{"id":463,"date":"2012-04-23T19:16:30","date_gmt":"2012-04-23T19:16:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/suppersfromscratch.wordpress.com\/?p=463"},"modified":"2013-04-21T20:38:07","modified_gmt":"2013-04-21T20:38:07","slug":"going-to-the-chapel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.suppersfromscratch.com\/?p=463","title":{"rendered":"Going to the chapel…."},"content":{"rendered":"

No… not me silly. It’s my sisters wedding of course. Meaning I have taken on my biggest challenge yet. Make a wedding cake for 120 people. From Scratch, no instructions!<\/span><\/p>\n

As I am not one to turn down a challenge or make it easy for myself, I naively started planning an elaborate tiered cake with many different flavours, decorations and general wedding flair.<\/span>
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

However this was not to be. The request for fruit cake as the top tier and my lack of confidence in producing two tiers of sponge that could withstand the weight of a hefty fruit cake led me to ponder on how to 3 tiers of fruit cake that weren\u2019t boring as anything. No Hydrolic lifts, or jazzy stage lights. Just 3 tiers of fruit cake.<\/span><\/p>\n

Time to throw out the recipe book! As you know there is nothing quite like a bit of experimentation when you have a specific date, a specific number of mouths to feed and a lot of pressure ( please note the pressure is self inflicted, my sister is calm as a cucumber).<\/span><\/p>\n

I am putting the fear behind me and confidently stating I can do this! In fact I am writing this retrospectively, so we all know I have<\/em> done this. Well to a certain extent, the cake is yet to be eaten so it could still be undercooked and tasteless but, fingers crossed hey!<\/span><\/p>\n

Here is my step-by-step guide on how (not) to make a wedding cake<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Number 1: Time for a test cake.<\/strong> This is experimentation at its very best. A whole cake to play around with. My plan throw everything at it and see if I can produce something edible.<\/span><\/p>\n

I decide on a light fruit cake with a chocolate orange flavouring. Meaning fruit was soaked in Grand Marnier and I added dark chocolate chips. This was definitely a success. It tasted delicious, and other than the burnt outside and the fact that the fruit sunk to the bottom it was wedding ready.<\/span><\/p>\n

With the basic gist sorted time for step two.<\/span><\/p>\n

Number 2: Make a second test cake to correct burning and sunken fruit.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

So I was planning to make another test before I made the actual cake, but unfortunately time disappeared and I was left with 5 weeks to go until the wedding and no 2nd<\/sup> test cake. Nothing for it but to just hope I get it right.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was, as they say, time. Time to face my deamons and write a new recipe, use my judgement and hope for the best.<\/span><\/p>\n

So here we go.<\/span><\/p>\n

Number 3: Bake the cakes<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Three tins 12inch, 9 inch and 7inch, Two Days and One Mission….<\/span><\/p>\n

( don’t you love the drama)<\/span><\/p>\n

My (mostly) From Scratch 3 Tier Wedding Cake.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Ingredients:<\/span><\/p>\n

7 inch<\/strong> (this is more fruit heavy as it will be kept for a few years)<\/span><\/p>\n

Cooking time: 3 \u00bd hours\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

6oz Butter<\/span>
\n 6oz Soft Brown Sugar<\/span>
\n 3 Eggs<\/span>
\n 4 1\/2oz Plain Flour<\/span>
\n 3oz Ground Almonds<\/span>
\n 5oz Raisins<\/span>
\n 10 oz Currants<\/span>
\n 5oz Sultanas<\/span>
\n 2oz Mixed Peel<\/span>
\n 2oz Glace Cherries<\/span>
\n 1 Orange Zested<\/span>
\n 1 Lemon Zested<\/span>
\n 1 tbsp Grand Marnier + Extra for feeding<\/span>
\n 1\/2tsp Mixed Spice<\/span>
\n 1\/4tsp Nutmeg<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

<\/span> Now that’s a lot of butter!<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

9 inch<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Cooking time :2 \u00bd Hours<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

