Do it yourself: three-tiered wedding cakes
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Three tiered wedding cakes are a great way of producing a cake big enough to feed an army of guests, and look spectacular as well. If you make (or at least assemble) your own version, it will be far cheaper than a store bought cake. You can choose from three different methods of displaying your cake. The easiest way is to use a tiered cake stand, which displays the three cakes in three floating tiers. This requires no practice and looks attractive. Another approach is to stack the three cakes directly on top of each other, which looks effective and makes decoration simple. The most impressive method is to use cake pillars, so that the cakes are raised in three individual tiers. This is relatively straightforward, but a little more fiddly. It works best with solid cakes such as fruit cakes. With these last two methods, the cake is supported on plastic dowels to make it more secure.
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Things You'll Need
- 16" cake
- 12" cake
- 8" cake
- Palette knife
- Knife
- Cutting board
- Ruler
- Set of 12 plastic cake dowels
- Craft knife
- 14 to 16 cups white frosting, or
- Almond paste, white sugar paste, powdered sugar, apricot jam, pastry brush and rolling pin
- Cake board
- 8 wedding cake pillars or
- Three tier cake stand
- Decorations, e.g. ribbons- sugar paste, dried, silk or real flowers
Instructions
Simple Three Tiered Cake
1
Place the the first cake on a cutting board and trim any irregular edges. The bottom of the cake should be perfectly flat. Trim the other two cakes.
2
Spread a little frosting in the center of the cake board, and place the first cake square in the middle. Insert five of the plastic dowels through the cake, and cut them off flush with the surface so that they don't show. Spread more frosting over the top of the cake. Insert four plastic dowels in the second cake as above, and position it exactly on top of the first. Spread frosting over the top, and follow with the third cake and the remaining dowels.
3
Spread the frosting evenly over the cakes. Use a palette knife to smooth the sides, and drag a clean ruler over the top for an even finish. Add decorations, such as artificial or real flowers and ribbons.
Three Tiered Cake With a Cake Stand
4
Trim each cake so that it is a regular shape. Brush the sides and top of the first cake with apricot jam. There is no need to use plastic dowels with this cake, as each layer is supported individually. Roll out a sufficient quantity of almond paste to cover the top and sides of the first cake. Roll the paste onto the rolling pin, transfer it to the cake, and unroll it over the cake. Smooth it with your fingers, and trim any over-hanging edges.
5
Brush apricot jam over the almond paste. Roll out a sufficient quantity of sugar paste to cover the cake. Unroll it over the cake as before, and smooth it out carefully. Tuck any loose edges under the cake and press them down with your fingers. Repeat for the other two cakes.
6
Decorate each cake with flowers, etc., and place each one on a tier of the stand. Tie a ribbon around each cake and leave the ends trailing. As an alternative to ribbon, try silk ivy or a garland of silk flowers.
Three Tiered Cake With Cake Pillars
7
Trim the cakes so that they are a regular shape. Cover each cake with almond paste and sugar paste, as above. Mark the position of each cake pillar with the point of a knife. Measure the distance between each mark and adjust if necessary, as the pillars must be set evenly or the cake will be unstable.
8
Place the first cake on the cake board. In the place where you want the first pillar, push a plastic dowel right through the cake until it hits the board. Trim it off flush with the surface of the cake. Repeat with the other three dowels. Position a pillar on top of each dowel, and use a ruler to check that the tops of all the pillars are level. If one pillar is standing too tall, the cake may collapse over it. If necessary, trim a little more off the dowel until the pillars are equal.
9
Add a dab of frosting to the tops of the pillars, and position the second cake on top of the first. Repeat the process to add the third layer. Decorate the cake as desired.
Tips &- Warnings
To make a tiered cake from a soft cake such as sponge, you can use a tier cake separator. These are plastic plates that plug into the base cake and offer more support to soft cakes .
Tags: each cake, first cake, plastic dowels, sugar paste, cake cake, over cakeSource: www.ehow.com
