Secrets that pastry chefs won’t tell you - how to choose a wedding cake

When and how to choose a wedding cake?

Alexandra Ganaeva: “When choosing a confectionery, I recommend focusing on reviews, photographs and the taste of the finished cakes, and not on production volumes. The advantages of home bakeries are a greater willingness to engage in dialogue with the bride, to look for the opportunity to create a cake that meets all the wishes of the couple, and not the one presented in the catalog. Be sure to ask the pastry chef if there is a tasting option (you understand that this is a big plus), as well as delivery. If you have already decided on a confectionery shop, you can order a wedding cake 1.5-2 months before the celebration - then you will have enough time to choose the design of the cake and taste the fillings. If your wedding is planned on especially popular summer dates, you should take care of your order even earlier. The weight of the wedding cake is calculated depending on the number of guests - approximately 150 grams per person. For example, if you are planning a wedding for 50 people, the cake should weigh 7.5 kg. If there is a sweet table or candy bar at the wedding, the weight of the cake can be reduced - guests will have a choice of other sweets.”

When choosing the number of tiers of the cake, keep in mind that the bottom tier should be the heaviest - 3-4 kg. Therefore, if you dream of a cake with three or more tiers, its weight should be from 6 kilograms. And for an intimate wedding, a small one-tier cake is enough.

An interesting trend that is widespread abroad is to order not one huge cake for a wedding, but several small ones. This way you can kill several birds with one stone: make cakes with different fillings to satisfy the tastes of all guests, and also give the sweet table more charm and unusualness.

When do they bring out the cake and loaf at a wedding?

Wedding signs and traditions that have come down from time immemorial are still revered. One of these traditions is the meeting of the newlyweds after the wedding in the groom’s house: his mother greeted the newlyweds with a beautiful lush loaf, always holding it on a towel with embroidered amulets birds.

Nowadays, young people prefer to live separately, and they celebrate their wedding in a restaurant, so the ritual has changed somewhat - the groom’s mother greets them with a loaf of bread and congratulations.

Taking out the cake at a wedding is always a solemn moment, the culmination of the feast, and you need to give guests the opportunity to take a good look at it and, if desired, take a photo in front of the cake.

Tastes could not be discussed?

A wedding cake should not only be beautiful, but also tasty - this is exactly the case when both the appearance and the internal content are important))) Moreover, you probably want both you and the guests to like the cake, so be sure to consult with the pastry chef: he knows what most people prefer. Also, the taste of a wedding cake depends on the season: on a hot day, especially after a long banquet, your guests are unlikely to want rich, “heavy” sweets. Therefore, for a summer celebration, it is better to choose a light-tasting cake and add fresh seasonal berries to the filling. Butter creams for filling should not be considered at all, even if the wedding is in winter - they taste too greasy and have long gone out of confectionery fashion. It is better to give preference to vanilla, yoghurt, and chocolate fillings - almost everyone likes them. By the way, if your wedding cake has several tiers, each of them can be made with its own taste. And if you are still worried, order a tasting set of the fillings you like - more and more pastry shops now provide this service. Then you definitely won’t go wrong and choose something that suits your taste.

Alexandra Ganaeva: “In our confectionery, the absolute favorites among wedding orders are vanilla-berry cake and cheesecake with berries. And the most unusual (but very tasty!) filling is made using syrup based on organic lavender and blueberries.”

Birthday cake recipes for your wedding day

Prices for a wedding cake, given the complexity of the order, will always be quite high, so if you have relatives or friends with good pastry experience, you can ask them to make a wedding cake with their own hands. This could be, for example, honey cake, Napoleon or a fashionable tiramisu dessert. Particular attention should be paid to decorations so that the cake can compete with professional ones.

Honey cake recipe

Required for the test:

• 125 g margarine or butter;
• 1 cup granulated sugar;
• 3 tablespoons honey;
• 1 tsp. not slaked soda;
• 2 eggs;
• 4 cups flour.

Required for cream:

• 0.5 kg sour cream 15-20%;
• 1 cup of sugar.

