A Week of Baking - H&T Wedding Cake - Day 6: Delivery, set up and the final cake

Finally, the day has arrived! After months of planning and a week of baking today was the day when I got to deliver all of my hard work.

I packed my bag the night before including extra hundreds and thousands, icing glue, extra ribbon, dowels and anything else I could think of, then my lovely mum arrived to help me transport the precious cakes to the venue. 

We got the boxes into the marque, stacked the cakes up using the icing glue to hold them all together and finally the cake was complete! It looked absolutely gorgeous in the marquee which was decorated with colourful and bright paper fans and lanterns, and with its cascading ribbons, bubbles of H&T and carnival colours it couldn't have been a better fit.

I really hope that the Bride and Groom were happy with their cake and it was everything that they wanted and more for their special day. 

The cake on the dance floor looking towards the stage and showing the coloured fans hung around the walls. 

The fully assembled cake

A close up of the top tier and the cake topper.

A view into the marquee showing the tables and the coloured paper lanterns.

A Week of Baking - H&T Wedding Cake - Day 5: Filling and covering with H&T

Ahhh, the day of reckoning. How I have thought about this ever since it was agreed this was to be the finish for two of the tiers of the wedding cake. I have read about it, watched YouTube tutorials and tested it on cupcakes, but I'm pretty sure nothing prepares you for the real thing! 

I started with the smallest 8" top tier (as this one would not need to be dowelled) levelling and filling with vanilla buttercream. I was unsure if I would be able to test the level once the 100's & 1000's were on, so I decided to test right at the start.

I gave the cake a crumb coat, and then a second thicker coat so that the 100's & 1000's had a good layer to adhere to. I poured the decorations into a tray with greaseproof paper, and prayed that it would work!

Unfortunately I didn't have any spare hands to take photos as I went along, however it was as simple as scooping up a handful and pressing them firmly into the buttercream, smoothing as you go. I couldn't believe my eyes and pretty soon the whole cake was covered. The trickiest part was making sure that the edges were covered, but once I ran over the top and sides with my smoother and used a knife to press the 100's & 1000's into the base, it was pretty much complete!

As my card was a little big for the cake I added white sugar paste so it will blend with the tier below and a white ribbon around the base to tie in with the other tiers, and my top tier was finished!

I followed the same principle with the 10" Victoria sponge tier, this time adding a filling of strawberry jam between the layers.

Once I was happy the cake was level...

...I added the crumb coat, dowelled it using seven dowels, added the thicker buttercream top coat...

...pressed on the 100's & 1000's and added the ribbon!

I am absolutely thrilled with the result. It looks so colourful yet clean and modern at the same time, and I can't wait now to get everything stacked up tomorrow to see how it will look. 

A Week of Baking - H&T Wedding Cake - Day 4: Baking and doweling

Before now, the largest cake I have ever made has been two tiers, however with this four-tiered whopper I have to make sure that the dowelling is perfect so that it doesn't collapse and stands proudly upright.

Once the sugar paste had dried overnight, I checked using a spirit level to make sure it was straight. Lucky for me, it was! I had used the bottom of the cake tin that next size up to balance the spirit level, so I used my pokey tool to lightly score around this to mark where the cake should sit and to show the boundary for the dowels.

This is the 9" tier so I used 5 dowels for this layer. In many books that I have read, they say you should mark your dowels to the height of the cake and then cut through them with heavy duty kitchen scissors. I have no such scissors so I was reduced to using a hacksaw to cut them to the right length! I will be very glad to return to less extreme forms of baking that do not require woodwork tools to complete!

Once all of the dowels were in place, I checked the level again to make sure they were straight. As you can see it's practically perfect!

I then repeated the process again with my 12" cake, this time with 9 dowels.

Now the dowels have ben added, I can box up the cakes and leave them along until Saturday morning when we start assembly at the venue, I can't wait to see it all come together!

A Week of Baking - H&T Wedding Cake - Day 3: Filling, covering and decorating

Usually this is my least favourite part of any cake, the covering in sugar paste. It doesn't matter how many times I do it, I am never completely happy with it, however today I think I may have done myself proud!

I started by levelling my two carrot cake layers...

...then added the vanilla buttercream crumb coat. I rolled out 2kg of white sugar paste to ensure I had enough and to make sure that it was thick enough. I think previously my sugar paste has been too thin and as a result doesn't smooth properly, so I decided to take no chances this time and used more than I would need to help achieve the best finish possible.

Once the sugar paste was on (and I was very happy with it!) ...

...I attached the cake to the base board and put a strip of white ribbon around the base of the cake and the board.

When I was doing my degree, we were all advised to buy Pattern Masters to help us with pattern drafting and cutting. When I graduated I never thought I would use it again, however it has come to my rescue more times than I care to mention for a variety of different purposes, I am so happy I kept it!

To make sure that my decorations were equally spaced, I wanted to make a template rather than just adding everything by eye. I measured the circumferences and the heights of my 12" and 9" cakes, and drew these on to greaseproof paper.

Working with the diameter of the largest disc, I worked out how high up the cake the discs should start and the gap I wanted between each one to try and make it as symmetrical as possible.

Once I was happy with the measurements I wrapped each greaseproof collar around the cake and poked through the position of each disc using a pokey tool. I attached the discs to the cake using royal icing and left them to dry before boxing the cake up.

