A wedding cake chat - part 1

Good afternoon ladies

Yep! It's wedding cake news time - as that took up most of my Sunday.

On Saturday - as I think I mentioned - it was cake shopping day - picking up the tin & getting the ingredients - along with doing our weekly shop.  So I decided the actual making & baking would take place Sunday.

Ooh what fun.  Here are a couple of pictures of the preparation.

All the basic pieces of equipment - which proved not to be enough - as you will read

All this for one cake?  Actually no - because there is more - I forgot to put the eggs there.

All those things were moved to the other side of the unit - then as each were used - those packages that still held things went into the cupboard so I knew that they had been used.  If the package was empty & finished with  - well they went ...............

............. into the sink.  Glace cherries - ugh - I hate getting all sticky from cutting them up - so in the other sink was a bowl of warm soapy water to continually rinse my fingers.  I said at the beginning that there wasn't enough equipment in the picture.  After measuring out all the fruit, mixed peel & chopped nuts my large mixing bowl was full.   I had another bowl with the flour & spices in & a third bowl where I had creamed the butter & sugar.  Now! quart into a pint pot sprung to mind

How am I going to get the contents of all 3 bowls into one & there was still 4 eggs & some flour to go.  



Well! daughter-in-law to the rescue.  A quick call to Nadine & she said she had a very large bowl I could borrow.  Bob leapt in car & popped round to collect it.  When I first looked at it I didn't think it was much bigger than my large bowl - but it was.  The procedure was to put some of the fruit mix in the larger bowl, then pour in some of the now completed egg, sugar & butter mix.  Then add the remainder of the fruit mix to the remainder of the batter mix.  Finally combine the lots together - success.  Whilst Bob had been out getting the bowl I had put the oven on & greased & lined the tin.

Next stage - put it in the oven & leave to cook, which could be up to 5 hours.  In the end it only took the 4 hours.  Now comes the final stage - for now at least - getting it out of the tin once it's cool.  Bob to the rescue again - we put the cake board on the top & flipped it over (I say we I mean Bob) ............. & I do mean flipped.  It had to be quick.  Result a beautiful cake with a nice flat top which becomes the bottom - with a lovely flat base that becomes the top.

It has now been pricked all over with a fork & given it's first feed of brandy & wrapped in greaseproof & foil.  The feed will be repeated throughout the week, then it will be left to rest for a while awaiting marzipan layer.

But where do you keep an 18" board with a 14" cake on it .. only place available - the dining room table.  Tomorrow I return the hired tin & will have to purchase a cake box for it for transporting in April. After that a visit to Nadine to raid her cookery books for a recipe for the sponge or madeira cake that is to be the other layer.

Back in a little while with some card photos.
'Bye for now.