12oz Butter<\/span>
\n 12oz Soft Brown Sugar<\/span>
\n 6 Eggs<\/span>
\n 9oz Plain Flour<\/span>
\n 6oz Ground Almonds<\/span>
\n 6oz Raisins<\/span>
\n 10 oz Currants<\/span>
\n 6oz Sultanas<\/span>
\n 3oz Mixed Peel<\/span>
\n 3oz Glace Cherries<\/span>
\n 2 Oranges Zested<\/span>
\n 1 Lemon Zested<\/span>
\n 100g Dark Chocolate Chopped<\/span>
\n 1 tbsp Golden Syrup<\/span>
\n 1 tbsp Grand Marnier + Extra for feeding<\/span>
\n 1 1\/2tsp Mixed Spice<\/span>
\n 1 tsp Nutmeg<\/span><\/p>\n

12inch<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Cooking time: 3 \u00bd hours<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

1lb 12oz Butter<\/span>
\n 1lb 12oz\u00a0Soft Brown Sugar<\/span>
\n 14 Eggs<\/span>
\n 1lb Plain Flour<\/span>
\n 13oz Ground Almonds<\/span>
\n 8oz Raisins<\/span>
\n 120z Currants<\/span>
\n 8oz Sultanas<\/span>
\n 5oz Mixed Peel<\/span>
\n 5oz Glace Cherries<\/span>
\n 2 Oranges Zested<\/span>
\n 1 Lemon Zested<\/span>
\n 200g Dark Chocolate Chopped<\/span>
\n 2 tbsp Golden Syrup<\/span>
\n 1 tbsp Grand Marnier + Extra for feeding<\/span>
\n 2 1\/2 tsp Mixed Spice<\/span>
\n 1tsp Nutmeg<\/span><\/p>\n

Method<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Measure out your fruit the night before, place in a bowl and cover with 1 tbsp on Grand Marnier<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. The next day preheat your oven to about 140\/150C degrees\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Cream your butter and sugar together until light and fluffy<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Whisk your eggs until they are very light and slowly add bit by bit. With the larger cakes you will need to add a bit of flour\/ground almond bit by bit to ensure your mixture doesnt curdle<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Sift the flour and pour in the ground almonds. Gently combine<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. Chop you chocolate into chunks, Zest your lemon and oranges into the mixture. Then add the Fruit and chopped Chocolate. Gently combine<\/span><\/li>\n
  7. Add your golden syrup and gently stir<\/span><\/li>\n
  8. Then carefully pour into your tin and flatten- indenting the middle of the cake slightly<\/span><\/li>\n
  9. Cover up with Greaseproof paper and bake in the oven for the time given above.<\/span><\/li>\n
  10. Remove the cake and test if its is done by poking a skewer through the middle \u2013 if it comes out clean the cake is ready<\/span><\/li>\n
  11. Leave on the side to cool<\/span><\/li>\n
  12. When cooled wrap so its airtight and leave somewhere out of the way. You can feed the cake every week with Grand Marnier or another chosen liquor until its ready to be iced<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    There we have it, 3 tiers, 2 days, 1 cake<\/span><\/p>\n

    The Result<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    Well they look alright, they smell immense and hopefully in a few weeks time I will be able to confirm that they taste pretty good too.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

    Number 4: Almond ice<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    Now I am not here yet so we wont even start to talk about this or the white icing. But all I can say so far is \u2026 here’s hoping \ud83d\ude42<\/span><\/p>\n

    What a great cliff hanger! I can tell you are thirsty for more.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Tune in next time for the final steps on how to (not) make a wedding cake.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    No… not me silly. It’s my sisters wedding of course. Meaning I have taken on my biggest challenge yet. Make a wedding cake for 120 people. From Scratch, no instructions! As I am not one to turn down a challenge … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[138],"tags":[141],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suppersfromscratch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suppersfromscratch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suppersfromscratch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppersfromscratch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppersfromscratch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=463"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppersfromscratch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1417,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppersfromscratch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463\/revisions\/1417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suppersfromscratch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppersfromscratch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppersfromscratch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}