Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Hello dinky

You would be better off making a madeira if you are using a heavy cake to sit on it. Another plus for the madeira is it doesn’t stale as quickly as a Victoria sandwich. Madeira can be baked and wrapped up for cool storage up a week before you have to decorate so you can take your time and be stress free. The dummy cake has to stand on it’s own board before it can come into contact with the real cakes. If you are using wired flowers, they should be placed in posy picks before inserting them into the cake. This is some achievement dinky, so congratulations! x

hi madeitwithlove, thanyou so much for your answers and more 🙂 I will do madeira as I forgot oops that I have a fruit cake for the 6inch one.
so I have read somewhere that a madeira cake has a 2week shelf lif, is this right? As I was thinking I have to bake and decorate all three cakes in one week then the wedding cple have a week to eat, wwll I mean all of them hehe.
yeh I am putting gerbera flowers on top but to be hoest im not sure yet wether to attach a stem or just put flower heads on. what do you think ? madeitwithlove
some achievment, but scary! x

I know it’s scary, just take it easy. Make all your decorations so they are ready to attach when you need them.
Gerberas look really lovely on stems, do you know how to wire them? Have a look at the daisy tutorial to get some guidence, also the peony and hydgrangea, but only do it if you feel confident with it. How many gerberas were you thinking? A group of them stuck down would look good, but if you make just one, make it on the big side. On the madeira cake, I always say a week to bake, and a week to decorate, so you should be fine with your timing. How mature is the fruit cake? That can be decorated well before the others, fruit cake will continue maturing under the fondant, just box it up and leave it in a cool place. So that’ll be one down and two to go. The
dummy can also be decorated when you are ready, or do the dummy and then the fruit. That will give you more time with the big cake and you won’t get so tired. What is the fourth cake? Just think ahead a little, you’ll be surprised how much time you can save,leaving them all for the same week will be a push. Come back if you need more help. x

ah thanks madeitwithlove you are brilliant! I could do with you next door. you have helped me with so much.
yeh I have been looking on you tube, I did some wiring of flowers on a short course at college. as for how many not fully sure how I work that out. the person im doing it for has seen a cake with three roses on the 6inch cake but she said she would like gerbera’s.so with the madeira wedding on 29th so if I bake on 15th and follwing week decorate the last ones it wont go off. do I just store cakes in there cardboard boxes? now Im putting buttercream in so will they have to stay in fridge with that or would you just do that the day im going to sugarpaste.
fruit cake has been done for a mth.
yeh your right it is a push as I only do this as a hobby as I have fibromyalgia/chronic fatique! so I was very stressed out when I had a three tier cake to do then my brother needed cake for his son last minute so you can imagine what I was like in the week to get it all done .x ooh yeh looked at pauls tutorial for daisy great help thanks:)

Dinky you can bake the madeira on the 15th, fill and crumb coat it with cream and pop it in the fridge inside a cake box, it won’t go off. What you must not do is fondant ice it and put in the fridge. All you’ll have to do then is ice it nearer to the 29th. I would do it about four days before, that will give you plenty of time to get it iced and decorated and it will be fine left out. Pop it back in the box when you’re not working on it to stop any insects or or dust settling on it. Are you going to stack at the venue? It would be far safer if you could do that. Stacked cakes are very heavy to transport and you would need a heavy duty box. It would be useful if the cakes could be taken to the venue the evening before the big day, either stack then or in the morning of the wedding. It is always handy to take a repair kit with you, eg extra flowers, an icing bag filled with a little royal icing and an icing nozzel. You can go ahead and decorate the fruit cake now if you want to and keep it in it’s box. I decorate all my fruit Christmas cakes three weeks before hand otherwise I’d never get done! Do the dummy now as well and store in it’s box. I wish I could come and help you too, it would be my pleasure. FM is really painful, I have a similar diagnosis, but I’m ancient so expect to have ailements! If you’re not sure about anything else, please ask, I’ll keep my eyes open for you. xx oh make some simple syrup for the madeira, equal quanitites of sugar and water and bring to the boil for a minute. Cool it and use it to drench the madeira (with a pastry brush) when you’ve layered it and before you fill with butter cream. The syrup will keep the cake moist and act as a preservative too. x

hi madeitwithlove, yes, Im going to stack cake at venue the morning of the wedding.. I will do the syrup too as I haven’t done this before. sorry to hear you havesomething wrong to, I hope you are not in too much pain.x you have even answered things that I have been worrying about! thankyou so much for your advice and I will no doubt need your help again.:)
take care xx

G’d luck with it, you take it easy too! and you’re welcome xx