How to Make Wedding Cakes and Set Them Up for Beginners

Making a wedding cake takes lots of practice and hard work, but the payoff is worth the effort.

A wedding is a special ceremony where two people commit to one another, a time of celebration for the couple in love. Wedding ceremonies are often followed by a reception where guests eat, converse and dance. The wedding cake can be the highlight of the reception. Cakes are often uniquely designed to reflect the bride and groom's style. Wedding cakes can be quite expensive, with costs ranging from a hundred dollars to thousands of dollars. Making your own wedding cake may be a better alternative. If you are a beginner, it can be challenging, but it is in no way impossible.

Things You'll Need

• Cake pans
• Large mixing bowl
• Small bowl
• Sifter
• Mixer
• Rolling pin
• Butter knife
• Gum paste decorations
• Tiered cake stand
• Fresh flowers, pearls, and/or ribbon (for decoration)
• Cake topper (for decoration)
• Large pieces of cardboard
• Cardboard boxes
• Dry ingredients:
• 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp. baking powder
• 4 cups white sugar
• Wet ingredients:
• 2 cups butter
• 9 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 2 tbsp. vanilla extract
• Fondant:
• 5 bags miniature marshmallows
• 1 1/4 cups butter
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 10 lbs. confectioner's sugar

Instructions

Making the Wedding Cake

1. Decide on a wedding cake design. The round or square cake that has stacked layers, or towers, is one of the easiest cakes to make for a beginner. Turn the cake pans you plan to use upside down and stack them, starting with the largest and ending with the smallest. This will give you an idea of what the cake shape will look like.

2. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease the cake pans using softened butter. Thoroughly cover the bottom, sides and corners of the inside of each cake pan, using the butter, to prevent the cake from sticking to the pans.

3. Sift the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Using a mixer, add the wet ingredients into the bowl and beat on medium high for two minutes. Pour the batter into each cake pan. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

4. Make a fondant while the cakes are baking and cooling. Using a microwave, melt the marshmallows in a microwave-safe bowl. Add the vanilla, butter and water, then stir until the mixture is smooth. Add confectioner's sugar until the mixture becomes hard and dough-like. Add the sugar a little bit at a time. Since you are making a wedding cake to feed several people, create just enough fondant to cover one cake layer at a time. You will have some left over for kneading the fondant.

5. Knead the fondant using buttered hands. Sprinkle about a 1/2 cup of confectioner's sugar on a flat, clean surface to place the fondant on. This will prevent the fondant from sticking to the surface. Use a rolling pin to get the fondant thin and pliable, around 1/4 inch thick.

6. Turn a cake pan over onto the fondant. Use a butter knife to cut a circle around the cake pan in the fondant. Take the circle of fondant and place it over a cake. Use the larger cake pan for the smaller cakes so you have enough fondant to completely cover them. Smooth the fondant over and around the cake. Use a butter knife to trim excess fondant off the bottom. Tuck the edges underneath the cake to make a smooth finish. Continue to place fondant onto each cake layer.

7. Decorate the wedding cake using purchased gum paste decorations. Add pearls, flowers and ribbon to the cake layers as desired. Look through several wedding cake pictures to get a good idea of how you want the cake to look.

Wedding Cake Setup

1. Obtain a tiered cake stand for the wedding cake to sit on. A beginner will greatly benefit from the use of this.

2. Transport the cake by placing the cake layers on large pieces of cardboard. The cardboard edges should extend beyond the cake edges. This will keep the cake from rubbing against the sides of the box. Place each piece of cardboard with cake into a box. Place the boxes on a non-slip mat on your car's floorboard to prevent the boxes from slipping around.

3. Find a level surface to place the wedding cake once you are in the reception hall. Set up the tiered cake stand. Place each cake layer on a separate tier on the cake stand. Largest layers are placed on the bottom and smaller layers are placed near the top of the tier. Use both hands to support each cake layer from the bottom. Carefully place each layer on its appropriate stand, then carefully smooth over any blemishes in the fondant.

4. Add fresh flowers, pearls, and/or ribbon to the cake once it is on the stand. Place the cake topper to complete the decorations.

Tips & Warnings

• Large flowers are the perfect cover-up for large blemishes that can't be fixed on the cake.

References

• Chow Hound: Transporting a Wedding Cake

Resources

• All Recipes: Wedding Cake Recipes