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| Cake from Sweet Art |
As a keen baker, when my husband and I got married, I wanted to make my very own wedding cake. I thought that it would be fun and it would mean a lot more if the bride made the cake themselves. I wanted a red velvet cake and none of the wedding cake makers that I spoke to would make one.
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| Cake by Cakes N Things |
I was lucky that someone slapped some sense into me (not literally, I would not have appreciated that).
I have to applaud any bride that survives making their own wedding cake. In my life, I have made two wedding cakes: one for a relative's wedding and the other for a friend's wedding. Both times, I came off the experience with my nerves frazzled seemingly beyond repair and a firm resolve never to do it again. Until of course a sweet talking bride friend of mine asks me. I can never refuse despite all instincts not to. I was lucky in that both cakes survived the trip to the reception venue-transport is of course the part of the wedding cake process that proves the most difficult for the cake maker and the part in which if long transportation times are involved, they step away.
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| Cake by Alexandra Pellegrino in Canada |
When I first called a wedding cake maker for quotes for our wedding cake, I was surprised at how expensive they were. We had a relatively small wedding-it was either invite a cast of thousands or make it more intimate and exclusive and we went for the latter inviting just 65 guests. So we figured that the cake wouldn't have to be an enormous one and our jaws dropped at the prices that were being bandied about. Couple this with the refusal of all of them but one to make the red velvet cake and that is how I came up with the idea of making my own. Lucky I ran out of time and we had one cake maker that was willing to do this.
So do you still want to make that wedding cake? OK I have some tips for you:
Choose a cake to suit the weather. The very first wedding cake that I made was an almost disaster. The bride and groom wanted cream cheese icing for their cake. All very fine except that the reception venue was not air conditioned and they were getting married in the scorching heat of a January Summer. I later learned that cake makers can sometimes refuse to use buttercream or cream cheese icing in these conditions so keep that in mind.
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| It took three hours (not including baking time) to get to this stage! And this is just the layer underneath the icing! |
A wedding cake is all about construction. A two tier wedding cake is very heavy and is made up of a dense cake, namely a fruit cake or a chocolate mud cake and it is sandwiched together with a lot of icing and/or ganache.
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| The start of the cake |
Ever taken a peek into a wedding cake? It isn't your ordinary kind of cake. The bottom layer sits “glued” with ganache to a silver board which has a wooden board and a thick wooden “dowel” rod glued to the centre. The cake is impaled onto this. But the fun doesn't end there. The second cake tier is also heavy so we need to take the pressure and weight off the bottom layer by using thinner wooden dowel rods for the second layer to rest upon.
Transportation, which I touched on earlier can be a nightmare. But if you make your cake sturdily and the weather cooperates then this can be done without tragedy striking. And just be sure to use a lot of non slip mat!
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| Surreal moment: I actually did this! |
And if that hasn't frightened you enough and you are still determined to make your own cake, then allow me to point you in the direction of some of Australia's top wedding cake makers who also hold wedding cake making classes. I recently attended one with Faye Cahill and have attended other classes with Planet Cake and Patisse and they were both superb. At Faye's wedding cake class, we spent several hours just getting the ganache to be a perfect smoothness -and that was just he layer underneath the final icing layer! I understood at once why wedding cakes cost the amount of money that they do and gained a new appreciation for them.
And if you time it right, there might even be a class around the date of your wedding. Wedding cakes once made in these classes last for around seven days. The only catch is that these wedding cake classes take a whole day, and a week before your wedding is when you are likely to be very busy. But with these experts to hand to help you you can have a wedding cake that you will feel proud to say that you made yourself.
If you're interested in other DIY ideas, Modern Wedding has a whole bunch for you in our Modern Wedding Cakes magazine as well as our world first: the new Modern Wedding DIY magazine.
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| The croquembouche that I made at the Patisse class |
And if you haven't seen this yet, check out our competition where you can win a $100 gift voucher to spend at our Modern Wedding shop! There are all sorts of goodies and all you have to do is choose your favourite item!
And of course there is our twitter and facebook pages where you can say hello :)
Lots of love and cakes,
L
xxx
Faye Cahill
http://fayecahill.com.au/
Planet Cake
http://planetcake.com.au/
Patisse
http://patisse.com.au/
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