I have never decorated a cake in quite so minimal a style before, but I love how clean and fresh it looks. I'm really looking forward to assembling all of the tiers together now to see what it will look like with the contrasting 100's and 1000's tiers.

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A Week of Baking - H&T Wedding Cake - Day 2: Baking and H&T!

So after yesterday's planning and crafting, today is the first day of baking! Today is carrot cake and lemon drizzle, interspersed with making all of the circular discs required for two of the tiers. I used the best recipe I know for Lemon Drizzle cake by Mich Turner, and adapted a carrot cake recipe I found that was perfect for my 12" cake tin. I added orange zest, a mixture of walnuts and pecan nuts and more cinnamon than mixed spice to give a slightly fresher and summery cake. I did have to bake it in two halves in order to make sure that I got a decent rise, and this seemed to work really well. Both flavours are now cooling harmoniously on the side, wafting their lovely aromas around the kitchen. Am praying for offcuts tomorrow!

I made the discs in exactly the same way as I did for the cupcakes, kneading in a little more hardener this time to ensure they stayed strong and used a little more glue to stick the H&T on. I have had to resign myself to the fact that a few may fall off, but from the millions that will end up on the cake, I'm thinking this is a small price to pay.

I measured out 160 grammes for 120 discs, however I think I put around 80 grammes back into the pot. I bought a trade tub of 760 grammes and was terrified when it arrived that there would be nowhere near enough to cover two cakes and all of the discs. However seeing what is left over now,  I'm feeling confident that I made the right quantity choice.

A Week of Baking - H&T Wedding Cake - Day 1: Preparation and a little craft!

If anyone ever says to you "Oh a Wedding cake is just a big cake, it can't be that much more difficult?" then you have my permission to hit them. Any wedding cake takes weeks of planning, even I bet if you are a professional, but as I always think about planning and list making, nothing would get down without it!

For this wedding cake, I have been working with the couple since summer last year, when we first met in a pub garden to discuss their ideas. I drew out a few different designs, and they loved the idea of using Hundreds and Thousands to decorate two of the tiers. I did a trial of this using cupcakes that were also used for their tasting, and I was happy to see that they stuck well to the buttercream. However, everytime I have thought about this cake it is the part that has made me the most nervous.

So to settle my nerves, my first day on the cake was the planning section. This included getting out all of the paperwork and designs, double and triple-checking the tins sizes and quantities, making a timetable for the rest of the week and doing a separate ingredient shop to ensure nothing got mixed up with our weekly food shop.

Marking up recipes, planning my days, lists...oooh I do love an excuse to get my stationary out...

...even down to the smallest details of which size of circle would look best, there's 3mm in it!

However first, a little crafting. The happy couple decided they loved the idea of a hand stamped and stitched cake topper with ribbons to go with the colourful theme of the cake and their wedding. I made a fabric cake topper for my grandpa's birthday cake one year, but this one needed to be much more colourful to stand out at their wedding.

I cut out strips of calico that were higher than the individual stamps I wanted to use...

...then stamped each letter separately, leaving enough space to cut round each of them using pinking shears so they didn't fray.

Once all of the letters were cut out, I placed them on double-faced satin ribbon, checking the spacing and then pinned them in place. 

Once pinned I was originally going to sew them on using standard cotton, but I decided embroidery floss in contrasting colours would look much prettier and decorative.

I used a simple backstitch with three strands of floss to hold each letter in place.

Once the letters were attached, I took two thick wooden cake dowels and tied the ribbons in knots to each dowel, putting a few stitches of white cotton through the knots to keep them secure.

I had raided my ribbon pots for different types and colours, and tightly knotted the thinner ribbons around the existing knots to keep everything in place. All of them were tied in bros with some of the tails left long so that they can trail over the cake. 

I have deliberately tried to pick some colours that weren't included in the hundreds and thousands to add a little contrast, and hopefully this will show up when the topper is added to the top tier of the cake.

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A weekend of baking...Chocolate and Salted Caramel Birthday cake

We have been discussing flavours for our wedding cake, and for a certain someone's birthday, they decided to try out Chocolate and Salted caramel to see what that was like. Absolutely terrible as you could probably imagine...! 

I used a recipe from Peggy Porschen's Boutique Baking book and combined it with my own chocolate buttercream and Nigella Lawson's Salted Caramel Sauce. My fiancee and I both love Caramel Waffles (traditionally called 'Stroopwafel' which are popular in the Netherlands and were first made in the city of Gouda) so I decided to use these as decoration. Unfortunately ours weren't from Gouda but they do a perfectly passable version in M&S!

After baking three 6" vanilla sponges, I levelled the tops and then began the assembly. I spread a layer of the buttercream on each layer and made a dip in the middle to drizzle in a pool of the caramel sauce. 

Once the cake was layered I then gave it a naked buttercream coat and piped rosettes around the top, before filling the middle with more of the caramel sauce. I then used a spoon to drizzle the caramel down the sides and cut up a waffle to use as decoration on top. 

Once eaten my verdict was that it was a little sweet for me, however everyone else loved it! 

The recipe I used said to make a sugar syrup using water and brandy to drizzle over the sponges when they came out of the oven, and I think it may have been this that tipped it over the edge of too sweet for me. When I try it again I would like to try a dark chocolate sponge and buttercream and hope that the richness of this would compliment the salt in the caramel and take it from sugary to simply rich and indulgent, perfect for a wedding cake!