Looking for Wedding Cake Recipes and Tips

I'm doing a wedding cake in about 2 weeks, and I'm looking for good, sturdy cakes that will travel well. I need a marble cake recipe, a chocolate cake recipe, and a vanilla or white cake recipe.

I have to drive to Palm Springs, and I know sometimes cakes have a tendency to crack so I would prefer if I could keep them from doing so. I will have backups just in case, but if anybody can help me I would so appreciate it.

By Moemoe from Temple City, CA

Answers: Looking for Wedding Cake Recipes and Tips

Read answers for this question below.

By 10/25/2010

Hey, I've always had great luck using Duncan Hines cake mix. People rave about the flavor and don't even know it's a mix. I've very rarely had trouble with cracking. Perhaps you're baking your cakes too long and they crack. The best way to deliver a cake is in tiers and put together on site. Be sure to use dowels for extra support.

By 10/23/2010

Treat the layers with a simple syrup glaze to make them very moist. Any cookbook will tell you how. Also, always freeze the cake first and then thaw (possibly on the trip). This makes for a firmer more sturdy cake with richer flavor. Have a great trip! Good luck with the cake!

By 10/23/2010

Try egullet.com and search "wedding cake(s). I know there have been multiple threads on them and you will most likely find ones by pastry chefs. At least you don't have to worry about the frosting melting this time of the year, and I sure do agree about putting the cake together on site. I've driven an assembled cake up and down the hills of San Francisco and some of my gray hair may be due to it and carrying the cake across a crowded sidewalk and up a small elevator/across a lumpy carpet...only once. That was enough.

By 10/23/2010

Check out the Duncan Hines website. They have adaptations to make large cakes using multi boxes of mix. It comes out delicious.

By 10/23/2010

Moemoe, when I make a wedding cake and have been doing this for many years, I add 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise to my mix. It gives me a moist cake and it should not crack. Mine never does and yours shouldn't. If you've not over baked them. Dryness causes a cake to crack, or your oven is too hot. Place them on racks as soon as they come from the oven letting them cool and to transport them. Place on a clean board covered with either heavy duty foil or clean cloth place mats. I use to place mine in a clean pillow case to keep the dirt off and you can get quite a few in a pillow case if it's lying on the side flat. It also keeps them from sliding around. lulu

By 10/21/2010

If you have made wedding cakes in the past, you should have the recipes that you need. I have seen wedding caked delivered and they were always delivered in tiers, and assembled on site, and additional decorations added at the site also.

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Looking for Wedding Cake Recipes and Tips

First of all, thank you for everyone that answered my last request. I have another one. Does anyone know where I can find plans/recipes for making your own wedding cake? Or does anyone have any advice?

Thanks again, Mary.

RE: Looking for Wedding Cake Recipes and Tips

The best place I have found for MANY different recipes are in the books at the Library. Many different frostings that work good and icing tips. The best cake was a marble cake (personal preference). One of the prettiest cakes had dots of frosting placed all around. How easy is that? Good Luck! (05/14/2004)

By Dee

RE: Looking for Wedding Cake Recipes and Tips

My mother made my wedding cake and I do believe she had used ideas from Wilton Cakes. They used to have books you could buy, not sure if you still can. Sometimes specialty cake and candy shops have different books that you can purchase with ideas and instructions on making your own cakes, and would have all the supplies you would need on hand. (05/16/2004)

By Melissa Minerd

RE: Looking for Wedding Cake Recipes and Tips

I recently attended a wedding where the bride and groom had a very small wedding cake (purchased fairly plain and decorated by groom's mom with fresh flowers) to cut for their pictures. It was just large enough for the wedding party. The rest of the "cake" was actually cupcakes placed on tiered serving platters. They were baked and iced by friends and arranged with more fresh flowers. They tasted great, looked pretty, and no one had to spend an hour at the reception cutting and serving a cake. (05/17/2004)

By Colleen

RE: Looking for Wedding Cake Recipes and Tips

At my fiance's uncle's wedding they did a very small elaborate cake for the bride/groom and then a different flavored round cake at each table as the centerpiece. Granted it was serve yourself, but they just added some silk rose petals around the cakes and the setting was just perfect.

Also, when my Aunt made my sister's cake, she cheated. She had a bakery BAKE the scalloped-shaped cakes and then we iced and decorated them 2 days before. The price for un-iced cakes was amazingly cheap. (05/18/2004)

By Kayvee76

RE: Looking for Wedding Cake Recipes and Tips

Go to your local library and look in the 640s. A great book for cakes is "The Cake Mix Doctor," which shows you a variety of ways to doctor up a regular box mix to taste extraordinary. Another book is "Semi-Homemade Desserts."

