I have almost 70 wedding cakes under my belt. That’s not a lot of wedding cakes if you are a professional cake wedding decorator, but it was a lot to pump out in a three year span as a rookie! Year one was a learning experience, year two putting practice into action, and year three was fine tuning the practice.
Baking wedding cakes were some of the most reward-able cakes that I got to be a part of. I LOVED making them, loved getting to the venue and seeing the beautiful decorations, but I HATED the delivery!! Nothing ever went wrong, but I was always nervous throughout the drive. The longer drives (hour to an hour and a half) in the hot beating sun were often scary, as was travelling on the highway and worrying about the other drivers on the road. If you are partaking on long deliveries, make sure that your vehicle has air conditioning, and that you put blinders up on your windows to block the sun (as much as it can be). I also always transported my cakes in a large cake delivery box, that my partner made for me. Delivering in the box kept wayward dust and dirt off of the cake and ensured that a clean cake arrived at the destination.
In this first tutorial (of three), I show you how to bake the cakes for the wedding cake. I highly recommend using cakes from scratch as they are sturdier than box mixes, and will hold up better under movement and the weight of decorations.
How to Make a Wedding Cake- Baking and Frosting Part One
- 2x 6″ round cake pans
- 2x 8″ round cake pans
- 2x 10″ round cake pans
- Cake boards (6″, 8″, 12″)
- Vanilla cake batter (or any flavour that you prefer)
- Vanilla buttercream
Procedure:
- Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and line each pan with parchment, or wax paper. The 6″ pans will require 2 cups of batter each. The 8″ pans will require 3.5 cups of batter each. The 10″ pans will require 6 cups of batter each.
- Bake the 6″ pans in the oven for 25-30 minutes.
- Bake the 8″ pans in the oven for 35-40 minutes.
- Bake the 10″ pans in the oven for 55-60 minutes.
- Allow each to cool completely on a wire rack before proceeding to coat in buttercream.
- Attach one 6″ cake layer to the 6″ cake board, using a swipe of buttercream to “glue” it to the board.
- Cover the top of the cake with a layer of buttercream, and then place the second 6″ layer on top.
- Cover the whole cake in a crumb coat (thin layer) of buttercream.
- Repeat for the 8″ and 10″ cakes.
- When the crumb coat layer has crusted, you can apply the second and final layers of buttercream. Smooth the buttercream using a metal spatula.
STAY TUNED FOR MORE . . .
In the second video, I will be showing you how to stack, or tier, a wedding cake, and I will be using the three cakes that I make in this video. The third video will include a tutorial on how to decorate a wedding cake, and I will be showing you three different types of flower decorations that you can use.
Hello I watched your video on making cake but I notice I can’t find your recipe on your vanilla butter cake.
Hi Jen! 🙂
Thank you SO MUCH for your tutorials! I’m inspired to make my own wedding cake thanks to you. My wedding is coming up in a few weeks (Sat, March 18th, 2017). How soon should I start making the cake? Should I freeze certain parts of it beforehand! (If someone already asked this I apologize!)
Best regards,
Roxanne
Hi! Congrats! You can make the cake 2-3 months ahead and freeze it. I don’t really recommend that though for taste reasons, but technically you can. I would leave till as late as possible within that time frame. Decorate it the night before.
Hi Jenn,
I’ve watched these videos many times over now and find them really helpful. However, I am planning for my wedding cake to be a bit bigger. How much batter would I need for a 6″, 8″, 12″ and 16″ cake? And how tall does each tier tend to be?
Thanks, Beth.
The 6″ pans will require 2 cups of batter each. The 8″ pans will require 3.5 cups of batter each. The 10″ pans will require 6 cups of batter each. Here’s a link to the others http://www.wilton.com/cms-wedding-cake-data.html
I have a question I am making my first wedding cake and I will be using your guide for the Vanilla cake and Butter cream but your cake was 3 tier mine will be 4 teir I have a 12 inch how much cake batter will I need for that ? Thank you in advance for your help
Hi Jenn ,
Thanks for the wonderful info you have giving I’m about to make a three layer cake for a friends birthday doing it just as you have with the size of cake pans I love that you give a cup measurement to help but was wondering how many vanilla cake mixtures it takes to get the amount you need for all three cakes
With much thanks Carrie
My vanilla cake batter that the recipe links to yeilds 4 cups.
Hi Jen! This video and tutorial is so helpful, I was just wondering how many people a cake this size would feed in your opinion. Thanks!
So glad this was helpful! It feeds around 82 if I remember correctly.
so i am making this but i also want some of the layers to be chocolate. im using the same chocoalte cake recipe from your oreo cake recipe. can i use the same cup measurements for the chocolate cake as i do with the vanilla cake? Is everything the same such as bake time and the measurements?
Hello! Your tutorials were so extremely helpful! I so appreciate them! My friend is getting married in a couple weeks and I am making her cake. I was wondering if it putting cream cheese in the buttercream made a huge difference to the frosting and also, how much before the wedding should the cake be frosted? Thank you so much!!
You can cover the cake in buttercream the night before…but make sure you keep it in the fridge, and take it out in time so that it can soften. Yes, you can use cream cheese icing for a wedding cake…here’s my recipe http://cookiescupcakesandcardio.com/?p=3033 Good luck!
I am going to try making a wedding cake either tomorrow or Friday. Can’t wait!!! I am getting married in May and want to make my own wedding cake!!!
Congratulations! I hope you find this helpful…if you need any advice, let me know!
Hey
Love the youtube videos – so helpful.
I’ve seen on a few websites that you can brush the cakes in a sugar syrup to help them stay moist – have you had any success with this?
Hi! Thanks for watching. I’ve never tried a sugar wash, as I’ve never felt I needed it. Like you say, it’s to keep the cake moist, but if you’ve baked your cake properly, it shouldn’t be dry to start with 🙂 Fruit is a better addition as a filling to the cake to maintain moistness, in my opinion, but many cake decorators swear by it. I hope that helps!
Hi! Love your tutorial! I’m going to make a cake to auction at a charity event, was wondering …how do you determine how many cups of batter the cake recipe will produce? Thank you
I don’t have a magic trick, though I imagine there are many of them out there….I just make the batter and measure…and then keep note of how many cups that particular batter made for next time.
Hi Jen,
I don’t have enough time to pre make the vanilla cake before the actual one, do you know how many cups your vanilla cake batter makes as well as the buttercream?
Jen,
I am such a big fan! I live in the states and took a trip to London, Ontario last week. I flipped my lid when I passed the Bulk Barn. LOL. I will be trying out your method this weekend on a graduation cake. Can’t wait.
Hahahaha….that’s funny! It is the greatest store!!