Tiered Wedding Cake -

Tiered Wedding Cake

Ingredients

FOR A 15 CM (6 INCH) ROUND CAKE
3 tablespoons apricot jam
450 g (1 lb) almond paste
450 g (1 lb) ready-to-roll fondant icing, coloured champagne

FOR A 23 CM (9 INCH) ROUND CAKE
4 tablespoons apricot jam
900 g (2 lb) almond paste
900 g (2 lb) ready-to-roll fondant icing, coloured champagne

FOR A 30 CM (12 INCH) ROUND CAKE

6 tablespoons apricot jam
1.8 kg (4 lb) almond paste
1.8 kg (4 lb) ready-to-roll fondant icing, coloured champagne

TO MAKE THE FLOWERS YOU WILL NEED

1.8 kg (4 lb) ready-to-roll fondant icing
1 teaspoon gum tragacanth old gold, yellow and leaf green food colouring
3 cm (1 ¼ inch) daisy cutter cocktail sticks
3 cm (1 ¼ inch) round cutter rose leaf cutter

YOU WILL ALSO NEED

450 g (1 lb) icing sugar
2 egg whites
Piping bag, plain no. 1 and no. 2 nozzles
6 dowelling rods
6 plaster cake pillars

Method

1 Cover the cakes with almond paste, and then cover with fondant.

2 To make the flowers: knead the fondant until smooth, then add the gum tragacanth and knead thor­oughly. Once you have added the gum tragacanth the fondant will harden quickly: read through the instructions to decide whether to make the flowers in batches. Colour 675 g (1 ½ lb) of the fondant gold. Wrap both the white and gold fon­dants in clingfilm.

3 To make the daisies: roll out 125 g (5 oz) of the white fondant and stamp out 40 daisies. Roll a cocktail stick over each petal to give a delicate finish. Colour 25 g (1 oz) of the fondant yellow and make the daisy centres. Fill a polythene bag with sugar, make indentations with your finger and sit a daisy in each dent. Leave to dry overnight.

4 Use 225 g (8 oz) of the gold fon­dant to make 12 roses. For each rose, divide a little fondant into 10 and roll each into a ball the size of a large pea. Using a teaspoon dusted in icing sugar, flatten each ball to form a petal. Roll up like a Swiss roll. Flatten a second ball of fondant and wrap around the first petal, securing it with a little water. Continue with all 10 balls to com­plete a rose. Break off any excess fondant at the base of the rose. Sit the rose in an egg carton to keep its shape, and leave to dry overnight. Use 225 g (8 oz) of fondant to make 12 white roses. Use the trimmings to make 6 rosebuds, with only 4 petals instead of 10.

5 To make the large flowers: roll out the remaining gold fondant and stamp out 5 rounds using a 3 cm (1¼ inch) round plain cutter. To form petals, roll a cocktail stick around each round to give a ruffled edge. Stick 5 petals together with a little water. For the stamens, roll the trimmings into small balls (approxi­mately 20 for each flower). Secure with a little water. Make 16 flowers in total. Place each flower in an egg carton to help form the shape, and leave to dry overnight.

6 To make the arum lilies: roll out 325 g (12 oz) of the white fondant and, using a sharp knife, cut out different sized petals. Colour 225 g (8 oz) of the fondant yellow and make the stamens. Lay each sta­men in the centre of a petal and wrap the petal around. Secure with a little water. Make 25 lilies in total. Drape over a rolling pin to form the shape, and leave to dry overnight.

7 Colour 75 g (3 oz) of the fondant leaf green and 75 g (3 oz) a darker green. Roll out the lighter green fondant and cut into 2.5 cm (1 inch) strips. Cut the strips into triangles. Cut a nick in each triangle and pinch up the corners to give an ivy leaf shape. Mark the veins with a knife. Make 60 ivy leaves in total. Roll out the darker green fondant and stamp out 30 rose leaves. Mark the veins with a knife.

8 Cut a strip of greaseproof paper the same height as the side of the large tier and 100 cm (40 inches) long. Hold the paper around the cake and trim to the exact circum­ference. Mark into 8 equal sections. Draw a semicircle between each mark. Attach the strip to the cake, securing it with pins. Make pin­pricks in the icing through the paper, following the semicircles. Repeat with the other 2 tiers. Mix half the icing sugar with 1 egg white and a little water and beat to form a stiff, smooth icing. Using half the icing and a plain no. 2 nozzle, pipe dots around the base of the cakes. Using the remaining icing and a no. l nozzle, pipe dots along the pin­pricks on all 3 tiers. Leave the cakes to dry overnight.

9 Beat together the remaining icing sugar and egg white to form a smooth icing. Arrange the flowers and leaves on the cakes, then fix in place with a little icing.

10 To assemble: push 3 dowelling rods into the large tier and 3 into the middle tier where you want the pillars to stand. Mark the level of the cake on the rods, remove and cut to length. Push the rods back into the cakes. Assemble the cake, standing pillars over the dowelling.

Related food category:

• Celebration Cake