Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

I currently live in Northern Ireland but will be getting married in England in Jan 2015. It has always been my dream to make my own wedding cake. I want 4 tiers as there will be 200-250 guests (or there is the option of baking 4 tiers but only stacking 3 tiers and 4th tier kept aside.
Looking online, there is a lot contradictions on how many servings I can get from each layer. On average I’m estimating 8 10 12 14 round
I want a red velvet layer, carrot cake, Victoria sponge (my fiancé’s favourite- no fresh fruit or fresh cream to prolong shelf life) and Paul’s awesome chocolate cake
For the decoration, I was thinking something similar to the pearl vintage cake but not the complicated tall middle tier.

My dilemmas are
1. What to fill each layer of cake and coat with before applying sugar paste?
2. Timings- when to bake each layer and when to take them out to defrost
3. When to assemble the cake. I would want the whole cake finished the day before the wedding so things are less stressful. If getting married on Sat, would I be ok to take the cake out on Thurs, coat each layer on Thurs and then apply sugar paste on Fri? Or would I be better doing it all on the Fri??

Thanks

Hi a1_sha

Congratulations on your forth coming nuptials, you sound extremely organised by planning now and all your cake choices are so complimentary.
Red velvet, carrot and Paul’s choc cake all freeze well. From personal experience I wouldn’t freeze the Victoria sponge, you’ll get a much nicer texture if you bake it as close to the date as possible so it keeps lovely and fluffy. All the others can be baked and frozen say two weeks before?? Depending on size of cakes I take mine out of the freezer the day before or half a day before required. I leave them on the counter in a cake box still in the wrapping which helps to keep the moisture in. I’m sure other members will advise on their method of defrosting. My kitchen is very cold so I find this is sufficient time to defrost but still keep the cake firm enough for handling. The time line you’ve indicated should be fine or even a day before, all the cakes keep well at room temperature but I would leave the Vic sponge the last.
For fillings I think I’d stay clear of things like cream cheese, which although is used for red velvet and carrot, it would need refrigerating. I know lots of people go for this filling, personally I don’t think it’s a risk worth taking with so many guests. These are just my thoughts, other members may be able to say otherwise.
If you search in google ‘filling ideas for red velvet wedding cake’ there are a number of suggestions. For the carrot cake, white chocolate butter cream works really well. It can be flavoured with your choice perhaps using natural powder flavours from Nutra Fresh or flavoured extracts like LorAnn oils and other powder flavourings. These are all available from http://www.thecakedecoratingcompany.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=643&osCsid=q1342eh1eq75rjtl6sri0k22l5 The Nutra Fresh packaging has the web address of the manufacturer where they show how to use their products. I’ve used all the flavourings mentioned and find them equally as good. Experimenting with flavours ahead of time is the best way to achieve balance.
If you put in the above search box ‘ganache flavours’ there are some suggestions. Some more ideas here
http://www.cakeflix.com/questions/mixing-flavours There are many other ideas through out the site, if I come across them I’ll post.
For the Victoria sponge, I think a really lovely flavoured butter cream teamed up with a jam of choice. Perhaps raspberry or strawberry being quite traditional. I would suggest Italian meringue butter cream which is less sweet and very smooth, but again I’m not sure how well it would fare in room temperature for a few days. It could be made just as well with powdered egg whites instead of fresh for a better shelf life.
Paul’s choccy cake is no problems. You could fill it with a butter ganache, ie make a separate softer ganache for the filling by adding butter and some liqueur to the ganache or just go for normal ganache. Again there are lots of recipes for this online. Paul also suggests sprinkling the sponge with some alcohol like Baily’s cream liqueur, or anything else which compliments chocolate like mint, orange, coffee. Crumb coat with the ganache used in the tutorials and white ganache crumb coat for the other cakes. You could use butter cream however ganache does give a much firmer base for the sugar paste.
If it helps, there’s a ganache chart here http://www.cakeflix.com/blog/how-to-ganache-cakes-without-gnashing-your-teeth I think in the blog comments there is suggestions how to reduce the amounts for crumb coat only ( might be be for filling only but gives an idea on percentage reduction).
David has a portions chart here http://www.cakeflix.com/blog/how-to-decide-on-the-cake-portions although the portions are dependent on how big a portion you’d like to serve your guests.
If you need recipe conversion chart, there’s one here http://www.cakeflix.com/blog/how-to-work-out-what-size-cake-tin-to-use
The site community I know will contribute their suggestion for flavours, fillings and methods to help your preparations run smoothly. You’ve got loads of time so keep posting for more info as you need.