The order of execution is as follows:

1. Melt the margarine/butter in a water bath, gradually add sugar and honey, stirring continuously until the mixture reaches a homogeneous consistency. Add baking soda and continue stirring until the mixture increases in volume and turns white.
2. Remove from the water bath and let cool.
3. Add eggs, mix thoroughly.
4. Add flour, mix well and divide the resulting dough into 8-10 parts.
5. Directly on a baking sheet, roll out into very thin layers, pierce them with a fork in several places and bake in a preheated oven one at a time until the dough acquires a brownish tint.
6. After baking, immediately trim off the excess of each cake, using, for example, a large plate or bowl of the appropriate diameter, and place it on a towel to cool (you can’t put them together while they’re hot, they may stick together).
7. While the cakes are cooling, beat the sour cream and sugar until completely dissolved.
8. Generously coat the cakes with cream, lightly pressing each layer.
9. To decorate the cake, use crushed crumbs from excess cake layers, chocolate, nuts, etc.

In the video with the wedding cake recipe, you will learn in detail about the technology for creating honey sponge cake:

Napoleon's recipe

Required for the test:

• flour - 750 g;
• butter - 600 g;
• eggs - 2 pcs.;
• ice water - 300 ml;
• salt - 1 tsp;
• vodka - 2 tbsp. l.;

For the custard:

• eggs - 4 pcs.;
• sugar - 200-350 g;
• milk - 1 l;
• butter - 200 g;
• vanillin - 1 sachet;
• flour - 4 tbsp. l.;
• cognac - 2 tbsp. spoons;

to cool all the ingredients in advance , keep the oil and water in the freezer.

Step-by-step cooking instructions:

1. Sift the flour 2-3 times onto a work surface through a fine sieve.
2. Quickly grate the frozen butter into the flour using a coarse grater. So that it does not have time to melt in your hands, dip it in flour all the time and mix the mass.
3. In a bowl, beat 2 eggs with salt, ice water and vodka until smooth.
4. Gradually pour into the flour and butter, stirring all the time (but not too much) and collecting into a lump. The dough should not stick to your hands, but it should not be too tough. Wrap it in cling film and place in the freezer for 2 hours.
5. Now you should do the cream. Pour milk into a small convenient saucepan, add sugar and vanillin and over low heat, stirring constantly, bring the sugar until dissolved.
6. In a clean bowl, beat the eggs with flour and cognac until smooth, gradually pour into the hot milk, stirring constantly, and bring to a boil, but do not let it boil.
7. Reduce heat and, stirring the cream all the time so that it does not stick to the bottom of the pan, evaporate it until it thickens.
8. Turn off the heat, add previously softened butter, beat the cream until smooth.
9. When the cream has cooled, coat the cakes with it. Sprinkle the top with crumbs.

Custard can be replaced with sour cream by mixing sour cream with sugar to taste.

Napoleon cake for wedding

How to decorate a wedding cake?

The cake is a reflection of the wedding concept. Perhaps this is the first thing you should remember when choosing your main dessert. It’s not enough to just focus on your taste: if everything starts with wedding invitations, then the celebration ends with the serving of the cake. It’s like the “finish line” of a wedding: to see, remember the whole holiday again, and even enjoy it. It is not surprising that the cake always attracts maximum attention - both from guests and photographers/videographers. Therefore, your cake simply must be the embodiment of the wedding concept in miniature.

To achieve this, when ordering a cake, consider:

• Celebration palette. Any modern wedding adheres to a certain palette, and the cake should at least not stand out from it. A bright red cake at a wedding in subtle colors will look as if it was brought from someone else's banquet.

• Wedding style. A “naked” cake at a luxurious classic wedding is as inappropriate as a multi-tiered miracle of confectionery, decorated with flowers and patterns made of fondant, at a Boho-style celebration.

• Accessories. Various stands, beautiful cutters, toppers - all these details will help make the presentation of the wedding cake more impressive. There are many similar accessories; they can be bought in pastry shops along with the cake, or separately. However, when choosing them, you should also not break away from the style and mood of the entire wedding: choose a wooden cut as a stand if your wedding is in the Rustic style, and a beautiful glass stand for a classic celebration.

When choosing a decoration for your wedding cake, be sure to ask whether it is edible so that you or your guests do not find themselves in an awkward position.

Alexandra Ganaeva: “Décor with fresh flowers and berries is now a clear favorite. As before, many brides choose cakes with open layers and a “slide” of berries. To make this cake even more impressive, individual decorative elements - berries, green leaves - can be coated with special food-grade gold or silver powder. Instead of the usual white color, brides are increasingly asking to create a gradient or watercolor effect on the cake.”

