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My boyfriend's cousin got married last Saturday, and my boyfriend and his sister took it upon themselves to make the wedding cake. Yes, you read that right. You can make your own wedding cake. Or your cousin's. It was clear from the beginning that it was going to be a multi-flavoured cake, so a different flavour for every tier, because we loved the idea of giving people options.
We ended up doing three rather basic flavours: nut cake with marzipan filling, chocolate cake with chocolate filling (for those chocoholics, hehe), and lemon cake with raspberry filling, all covered with chocolate ganache frosting and fondant icing, and decorated with turquoise fondant roses. Oh, and we ended up making it all vegan because the bride loved the vegan layer when we rehearsed the cake for the first time. It was GREAT! (if I do say so myself) Everybody loved it, and I'm so proud of my boyfriend and his sister for what they managed to do :)
Making a wedding cake for a friend can feel risky (what if you mess up?!), but it's really doable, especially if you have some basic baking experience. It tastes 10 times more delicious than a bought cake and makes for a great wedding gift. And it's budget-friendly, too!
Here's a step-by-step tutorial on how to make your own three tier (vegan) wedding cake.
THREE TIER VEGAN WEDDING CAKE
Preparation time: 2 days to prep and decorate
Main ingredients: flour, sugar, chocolate, soy cream, fondant
difficulty level: moderate-challenging
makes: one 3-tiered wedding cake
suitable for: vegan, lactose-free, low-sodium
Ingredients
Bottom tier (28cm): nut marzipan :
370g white flour, sieved
50g almond flour, sieved
2 packages (30g) baking soda, sieved
2 tbsp cornstarch, sieved
240g sugar
2 packages (16g) vanilla sugar
3 tbsp orange peel
170ml sunflower oil, canola oil or melted coconut oil
420ml sparkling water
x2
Bottom filling:
200g raw marzipan
Middle tier (20cm): double chocolate :
250g white flour, sieved
65g raw cacao powder, sieved
1 1/2 packages (22g) baking soda, sieved
1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch, sieved
180g sugar
1 package (8g) vanilla sugar
2 tbsp orange peel
128ml sunflower oil, canola oil or melted coconut oil
315ml sparkling water
Middle filling:
1 cup chocolate spread
Top tier (15cm): lemon raspberry :
210g white flour, sieved
1 package (15g) baking soda, sieved
1 tbsp cornstarch, sieved
120g sugar
1 package (8g) vanilla sugar
juice and peel of 1 organic lemon
85ml sunflower oil, canola oil or melted coconut oil
120ml sparkling water
Top filling:
1/2 cup raspberry jam
Ganache:
1 litre of soy cream
1 kg of dairy-free dark or semisweet couverture chocolate, chopped
Fondant:
3 x 450g rolled fondant
200g turquoise fondant
Also:
10 thick straws such as milkshake straws
2 cardboard circles in the shape of middle and top cakes
cling wrap
Instructions
ON DAY 1: MAKING THE CAKES :
Preheat oven to 175°C / 347°F.
In
a medium large bowl, sieve together flour, almond flour, baking soda and cornstarch. Add sugar, vanilla sugar and orange peel. Whisk well. Gently fold in oil and sparkling water, don't whisk! Use a spatula to fold everything in. Don't worry about little lumps, they will dissolve while baking.
Grease your 28cm spring form and spread the batter into the pan. Place into the preheated oven, and bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Be careful as this is a sponge cake and therefore super fluffy and soft.
We actually decided to make two cakes for the bottom layer because they turned out rather flat. So just double the recipe above.
Repeat the same process for the other two cakes.
We took out the 15cm spring form after about 30 minutes of baking, and the 20cm spring form cake after 40 minutes (it was very moist).
MAKING THE GANACHE FROSTING:
While the cakes are cooling, prepare the chocolate ganache. Add 1 litre of soy cream to a saucepan and gently heat until hardly simmering. Switch off the heat and add your chopped chocolate to the warm cream. Allow to melt while occasionally stirring with a whisk. Place in the fridge overnight.
ON DAY 2: FILLING AND COVERING THE CAKES :
Carefully cut the sponge cakes in half horizontally, using a pie cutter or a long serrated knife. Since we baked two cakes for the bottom layer, those didn't have to be cut.
Evenly spread your desired fillings – in our case: rolled out marzipan for the bottom tier, a thick layer of homemade chocolate spread for the chocolate layer, and a thin layer of store-bought raspberry jam for the top tier – over the bottom cake halves. Turn the upper halves upside down (so that the even side is up) and re-stack onto the bottom halves.
Cut out two circles of cardboard with the same diameters of our middle and top cake layers, so 20cm and 15cm. Wrap each circle in cling wrap to prevent the cardboard from absorbing moisture from the cake. Now place each cake on its cardboard surface. This will be part of our stacking support.
Remove the hardened chocolate ganache from the fridge and beat until fluffy and creamy. Using a palette knife, a butter knife or a spatula, spread about half of the ganache over the bottom tier cake. This is done to a) create a sticky base for the fondant icing, and b) even out any imperfections in the cakes. Try to get the surface as smooth as possible, and to create nice sharp edges on your cake. A rotating cake stand really helps with this.
Put the frosted cakes into the refrigerator for 30 minutes for the ganache to harden slightly.
LAYERING AND DECORATING THE CAKES :
Make sure your work surface and your cake stand are clean, as any spots such as from the ganache will leave an ugly discolouration on the fondant. Dust the work surface with icing sugar and roll the ready-to-roll fondant into a circle big enough to cover the cake top and sides, with a little excess. Do not lift or flip the fondant over, as this may cause it to rip.
Lift the fondant over the cake (you can use a rolling pin for this) and gently position on the cake. Smooth the fondant over the cake, starting at the top and stroking down the sides with your fingers to remove any folds, wrinkles or air bubbles. If an air bubble appears, insert a pin on an angle, release air and smooth the area again. Using a knife, trim off any excess fondant – but make sure no ganache is visible.
Place the bottom cake on its designated cake stand or tray. In the centre of your bottom cake, insert a thick straw all the way down into the cake till it hits the bottom. Cut the straw with a scissor where it is flush with the top of the cake. Using the cut off piece of straw as reference, cut four more straws the same length and insert them within the diameter of the middle cake, using a ruler. For instance, if your middle cake is a 7 inch cake, you will be placing your straws within a 7 inch diameter.
Cover the middle cake with fondant and place onto the straw-studded bottom cake. Thanks
to the straws and the cardboard support, you'll provide an even platform
for the next cake to sit on, even if the cake below is a bit wonky, and
prevent the cakes from sinking in.
Insert five straws in the middle cake within the diameter of the top cake, trim off the excess, and place the top cake on top (top!). As you can tell by the pictures, we decided to go for a slightly asymmetrical stacking, so we had to keep this in mind when inserting the straws and stacking the cakes.
Lastly, decorate your cake. In our case, we went with the turquoise theme of the wedding and made our own fondant roses (like so) as well as a yin & yang symbol because the bridal couple have a matching yin & yang tattoo. We also wrapped a turquoise ribbon around each layer of cake, using a spot of fondant on the ribbon to secure it to itself. This is a great way to hide any imperfections between the cake layers ;)
We also decided to use the remaining fondant to cover the cake tray and create the illusion of a fourth tier.
Store cake in the refrigerator or freezer until ready to serve – in our case at midnight. And remember to take off the ribbon and take out the straws before serving!!
♥
Maisy
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