help with wedding cake. (1 Viewer)

[fran21again]

Hi. I am new here and would like to ask for some advice. I have been making a family fruit cake since my children were small. (They are now 25 and 28) It is made with dried fruit and crushed pineapple. It has never failed me and has always been well recieved. My son is getting married next year and they have asked me to make it as a wedding cake as it is the only cake my future daughter in law likes! I intend to start practicing after Christmas. My problem is amounts and how to increase them and cooking times. They want a tiered cake that will be uniced. The ingredients for an 8 inch cakes are..butter 4ozs,flour and soft brown sugar 8ozs dried fruit 12 ozs 2 eggs plus bicarb mixed spice and a tin of pineapple in juice crushed. I usually cook it for about an hour. Sorry about the imperial measurements. I have been making it for so long its what I am used to. Any advice?

 

[Angie]

Hi Fran

Welcome to the site.

Ooh well done you on getting the job of making the wedding cake!

The first thing you need to do is work out what size tiers you are going to use for the wedding cake and get/buy the appropriate tins so you can work out sizes and depths which will help with your practice sessions. I would suggest using the same brand of tin so that the wedding cake has the same depth to each tier.

The only way to figure out if your recipe works at other quantities is to try and apportion it appropriately, i.e. half the quantities for say a smaller tier 4 inch tier or 1.5 times the quantity of your recipe for say a 6 inch tier, the other solution is to make your normal quantity or double it up and then distribute it between the tins you are using. That way you will know how much you will need to use to fill each tier to the required depth you need.

It sounds to me you have a very quick baking fruit cake, however, depending on the depth of your tin will depend on how long it takes to bake. Deep tins (that are about 3 inches in depth) will take longer to bake and tend to need to be baked on a lower heat. Otherwise you will bake the outside but the inside will still be gooey.

If you were making a 4 inch tier I would probably check after 25 mins to see if the cake is done (seeing as you said it only takes you about an hour to cook an 8 inch) test it with a skewer in the middle if it's comes out clean it's done if not place the cake back in the oven and bake for further 5 minute intervals and then check it again, continue to do this until it is baked.

Again for the 6 inch bake for approx 45 minutes but you could check after 35 mins to see if the cake is baked but only open the door if the cake looks baked, if the cake looks no where near baked leave it for a further ten minutes, then do the cake test with the skewer. The best thing to do with the cakes is use your own judgement and have a pen and paper by the oven so that you can jot down the times you have had them in for. Once you have worked out how long to bake them for bake them again on another day and do them for the full duration and then see if you are happy with the results. Just remember you can bake cakes for longer on a lower heat and if you wish to add more moisture to your cakes whilst they are baking then add a water tray to the base of your oven. This absorbs into the cake and makes it a little more moist.


Tip: The deeper the tin the lower the temperature and the longer the cake takes to bake.
For an even rise and bake surround your cake tin with baking wrap whilst baking.
If the top of your cake is done and the middle is still uncooked place a butter sheet over the top of the cake to prevent if from browning further.

 

[fran21again]

help with wedding cake

Hi Fran

Welcome to the site.

Ooh well done you on getting the job of making the wedding cake!

The first thing you need to do is work out what size tiers you are going to use for the wedding cake and get/buy the appropriate tins so you can work out sizes and depths which will help with your practice sessions. I would suggest using the same brand of tin so that the wedding cake has the same depth to each tier.

The only way to figure out if your recipe works at other quantities is to try and apportion it appropriately, i.e. half the quantities for say a smaller tier 4 inch tier or 1.5 times the quantity of your recipe for say a 6 inch tier, the other solution is to make your normal quantity or double it up and then distribute it between the tins you are using. That way you will know how much you will need to use to fill each tier to the required depth you need.

It sounds to me you have a very quick baking fruit cake, however, depending on the depth of your tin will depend on how long it takes to bake. Deep tins (that are about 3 inches in depth) will take longer to bake and tend to need to be baked on a lower heat. Otherwise you will bake the outside but the inside will still be gooey.

If you were making a 4 inch tier I would probably check after 25 mins to see if the cake is done (seeing as you said it only takes you about an hour to cook an 8 inch) test it with a skewer in the middle if it's comes out clean it's done if not place the cake back in the oven and bake for further 5 minute intervals and then check it again, continue to do this until it is baked.

Again for the 6 inch bake for approx 45 minutes but you could check after 35 mins to see if the cake is baked but only open the door if the cake looks baked, if the cake looks no where near baked leave it for a further ten minutes, then do the cake test with the skewer. The best thing to do with the cakes is use your own judgement and have a pen and paper by the oven so that you can jot down the times you have had them in for. Once you have worked out how long to bake them for bake them again on another day and do them for the full duration and then see if you are happy with the results. Just remember you can bake cakes for longer on a lower heat and if you wish to add more moisture to your cakes whilst they are baking then add a water tray to the base of your oven. This absorbs into the cake and makes it a little more moist.


Tip:

The deeper the tin the lower the temperature and the longer the cake takes to bake.
For an even rise and bake surround your cake tin with baking wrap whilst baking.
If the top of your cake is done and the middle is still uncooked place a butter sheet over the top of the cake to prevent if from browning further.

Hi Angie. Thank you so much for your reply. My initial thought on sizes was 10, 8 and 6 inches or 12,8 and6. I need to sit down with the happy couple and work out numbers. With regard to quantities your answer was pretty much what I was thinking. The timing was worrying me more as it has to look very even as it is going to be a naked cake just decorated with flowers and ribbon. I have until November 2016 to get it right. Lots of practice. I will keep you posted.

 

[Joan]

Welcome to the forum Fran, Angie has given you some good advice there with regards your cakes. Good luck with them and well done having a recipe that you know will be appreciated on the big day.

 

[Angie]

Hi Angie. Thank you so much for your reply. My initial thought on sizes was 10, 8 and 6 inches or 12,8 and6. I need to sit down with the happy couple and work out numbers. With regard to quantities your answer was pretty much what I was thinking. The timing was worrying me more as it has to look very even as it is going to be a naked cake just decorated with flowers and ribbon. I have until November 2016 to get it right. Lots of practice. I will keep you posted.

You're most welcome Fran.

The best thing is you have lots of time to practice and perfect the cake, working out the sizes of the tiers with the happy couple will help you and then you can practice one tier at a time. To get them level just wrap the baking sheet around the tin and then tie it in place with string or a strip of baking paper. I find this helps give my cakes an even rise, if you find that your cake peaks very quickly then that would be down to the bicarb in it so if you find this happening turn your oven down about 10°C or half a gas mark and bake for a slightly longer period. If my cakes don't come out completely level I generally just level them off and then flip them over so that the base becomes the top of the tier. Although I'm not sure whether this would be an option for your as you want a very naked cake.

Just while I have my thinking head on two more things.....

When working out your tier sizes, stack your tins on top of one another on your kitchen work top and then see if you are happy with the overall size of it and if you have enough room on the top of each tier to place your flower decorations on. You could do a mock up with the tins and some flowers to show your son and daughter in law so they have an idea of what they will be getting.

Also because this is a tiered cake you will all need to insert dowels or large straws etc into the cake in order to be able to stack the tiers on top of each other.

Glad to help, any time, please keep us posted and if you need anything along the way then please let me know.