Beautiful decor ideas

Many brides pay a lot of attention to the cake at their wedding reception. He must be completely and completely perfect. After all, you really want to amaze and surprise your guests. The simplest and most convenient option would be to go to the store and purchase the modest option you like.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bvvv5_5B7cQ/

Only a few do this. The most responsible newlyweds spend a long time and scrupulously choosing their ideal wedding cake. Fortunately, there are plenty of ideas on the Internet.

Single-tier

Convenient and decent option. Ideal for small banquets. If there are up to 40 guests at a wedding, then you can please everyone present with such a delicacy. The design of a single-tier confectionery product can be very diverse.

Non-traditional forms are considered popular. For example, the heart. If you want to create a cake in a minimalist style, then you can only cover the heart shape with a red matte or glossy surface. This will be enough to surprise those present.

Multi-tiered

The most popular type of wedding dessert is multi-tiered delicacies. They are created only for big celebrations. Multi-tiered original wedding cakes can be arranged as one piece, layering cake layers on top of each other. In addition, they can be distributed on a special rack on which each delicacy will be placed separately.

Multi-tiered wedding delicacies are also good because they can have a large number of fillings. For example, one cake at a wedding may be yogurt, another – berry, and so on.

Accordingly, the newlyweds have the opportunity to ask the guests which filling they prefer. This will definitely flatter everyone present, because it will mean that you tried hard and took care of everyone.

Colored

Wedding desserts in the classical sense should be white. Although nowadays brighter and more colorful combinations are increasingly being used. If the newlyweds are afraid to deviate from the traditional classics, then they can diversify the dessert with delicate and pastel shades.

For example, cream, sand, pearl. If you want color and brightness, then absolutely any colors will be appropriate.

With figures

Wedding cake with rings.
Decorative designs with special figures have now become especially popular. They most often depict the bride and groom. These can be either approximate or exact copies, or characters from animated films and fairy tales.

Women order animals with great pleasure. For example, cats, bunnies or dogs. Men, on the other hand, prefer more minimalist figures. It could be a couple hugging.

Creative and original families prefer humorous figures. For example, the bride pushes the groom off the cake, and he remains hanging on the topmost layer.

With flowers

It is difficult to imagine a wedding ceremony without flowers. They are present everywhere and everywhere. The bride and groom can decorate not only the hall itself, but also their small wedding cake. Nowadays, fresh flowers are increasingly used.

The only condition is their mandatory heat treatment. This must be done a day before decoration. Only large buds and inflorescences are selected. They must be soaked in an alcohol solution.

With fruits

A win-win option for decoration is fruit. They will appeal to both children and adults. If a child does not eat sweets, then he will definitely want to enjoy pieces of sweet, ripe and, most importantly, fresh fruit. Such desserts are especially relevant in the winter season. Any fruit can be used. Most often these are strawberries, wild strawberries, and blueberries.

They are often decorated with peaches, pears and apples. They should not be cut as they will quickly darken, changing their original appearance. Fruits can look like they fell from a tree, which is especially true for a rustic style.

With photos

One of the current trends is decorating with photographs. Only this should be understood not in a literal, but in a figurative sense. The photograph is reprinted onto a special edible paper and surface, which allows, on the one hand, to admire the portrait of the newlyweds, and on the other, to eat the whole cake.

It is important to choose your photo very carefully. Portraits are mainly used, where large faces and shapes are clearly expressed.

What cakes are in fashion today?

The most interesting trend is the personalization of wedding cakes using the couple’s initials, wedding date, and unique topper figures that look like the newlyweds and reflect their lives and hobbies. Such a cake will be not just a dessert, but a continuation of your love story, one and only. You can also decorate the cake with various inscriptions: quotes from your vows or phrases about love that you like and are close in meaning.

The second trend is decorating the cake with colorful drips. Looks very appetizing and tempting!

How to deliver a cake safe and sound?

Delivering a wedding cake, especially a multi-tiered one, on your own is a saving that can leave you without a cake at all. Therefore, entrust the delivery to the confectionery - this will relieve you of unnecessary headaches and protect your cake from troubles.

Alexandra Ganaeva: “We are aware of our responsibility to our couple, so we treat the issue of transporting the wedding cake with the utmost care and attention, regardless of its size and complexity.”