victoria]

I think the cake looks great, we are all far too critical about our own work, whereas to the general onlooker probably won't notice the slightest crack or fingermark...and at the end of the day, its a cake and its the overall look of the thing that makes it, I wouldn't worry about it...saying that, I had a massive panic the other day doing one of my football cakes with a scarf because i couldn't get the scarf just right...my husband gets really annoyed saying I'm too much of a perfectionist...i just think it is pride in my work.

[rach]

wonderful cake.....i think we all do this and my hubby is the same.....he comes in from work and he looks at my face and says please dont mention cakes or facepainting.....lol........

[stephaniebines]

I know what you mean, my hubby tells me I stress too much about it, and the only person that notices imperfections is me, I think we're all the same you just want it to be right!

I do use it to my advantage though, he's so used to me flapping about cutting dowels exactly right he's taken over the job! I just make sure that when I need to dowel a cake that he's within shouting distance and hand the job over. He likes to think that it's a man thing that he can cut it exactly right and get it level and can do it so much better than I could but really I don't like faffing about with it so I gladly plead ignorance and pass that job onto him.

We're not completely daft then girls are we?

Stephanie
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[juliebtaurus]

i love this cake i think it look amazing its got a lovely lustre to it have you brushed it with anything or is it just your lovely polished icing shining? i also love the seperators are these specialist bought or can you use thick glass vases also do you still dowell them or will fruit cake take the weight ( sorry to sound so thick but i havent attempted any stacked or dowelled cakes yet.

[victoria]

I would always dowell...i'm far to chicken to attempt stacked / tiered cakes without dowelling...its so easy to do, and costs next to nothing, i just don't think its worth risking it...

[stephaniebines]

I dusted the cake in snowflake and then disco white diamond lustre. The disco white hologram is nice as well but it does have a slight colour running through it, the white diamond is just white. The glass vases are just normal cube vases from a florist.

I always use dowels whether it's fruit or madeira, I wouldn't trust a tiered cake without dowels - it might collapse!

Stephanie
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[juliebtaurus]

hi do you treat the wood dowels with anything or do you use plastic and how long before can you prepare the tiers for ,how did you hide the dowels when you used the clear vases as seperators.just asking cos ive never done one and i heard a horror storey the other day of someone cutting into their wedding cake and all around the dowells was mouldy.and just wondered if theirs anything special you do to prevent this julie

[victoria]

i'd just use plastic...if its a fruit cake, i marzipan it one day, and cover it the next day, whilst the icing is still soft, insert the dowells, mark on them with a non toxic pencil where the top of the sugarpaste is, take them out and average the lengths, then cut them all the same length, this way, if your first tier is not quite level, it doesn't exaggerate it on the next tier. Then put all your dowells back in and leave the icing to harden a bit before you put the next tier on, then just put a dab of royal icing on and stick the next tier on, it makes it a bit slippy, so you can centre it easily and then when it dries it doesn't move around at all...no idea about the vases, never done it, but you can always hide your dowells with a bit of sugarpaste stuck over the top as long as the client knows where abouts they are...

[stephaniebines]

Hi Julie

Like Victoria I would always use plastic dowells, I normally get hubby to do this job but it's not difficult. Depending on what type of separator you are using (if at all), I normally space out the dowells so they are spread equally over the cake and can support the top tiers, then using the pointy side of the dowell push it into the cake right down to the board, take it out and mark with a non toxic pen where the top of the sugarpaste will be. Then cut all four dowells (or whatever number of dowells you are using) at the same time to make sure they are the correct height then push them back into the cake and make sure they all sit nice and level (or plumb as hubby likes to call it) with the top of the cake.

If you are doing a stacked cake I would put a little royal icing across the top of the cake and then put the next cake on top of that and repeat the process until you get to the top tier. When the royal icing sets it doesn't move.

If you are using a separator like my Rambling Rose cake in the picture then I position the dowells so they sit underneth the 4 corners of the glass cube,other than sitting the glass cubes on top I don't secure them in any other way. The only thing I would say is with this type of cake I always assemble it at the venue and put the cubes in at the last minute then build it up. it wouldn't travel very well assembled and it doesn't take very long to put it together on site.

If you are using traditional pillars (like my fountain cake on the other thread) then you don't need to cut the dowells, just put them into the cake as normal and the bit sticking out of the cake is hidden by the pillars.

I always tell the bride beforehand and the venue when I deliver the cake that it has dowells, most chef's expect wedding cakes to be dowelled so they are used to cutting the cake.

I've never heard of dowels going mouldy round the edges, that sounds awful!

With a sponge cake I start making it 7 days before and I'm normally at dowells stage about 5 days before the wedding, with a fruit cake I tend to do them a couple of weeks before as they keep quite well then I store them in an airtight box until the wedding.

if you need to know anything else, just ask, I'd be glad to help.

Stephanie
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[dkcrooby]

I think it's gorgeous! We are definitely too critical of our own work.

:-)

[britjap]

How did your daughter's wedding go - and the cake?

[stephaniebines]

Hi Diane

The wedding was wonderful, everything we wanted and more and although I know I'm slightly biased but the bride looked amazing! I'll upload a picture as soon as I get some. We went away for a holiday straight after the wedding and have only just got back.

My daughter, Lisa, wanted a very simple cake, nothing fancy, and in many ways that made it more difficult because I'm always a bit manic about my icing, but overall I was pleased with the finished result.



I took this picture when the cake was in my kitchen before the wedding, I think in the picture it looks slightly off-centre but maybe that's just my eyes!

My next challenge is a wedding cake in November, the bride wants an 8" round fruit cake and 40 miniature cakes in 20 carrot and 20 sponge - I've got to make an autumn spray and 40 miniature cala lilies for the top of each cake. I'll be fed up looking at cala lilies by the time I've finished!

Stephanie
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[britjap]

Oh, lovely! That definitely has the wow factor. You have used sparkle on it too, is that right? I have never seen a cake with tiers getting bigger as it goes up - something rather different from standard. Must have been diffcult to dowel and balance, surely? And to carry.......! Amazing how you got all that work done so quickly too, if I remember rightly you hadn't even started it about ten days before the wedding and mother of the bride has sooo much else to do.