Wedding Cake Advice

[DanielleH]

Hello!
I am making a wedding cake for my neice for about 35 people. I have a 6, 8 and 10 inch cake pans that are 3” deep aluminum made by Last confection. Sadly, I only have 1 of each size pan. I figure the bride and groom will keep the 6” cake section. I bought the cake side pans wraps and purchased a cake leveler. I have been reading everything on this wonderful web site.

Do I need to make 2 or 3 layers for each pan size?
Will the batter left from filling the first pan be okay waiting for the next (possibly 2) pans of the same size?
Will I need to cut the cakes in half (torte?)

The wedding will be 5 hours from home, so I’ll bake the cakes and make the frosting at home and assemble and frost at the location. The bride wants a vegetable shortening and butter mix frosting. This makes me more then a bit nervous because the wedding is at the beach in late May. Advice and thoughts please? Thank you for any info.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

1. A shortening iced cake will not freeze for a one yr anniversary. So don’t bother with an anniversary layer.

2. You should purchase an additional 10” & 8” cake pan and bake two 2” cakes in size. Torte the layers just before damning and filling.

3. Icing and assembling the cake after a 5 hour drive is insane. I assume you are driving up two days in advance. Have the icing stored in an ice chest during the drive. Then the day before the ceremony ice the cake. Then have a refrigerator and proper air tight containers to store the layers. Then the day of the ceremony assemble it. You just need to make sure that the cake stays refrigerated up until the last hour before serving.

it doesn’t sound like you don’t have any real experience with event cake baking. The beach environment is potentially disastrous for any cake even for an experienced baker. So you have really committed yourself here to a situation that has a lot of challenges.

 

[DanielleH]

Thank you so much for your reply, @Norcalbaker59, much appreciated! You are right, we are driving up 2 days before the wedding.
I’ve made 3 wedding cakes in my life, but the last one I made was about 15 years ago. This cake will be a 2 color ombre cake with an offset spatula swirl up the cake so I have been baking and frosting practice cakes. And watching a lot of how-to videos!
I will travel with the icing just as you suggest. I may lug my kitchen aide mixer with me unless you think that is overkill. I may be going over board, I just want this to turn out right.
Thank you again for your thoughts.

 

[DanielleH]

For the icing, I can keep it in a ice chest in the car with ice packs, then put it into the fridge at the destination. I'll frost the cake the next day. How long does the vegetable shortening icing need to be out of the fridge before its a good temperature to use?

Thank you again
Danielle

 

[Norcalbaker59]

For the icing, I can keep it in a ice chest in the car with ice packs, then put it into the fridge at the destination. I'll frost the cake the next day. How long does the vegetable shortening icing need to be out of the fridge before its a good temperature to use?

Thank you again
Danielle

if you are going up three days in advance then you should simply take the butter and shortening up with you, then make the icing when you are up there.

you mentioned that you were thinking about taking your mixer with you anyway. so that makes the most sense

 

[DanielleH]

We’ll be at the destination on Wednesday night. The wedding is on Friday. That will leave me just Thursday to make the icing and work on the cake. And frost cupcakes.

I think I’ll need to make the vegetable shortening-based icing (beach wedding) ahead of time to stay sane. Do you think taking the icing out of the fridge a half hour before and giving it a good mix will work?

Thank you for your thoughts.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

We’ll be at the destination on Wednesday night. The wedding is on Friday. That will leave me just Thursday to make the icing and work on the cake. And frost cupcakes.

I think I’ll need to make the vegetable shortening-based icing (beach wedding) ahead of time to stay sane. Do you think taking the icing out of the fridge a half hour before and giving it a good mix will work?

Thank you for your thoughts.

takes about 15 minutes to make the icing. If you make the icing before you leave, by the time the time you ice the cake it’s going to be stale.

And you’re going to need to re-beat it to fluff it up anyway.

Rather than have three day old stale icing on the cake. It makes sense to make it fresh.

But if you still want to make it ahead of time. You need to take it out of the refrigerator about an hour before. They whip in on low speed with a paddle attachment to fluff it up. You need a paddle attachment and enough icing in the bowl to fill it up to the neck so you don’t whip in air bubbles.

If you don’t have a mixer you can use a hand whisk but you do run the risk of incorporating air bubbles into the icing.

People say you can leave icing for 2-3 days, but in truth the oils become rancid very quickly and the taste turns fast.