You can also go to the website, http://www.semihomemade.com. Click on the wedding magazine and it will offer two cake recipes. What you might want to do is use the cake mix doctoring recipes from the first book, and use the second book as an example of how to decorate your cake. (07/11/2004)

By TC

RE: Looking for Wedding Cake Recipes and Tips

The best, and most complete instructions I have found for this are in the current edition of The Joy of Cooking. I did not use this for my wedding, but wish I had. For my wedding, I made a black forest cake, and it was lovely with all the cherries and whipped cream, but it did not freeze well and so it didn't taste very good. The Joy of Cooking recipe freezes quite well.

I catered my own wedding, and it came off mostly well. Please feel free to ask me for any suggestions on catering your own wedding. (01/06/2005)

By Grace Potts

RE: Looking for Wedding Cake Recipes and Tips

For my friend's wedding, we made her eight 10 inch round cakes. We just used the boxed cake mix. All different flavors/ fillings (like a lemon cake with raspberry filling and carrot cake with a cream cheese filling, and so on and so forth). Each cake had a different pattern that it was decorated with; one was a basket weave design, one was Swiss dots. And the whole thing was presented on a plant stand (that the groom made for the cakes), they had flower garland wrapped on it, nothing too gaudy, but it was great for an outdoor wedding.

Anyway, if you are going to do it yourself, I would recommend keeping it simple. Because there will be so much going on, doing something extravagant will stress you out. Especially if you are not familiar with cake making and decorating. Good luck! (02/10/2005)

By miss annabelle

RE: Looking for Wedding Cake Recipes and Tips

I've baked wedding cakes for 25 years and NEVER baked anything but a boxed cake mix. Duncan Hines is the best. If you don't want all white cake, make another layer a different flavor. People like chocolate and butter pecan as another favorite. Forget all the fillings. Most of your guests don't care for it anyway.

Wilton sells the pans. Mine are 3" deep so you don't have to bake two layers to stack to get a nice thick cake. If you know someone who has these size pans maybe they'll loan them to you. You can go with a 12"bottom, a 10" middle, and an 8" top.

If you don't have the plates and pillars to stack them, stack them using the dowel method. Put the bottom cake on a cardboard circle that is about 14" around. Using small wooden dowel sticks, mark a line about 1/2" above the top of the cake. Be sure to level the cake, using a long sharp knife cutting off the excess so that it will sit flat on your circle.

Now, back to the dowels -- after you've measured them 1/2" above the cake, cut them off. These need to all be the same length so that the next layer will not sit crooked. After you've cut them (you'll need at least 4), place them in the center of the cake. These won't show, but will help support the next layer.

Layer 2: Repeat the same process. Level and place on a cardboard circle that is about 11"-12" around. Place your dowels in the center then remove and cut to where it is 1/2" above that cake.

Layer 3: Repeat the process putting this top cake on a 10" circle. Since this is your top cake it will not need dowels. If these are cut good and straight and all the same length, you have all the support you need to hold up the cake.

The reason the circles are larger than the cake is to allow room for a border. Or if you're an amateur at this, you may want to just buy lace to go around it or put a ring of flowers to cover the excess cardboard and keep the dowels from showing.

Incidentally, I spray my pan with Pam and you won't have to flour them. TRUST ME-- if you can find the pans and will follow the cake mix recipe and MY (hopefully CLEAR) directions, you CAN BAKE your own wedding cake.

The Decorator's icing recipe is: 1 bag Confectioners Powdered sugar, 1 cup CRISCO (DO NOT use a cheap substitute or icing will be greasy), and SMALL amounts of water added until well mixed and the mix becomes of a good spreading consistency. Add 1 tsp Butter flavoring.

To spread smoothly, dip a long thin cake spatula in hot water while spreading on the icing. Don't worry, the water will dry but your icing will be good and smooth. I don't often do this, but an easy way to make a pattern on the cake is to allow it to dry good and use a paper towel with a BUMPY sort of texture to it and rub it gently over the cake to make the print of the texture on the sides and top of the cake. Add flowers and you'll have a pretty and inexpensive wedding cake and have a real feeling of accomplishment that YOU did it yourself! If you have any further questions I'll watch and respond. This is my first TEACHING LESSON.

Sorry it's so lengthy. Hope you didn't fall asleep in class! (04/07/2005)

By MamawKC

RE: Looking for Wedding Cake Recipes and Tips

Great directions MamawKC, thanks for sharing. (04/08/2005)

By ThriftyFun

RE: Looking for Wedding Cake Recipes and Tips

If you have a local Walmart, go to the wedding section by the crafts. They have their Wilton cake pans which are the only pans I would suggest using. Lots of craft stores also have great ideas. (04/08/2005)

By mortimer

RE: Looking for Wedding Cake Recipes and Tips

For the cake; if you have not completed a large tiered cake before, then try a small cake for cutting and sheet cakes for the guests. You will need about 10 boxes of cake to cover the 200 people. Also, remember that wedding cake slices are much smaller than what you would eat normally. (09/25/2007)

By michelle