The topper was from the florist... which I thought was going to be a simple rose bouquet but you work with what you get, so it was a little more old fashioned than I had hoped for. Now, I baked and decorated it in time for the wedding... phew, it delivered in one piece... phew phewwww... but when I came to stacking it... the dowels were cut with a stupid garden clipper thing, where you had to have Arnie sized guns to operate... so they werent all uniform... leading to the problem of the night. The cake started to tilt and sink toward the back. In a panic attack I ordered them to cut the cake immediately, thereby avoiding disaster! :) ...but I've since been dubbed... the 'leaning tower of pisa cake maker!' :S lol
So when we had the wedding cake class I was very excited because I love wedding cakes and I wanted to learn to do it properly! Here begins my series of things that I've learnt in the wedding cake classes, I have to do it in a series of posts coz I think blogger will explode from the amount of pics I want to put up! lol
The first thing we learnt was how to pipe... shells, reverse shells, rosettes etc etc... but we also learnt how to pipe buttercream roses... now these were HARD!
Mine look more like little cabbages lol... I blame the heat from the ovens, it kept melting my buttercream!! However, after a little airbrushing and some supporting piping around it, it didnt look too bad! lol
Personally, I dont really like this type of wedding cake. I think it looks very old fashioned to me. This is typically an American style wedding cake, where the cake itself is covered/finished with buttercream icing and decorations.
A tip for torting (cutting the cake into layers) so you get even layers is, 1. Use a SHARP knife. 2. Use the part of the knife closest to the handle. That way you are controlling where you are cutting as you twist the turn table to move the cake around.
Also when filling the layers with icing you can also create a "dam" by piping a tube of buttercream icing along the circumference of the cake before filling the middle, so that it doesnt run out the sides.
Most of the wedding cakes that you see made out of buttercream icing have completely smooth sides... now the trick to getting the buttercream icing perfectly smooth around the cake is to use a bit of hot water. As with most cakes you will need to do a crumb coat, let that chill, then after add another coat of buttercream icing over the top of this chilled crumb coat. You can go an additional layer but it isnt really necessary if you do the crumb coat properly. When the cake is cooled with the crumb coat, as soon as you put the next layer on the buttercream should set pretty quickly. So by dipping your offset spatula into the hot water whilst icing, it'll result in a smooth final layer of icing. Hope this helps!
The rest of the class' buttercream cakes :)
♥ Keep tuned! ♥
So cool! I can't believe that first cake was your first ever wedding cake, what an epic effort. That's an interesting tip for getting your buttercream smooth, I already used to run my spatula under a hot tap to get my buttercream smoother! Good to know I'm on the right track haha!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great class, you were brave to make a cake for 300 people as your first wedding cake! (I thought I was bad for 150 cupcakes!)
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing your other posts on the class.
Wow, sounds like this would be a fun class! :) I think your buttercream roses look gorgeous, can't imagine how much patience you would need for those! :)
ReplyDeleteid tap your little cabbages anytime! they look pretty!
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