"How did you... make Sargul's wedding cake?"
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This cake is three tiers, (12", 10" and 8") all
4" high. Each tier is made of vanilla cakes
and raspberry filling, lightly coated in vanilla buttercream, and covered in fondant. A
cascade of gumpaste flowers and leaves
flows down the side.
Below are photos taken during the process
with my comments. I hope you enjoy!
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Level
It is important to level your cakes otherwise they will look wonky. I purchased a new cake leveler before this project and it was such a breeze! I felt like such an idiot - I was in the dark-ages before leveling cakes by hand! Welcome to cake 2.0.
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Filling
Most folks prefer a filling of some kind (buttercream, chocolate, raspberry)... for this cake, I created a damming wall with buttercream icing and filled with raspberry filling. The BC border is important to keep the filling from oozing out once you place the other cake on top.
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Crumb-coat
Each tier is crumb-coated in vanilla buttercream. This keeps crumbs from flaking off, helps to adhere the fondant to the cake, and adds flavor since fondant is a very mild icing medium.
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Color Fondant
Coloring and rolling fondant is the biggest workout in cake decorating. And a sizeable project will leave you sore the next day. This cake included 6 pounds of fondant, and I was most definitely left sore coloring and rolling it all.
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Cover
Once you cover each tier in fondant, the need for speed goes away. Fondant acts to seal in freshness, keeping the cake moist until served. I have never rolled a piece of fondant as big as I needed for the 12"x4" tier. Holy cow!
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Dowels
I placed dowels in each of the two lower tiers to support the weight of the above layers. Cake is heavy! Unless you are familiar with cake, you may not realize just how heavy it is.
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Stack the Beast!
Stacking this cake was a challenge because each tier was so heavy. We used an oversize pizza spatula to transport the 10" tier and place on the 12". I say 'we' because this step was a two-person effort!
Decorate :)
This is the best part! I piped a buttercream border and then 3-dot pattern on each tier. I made gumpaste leaves ahead of time and luckily used the remaining gumpaste flowers in my inventory. I then assembled the flowers/leaves in a cascade down the side and formed curls from fondant to even out the design.
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Voila!
11 hours later, a finished cake for 125 people. See - that wasn't so difficult. Hahaha! The cake delivery went smoothly and I only had to make one small repair on-site. All told, I am happy with the result. :)
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Piper Cakes
