How to Make an Easy Wedding Cake
If you don't have much time, have never made a wedding cake before and are operating on a limited budget, but you still want to create a beautiful wedding cake, you've come to the right place. Rather than tackle the high-rise, tiered wonders you've seen at weddings in the past, bake three 4-layer cakes and display them on cake plates with pedestals of staggered heights. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- 3 cake plates on pedestals of varying heights
- White cake mix
- 2 cake pans
- One-step cake release
- Buttercream frosting
- Icing bag and decorative tips
- Colored ribbon
- Artificial flowers
Instructions
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Bake 12 cakes. You need six boxes of white cake mix, since each box make two 9-inch round cakes. Each of the three cakes will have four layers. Coat each pan with one-step cake release before pouring the batter so you can easily remove the cake from the pan after it cools.
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Once the cakes have cooled to room temperature, remove them from the cake pans and move them to a cooling rack. Place the cakes on the cooling rack in the refrigerator to firm them for frosting.
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3
While the cakes are getting nice and cold, make a triple batch of homemade buttercream frosting. This simple, yet classic, frosting is perfect for wedding cakes. Look online if you don't have a recipe. Homemade frosting makes the cakes taste delicious, and you have more control over the thickness and consistency of the frosting than with store-bought frosting.
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Remove the cakes from the refrigerator. Stack the cakes into three tall cakes of four layers each onto the cake plates. Spread a thin layer of buttercream frosting between each layer to "paste" them together. If the cakes are rounded on top rather than flat, use a large knife or cake leveler to trim the top off and make it flat. You should now have three tall cakes.
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5
Place the cakes in the refrigerator to allow them to harden again. This keeps them from slipping around when you spread the next layer of frosting.
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After the cakes have had a chance to firm up again, remove them from the refrigerator and apply the "crumb" layer of icing. Use a heavy hand with the frosting: this layer traps all the crumbs so you can apply a second smooth, even layer of frosting without disturbing the actual cake. Don't worry about making it perfect. Return the cakes to the refrigerator. If you are in a hurry, place them to the freezer instead.
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Add the final layer of frosting to the chilled cakes before decorating them. This time, apply a thin layer of frosting, but be careful to make this layer very smooth. Use a large spatula and work slowly in a circle around the cake. While you are working on one cake, leave the other two in the refrigerator.
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Cut a piece of colored ribbon to the circumference of the cake and wrap it around the base of the cake, carefully pressing it into the frosting to keep it in place.
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Using an icing bag and decorative tip, pipe swirls of buttercream frosting around the whole cake above the ribbon.
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Add artificial flowers as an additional embellishment if desired. Display the three varied-height cake plates with completed cakes close to one another.
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Tips & Warnings
Build the cakes on top of cardboard cake circles if you plan to move them around. That way you can easily move the cake from a cake dome to a plate.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Polka Dot/Getty Images
