Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

I’ve been asked to do a 5 tier wedding cake that is stacked straight on top of each other. They wish to have sponge cake with buttercream filling. Largest cake 14″ Decoration on the cake is minimal so wont add much weight.

I’ve not stacked sponges before. Is this do-able?

When would you bake the sponges?

Any advice would be welcome

Hello UltraViolet

Paul has a whole section on stacking cakes here:
http://www.cakeflix.com/free-cake-decorating-courses/stacking-cakes-overview
The whole free section teaches how to prepare your cakes ready for stacking.

The cakes which Paul is using are sponge. As long as you’re not stacking a really heavy cake on top of a sponge cake there will be no problems.
Most sponge cakes stay fresh for approximately five days depending on what type of sponge it is. Here is an approximate shelf life of sponge cake:

Maderia cake 2 weeks from baking to eating
All in method sponge 5 days
Creamed sponge 5 – 7 days
Chocolate mud cake approximate 7 – 10 days
Victoria cake approximately 3 days but should really be eaten on the day it is made.

If you brush some simple syrup on the sponge layers it will keep them moist for a day or two more.
Simple syrup is made using equal quantities of water/juice and sugar, boiled for a minute or two, cooled and bushed on cake layers with a pastry brush before filling.
An answer here might help too:

Advance Baking

Each complete tier must be on it’s own cake card, all the tiers must be dowelled before stacking as shown by Paul in the tutorials.

Hope this helps. If you need more information, just post again. x

Thank you for that. I have watched the video and it is really good and how I stack but just never stacked sponge before and my mum was saying it couldn’t be done!

What do you mean by creamed sponge? How is this different from Victoria Sponge?

They want a Victoria sponge style with buttercream and jam. Can this be ganached and then iced? Would that be the3 day time frame?

Thanks again.

Hi UltraViolet

Victoria sponge is the same, creaming the butter and sugar together but it can also use baking powder to make it a very light and airy cake. Because it is so light it is not really suitable for big wedding tiers. Will you have room in your oven to make a 14″ cake? How will you bake it? will it be in a one big tin or will you make two cakes and sandwich them together? Victoria sponge is very light structure and not always suitable for icing and stacking. Here is a forum which will explain better:
http://www.deliaonline.com/Community/forum.html?forum_action=5&forum_threadid=10513

It is better to make a big 14″ sponge cake in two halves so it has a chance to bake in the centre without burning on the outside. It will be ok in the time frame but it may not be strong enough to support the ganache and icing. A madeira cake would be better or a recipe which uses a little of plain flour as well as self raising or a sponge using all in one method. This will give the sponge a better structure.

Did Paul’s tutorial help you understand how to stack all the tiers?

Yes Paul’s tutorial is spot on!

Thanks for your pointers regarding large sponge cakes. I’ve not actually made one that big before and yes I’m sure they get very fragile to handle etc at that size.

They don’t seem to want to budge on the type of cake and are now suggesting they buy one from M&S for me to decorate. I’ve looked at their website and lets just say if that is their showcase advertising the finish isn’t to my standard at all. Bride specifically said she wanted pristine edges on cake etc which isn’t going to happen without ganache/marzipan which they also don’t want. Plus looking at their cakes wouldn’t want to handle it to decorate. Think I am going to have to let them do their own thing and not get involved in this one.

Thanks for your help

Ok, well then they won’t have such a nice tasting cake as you would have made for them. M & S cakes look nice but they are not as deep as a home produced item. I would think they also contain many different artificial preservatives and flavours. I wouldn’t decorate them either but I know a lot of people do provide that service. My local cake decorating supply shop does it but the cakes never have that sharp look which is obtained on a home made cake. I think you did the right thing, it’s possible they may have given you problems later so you’ve saved yourself a lot of headache!

I’m in the middle of making wedding tiers. I’ve just taken out of the oven the fourth tier which is Jane Hornby’s zingy lemon madeira. It looks and smells fabulous. This type of cake has proper structure and is lovely and moist. I’m so happy that I will be a guest so I can enjoy a piece of it!! The folks I’m making for were hoteliers and they understand how much effort goes into producing a cake which tastes as good as it looks.
Good luck with your next order. x