Need some of the expert advice here on making a wedding cake and frosting...

C

cheezz

Well-known member
My questions are, how far ahead can cake layers be made, and how long can they be frozen? I am doing the flowers AND cake for a wedding and it's been years since I've done a cake. Even then I was never completely happy with the frosting choices. Is there a good frosting that isn't completely made with shortening?

The bride would like 3 layers - spice cake, coconut cake and carrot cake. I have very good recipes I plan to use for these. I have never frozen carrot cake so I guess that is the one I am worried most about. Plus, I had thought to use fresh whipped cream between some of the layers but even with Dr. Oetkers Whip-It, I don't know how long it will hold up.

Any help from some of you bakers/caterers out there would sure be appreciated! TIA

 
Unless is a very small wedding cake I would be concerned with the weight

of the layers squishing the whipped cream out. My wedding cake frosting was a buttercream with eggs whipped in and it was very butter rich. The heat of my hands while I was working was melting the butter out and making the frosting separate. Cream cheese frosting of some kind with some butter should taste good and be workable too. Don't know about how long to freeze.

 
I was concerned about weight... the bottom layer will be carrot cake with cream cheese filling

The next layer is coconut and I was thinking about maybe using the coconut=pecan filling recipe from this German chocolate cake:
http://eat.at/swap/forum/index.php?action=display&forumid=1&msgid=38465

The top layer will be chocolate with a chocolate buttercream.

I'll nix the whipped cream idea, although I'm going to have each layer supported.

My main concern is what to frost the whole darn thing with! I wonder if a 7-minute frosting would hold up for a few days in the fridge.....

 
GayleMO - you said (back in 2005) that you had a frosting made with meringue powder??

Would that be a good frosting for a tiered cake? Does it hold up well?

 
It was the one my mom used for all decorated cakes and it tastes good!

She took a decorator class in Kansas City and got the recipe there. I don't have the recipe on my computer but I think it's in a box of baking stuff I have packed away. Give me a few days to find it if you can. It has no butter but uses butter flavoring and Crisco.

I haven't used it in a number of years because I haven't made any decorated cakes. Used to make them for all my girls for their birthdays.

It holds up well.

 
Carrot and chocolate will both freeze well. Not sure about coconut. Here are two good ideas for

icing:

From Shirley Corriher and Rose Levy Beranbaum:
White Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing. I iced 5 Silver Palate carrot sheet cakes (adjusted recipe) with this stuff for my niece's wedding. Really good, really easy, pipes beautifully. I used Lindt White Chocolate and fresh cream cheese from Penn State. I think I left out most of the butter too.

Adapted whipped cream icing using various suggestions from RLB. (see link). You could definitely do the cake the day before with this version as long as you have a frig large enough to hold it.

Let me know if you want the white chocolate icing recipe.

http://www.eatdotat.com/swap/forum/index.php?action=display&forumid=1&msgid=148498

 
Marilyn! I'd LOVE the white chocolate frosting recipe.... is it this one that you posted

in that thread at your link??

Cream Cheese Icing for 48 Cupcakes

1 lb good quality white chocolate, melted. I used Wilburs.
1.5 lb cream cheese (3 8-oz Philadelphia)
3/4 lb unsalted butter (3 sticks)
1 lb sifted confectionary sugar.
1 TBL vanilla
1 tsp lemon emulsion

Beat cream cheese until very soft. Add softened butter. Add cool, melted chocolate.

You can stop here and ice with this. It is sweet enough due to the white chocolate. I wanted it stiffer to pipe onto the cupcakes so I add the sugar.

 
along this same line.... anyone have a tried & true pineapple filling?

The bride wants one layer coconut cake with pineapple and I thought it would be easier to incorporate it into the filling than the cake itself.

 
While not officially a "filling," I used RLB's "preserved pineapple" made from fresh pineapple.

Oh my, you can never go back to canned after this. I used it in the SP carrot cake.

It's not as sweet as gluey filling and the taste is so superior to canned as to hail from another galaxy with infinitely superior taste buds.

It freezes well too. After a test run to confirm the taste, I made a large batch a month before it was needed, froze it and then carried it from Florida to PA to make the SP wedding cake.

It's on Pg 351 in the Cake Bible. Let me know if you want the recipe. Oops...I've found it already posted. Well, good for me.

Conditional statement: This was 12 years ago, when pineapples were tarter and tasted like pineapples. I would definitely do a test run to ensure the "newer, better-er" golden pineapples aren't too sweet.

http://www.eatdotat.com/swap/forum/index.php?action=display&forumid=1&msgid=91936

 
YUM! You spread the pureed pineapple between cake layers?

I wonder how it would be folded into a cream cheese frosting....

 
I'm a big fan of roasted pineapple, especially if you do a riff on Richard's margahooties

Roast the pineapple until it carmelizes a bit, then soak it in this pineapple/vanilla/tequilla. Drain it, then use in the cake. So good! (It works with rum too.)

If you're doing the coconut/pineapple cake, I've had great success with substituting vanilla with malibu rum to bump up the flavor of coconut. (I used to make coconut ice cream, but was never quite happy with the coconut flavor. I made a milk infusion first, with toasted coconut, then added the pineapple rum. Bingo! Heavenly flavors...

http://www.eatdotat.com/swap/forum/index.php?action=display&forumid=1&msgid=16713

 
RLB's White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting for 3-Tier Cake (13 Cups)

from the Cake Bible

24 oz White Chocolate (preferrably Tobler Narcisse)
32 oz cream cheese (soft)
2 Cups unsalted butter (soft)
1/4 C fresh lemon juice.

Melt chocolate over double boiler, remove and let come to room temperature.

Beat the cream cheese until smooth and cream with a paddle beater. Gradually add the chocolate, then the butter and lemon juice.

Use immediately or rebeat at room temperature before using if frozen or refrigerated.

Note: Butter may be reduce to 4 oz for weddings in hotter areas.

Mar's Note: I seem to recall using the lesser amount of butter. It does pipe very nicely.

Please do a small test run on this before commiting to the wedding caek. I've made this several times since the wedding and it seems lately as though the cream cheese is getting a little "gluey" for lack of a better word. Not sure if something has changed in the process. I usually use Philadelphia CC, but used Penn State's for the wedding.

 
Shirley Corriher's White Chocolate Icing

8 oz white chocolate
8 oz cream cheese

Melt chocolate and let cool.
Beat cream cheese until smooth and add melted chocolate.

 
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