Wedding Cake Mistakes

 The wedding cake. This is the point in the wedding preparations where the bride’s heart starts to beat harder, and the groom starts to really pay attention for the first time. It can be a nightmare, or the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen – though hopefully yours falls under the latter category.

Many brides insist on making their own wedding cakes – and this often leads to brides making their own wedding cake mistakes. It may be a tradition, but the verdict from professional bakers and cake-makers is: leave it to a professional. If you insist, however, the first step in the process should be to research the process thoroughly. Plan precisely for the size of your cake, the design and the colour. It’s better to make something simple than it is to try and do too much with your cake.

Once you’ve decided on the key points of the project, research the practical side. There are dozens of ways of ensuring a good bake, so take the time to search for them. Take care to keep the cake smooth and bulge-free, and never underestimate the necessity of crumb coating. One of the most common wedding cake mistakes is an ill-prepared surface gathering stray crumbs.

Once the cake’s complete, resist the urge to transport it full assembled. Yours wouldn’t be the first culinary masterpiece to be splattered across the inside of a transit van! And after the ceremony, when it’s time for the traditional freezing of the top layer – well, it might be time for a re-think on that plan, too.

First off, you have to ask yourself: am I sure I want to make my own wedding cake? It’s a big job, especially as you no doubt already have plenty on your plate, trying to arrange the rest of the wedding. And as the cake will form the centrepiece for your reception, it might be worth the investment of paying a professional cake-maker to handle the tricky task for you.

But, if you insist on making your own, then you’d better make sure you know what you’re doing. The internet is a gold mine of do’s and don’ts for a DIY wedding cake, so take the time to read through some of the tutorials, and explanations on how to avoid common mistakes. The better you understand the process, the more relaxed you’ll be when you come to make it – reducing the likelihood of an accidental droppage or other setback.

Something you’ll need to research in particular is the size of your cake. You might have a grand vision of a towering masterpiece frosted with white roses – or perhaps a tiny, intricate cake – but it’s of utmost importance to make sure the size of your cake is proportional to your wedding. You wouldn’t bring out a six-tier chocolate cake for thirty guests, would you? Nor would you try to feed two-hundred hungry wedding-goers with a single victoria sponge. Confirm the size of your guestlist before you begin, and bake accordingly.

The colours you use on your cake matter more than you might think. Avoid icing in red, royal blue, purple or bright pink where possible. These colours will stain your guests’ lips and cheeks, or, heaven forbid – the bride’s dress. If these colours are integral to the design of your cake, then try to use coloured fabric ribbons, or limit the colour to being used on the flowers.

The cake’s design can make or break a centrepiece. While it might seem elegant to have a cake writhing with delicate strands of icing, or you might think it cute to paint a picture of your pet in fondant on the top, cakes that try to do too much will often end up looking a mess. If in doubt, keep it simple.

Okay, now for the main event: actually making the cake. Again, do your research – there are plenty of guides out there to ensure that your cakes don’t bulge, lean, or burn. Look into methods of controlling these mishaps, such as baking strips, heat distribution – even using icing as a dam against runaway filling. Don’t be tempted to add the filling too quickly, either (assuming your cake has a filling!) as a freshly-baked cake will be extremely unstable. If allowed time to settle, your cake will hold in its filling far more successfully.

When it comes to icing and decorating the finished article, once again, don’t rush into it. Any seasoned cake-maker (no pun intended) will warn you of the dangers of unstable crumbs. Many a baker has moved on to the icing stage, only to find that the pristine fondant is soon encrusted with crumbs. Take the time to employ a ‘crumb coat’ – a thin layer of icing, specifically watered-down with water or milk, applied directly to the cake. Once dry, the crumb coat will hold the outer surface together while you apply the finishing touches.

Assuming you’ve made it this far through the process – well done! You now have a well-designed, well-coloured, well-proportioned and well-decorated wedding cake. The logical temptation now would be to assemble it. Try to resist this particular impulse – there is a reason cake-makers charge a transportation fee, and assemble the finished article on location. To avoid the tragedy of accidentally obliterating your cake in transit, keep it in its separate sections until it reaches the venue.

Traditionally, the top layer of a tiered wedding cake is to be frozen, and consumed by the newlyweds a year later. For the sake of your tastebuds, it might be better to overlook this particular tradition, and to pick up a decent bottle of bubbly on your honeymoon instead. When a cake is frozen for a year, what comes back out of the freezer is a pale imitation of its former glory. Save yourself the disappointment – eat it and enjoy it.

If you’re planning on baking your own wedding cake, and won’t be deterred by professional advice to the contrary, then take the time to do all the necessary research. Come up with a thorough and well thought-out design, keep the surfaces smooth, and when it comes to decoration – keep a tight grip on those unruly crumbs. Transportation in separate layers is of paramount importance, and it might be worth skipping the traditional freezing of the top tier.

If you take any advice from this article at all, though, it’s this – swallow your pride, and invest in a professional!

Image: Jonathan Fitch / FreeDigitalPhotos.net