Wedding cakes

bb22, Mar 17, 8:46am
Hi All, I'm getting married next month and my mum is making the cake. Its going to be three layers, one on top of the other (no columns or anything, just directly on top). The bottom layer is going to be fruit cake, but was wanting different flavours for the other layers. Can anyone recommend some good recipes that make quite a large cake that will cut and stay together well? Thanks in advance for you help!

duckmoon, Mar 17, 8:55am
I have a question - but don't know the answer...
Will layer 1 (at the bottom) be strong enough to hold layers 2 & 3.

And Layer 2 (in the middle) strong enough to hold layer 3 (on top).

I thought that cake makers put columns inside the cake to support the weight... .

But I could be wrong.

bb22, Mar 17, 9:00am
Hmmm, good point, I think the fruit cake would be strong enough, but yes, extra support might be a good idea... Ok, so do you have a tried and true mud cake recipe? ! ?

karyn.darren, Mar 17, 9:05am
Chocolate mud cake, or carrot cake.

For mine we had carrot cake and banana choc mud cake, all done as a 3 teir cake love hearts, and had a small fruit cake on top which we put in frezzer for when baby comes along ie christening etc.
all the best for your wedding

auntlb, Mar 17, 9:15am
If I do a 3 tier cake with the layers on top of each other I still do a thin board and supporting skewers inside to create stability - the cake still looks like it is 3 cakes on top of each other

bb22, Mar 17, 9:21am
Thanks all for your suggestions. Carrot cake is a good one too. Yum, might have to do some testing! ! So Karyn, did you add extra support between the layers? And Auntlb, what did you use for the board in between the layers?

cookessentials, Mar 17, 9:48am
We had citrus madeira which keeps well and isfirm, but still moist.

trev106, Mar 17, 9:52am
All my cake stuff is at mil at the moment as we are moving but i have an excellant choc cake recipie that i have used for quite a few wedding cakes i can get it tomorro if you want.
You should place dowels for support in layers 1 and 2 i use 4 in each what sizes are you doing? as well as a card seperator so stop them from sinking into each other.
All the best for your wedding :)

bb22, Mar 18, 6:12am
Thanks again guys, yes! I wold love to try your choc cake recipe, Trev. The citrus Madeira sounds fab too - any chance of posting the recipe cookessentials? What sized dowell did you use? I'm not sure of the cake sizes at this stage. We will hire the tins...

jimminette, Mar 18, 6:24pm
The other cake I have heard of is Banana Cake. People often prefer that to Carrot Cake

trev106, Mar 19, 9:15am
Didnt end up getting to mil today but will hopefull do it tomorrow. How many people are you having and are you wanting to keep your top layer for an anniversary? That will help you determine size.

bb22, Mar 19, 9:15am
Me again! Any chances of some recipes for cakes you have had success with... ? I can start baking this weekend!

bb22, Mar 19, 9:18am
Crikey we did that at the same time - spooky! Umm, no anniversary to save top layer for - we already have two kids! And we are catering for 75 people... by the time the cake is cut I dont imagine that people will need a very big piece, but I want it to look generous if you know what I mean... : )

cookessentials, Nov 13, 5:52pm
We had our cake made by Cake Couture, so I dont have a recipe. A good madeira recipe would suffice with citrus zest and juice added I would imagine.