I Do… The Wedding Cake – Layer #1
I’m getting married… In exactly 29 days. I’m not sure when I decided to bake my own wedding cake, but I know it was a good idea at the time. With the deadline quickly approaching, maybe I don’t exactly feel the same now. I’ll get it done, I have to, and it will be amazing. I hope it looks amazing when I’m done. I could always blame the “cake place”, had I not already told everyone that I was going to make my own cake, but it’s far too late for that.
This is actually the second, first layer. I tried to make a lemon one, but then decided I wanted lime for the top and lemon for the second layer, so I rebaked it. The second layer is actually in the oven now as I’m typing this, I figured I wouldn’t do two blog posts, as it’s the same recipe, I just traded up the lime for lemon.
I have a plan. Whether it’s good or not, I have one. See, we’re also getting married 1300 kms away from where I live, so I have to deal with transporting the cake. I decided to freeze the layers and prepare the roses and other decorations here, then bring everything to the Maritimes. I’ll crumb coat the layers and apply the fondant there, a few days before the wedding, then rebox the cakes. The day of the wedding I’ll assemble it at the reception hall. I’ve watched far too many shows where the centrepiece or cake ends up on the floor due to poor architecture/stabilization and I’m not ready for that at all.
So with a plan in hand, I’ve decided to blog about the makings of a wedding cake, and you’re currently reading post 1 (and technically post 2). I hope you enjoy my struggle, I’m sure they are going to come soon enough…
*Struggle #1 has already happened… i’ve never baked with the 3″ pans… They take a lot more batter and a lot longer to cook. I think I know what I’m doing now, but I’ve only attempted a 6″ diameter pan… (There’s an 8″ in the oven right now.) I think I have the time down and I know what I’m looking for, I also bought a heating core for the two biggest layers. Hopefully I won’t have to rebake those. I’m running out of time…
Here’s the recipe I used for the top (and second) layer.
Lemon (or Lime) Cake
340g butter
400g sugar
Zest of 2 lemons (or 2 limes)
4 eggs
400g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Juice of 2 lemons (or limes) plus water to make up 1.5 cups of liquid
1 – Prepare pan, spray with nonstick cooking spray and line bottom with a piece of parchment.
2 – Zest and juice citrus and set aside.
3 – With a hand mixer or small stand mixer, cream butter, sugar and lemon zest.
4 – Add eggs one at a time (and vanilla, if desired), beating only until incorporated.
5 – Sift dry ingredients together and add alternately with liquid to the sugar mixture, beating on low speed until batter is smooth and scraping down sides at least once.
6 – Divide equally between two or three greased and lined 8” round cake pans
(or 1-3″ deep, 6″ round cake pan and some muffin tins).
7 – Bake at 350F for about 20 minutes (for the cupcakes) 55-60+ for the cake
or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. (I went with the toothpick trick.)
So that’s that. Layer one (and two) complete. 😀
I’ll keep posting as I get things done. Tonight I’m going to bang out some gumpaste roses, there will be a post coming soon for those.
29 days and counting…
Thanks for reading.
Mandy D.
mandydegeit.wordpress.com 