A brief history of Wedding Cakes

Weddings have been celebrated with a cake of some sort for many, many years.   Ancient Roman wedding ceremonies ended with the breaking of a cake made from wheat or barley over the bride’s head as a symbol of good fortune. The newly married couple ate a few crumbs then the wedding guests gathering up the crumbs as tokens of good luck. Over the years, the breaking of a cake mellowed into crumbling small pieces of the soft wheat cake over her head - after all the cakes were used up, the guests were supplied with handfuls of 'confetto', a sweet mixture of nuts, dried fruit, and honeyed almonds. Eventually, this mixture was replaced with rice, flower petals, and coloured paper, leading to the ‘confetti’ we know today. 

In Medieval England small spiced buns were stacked in a towering pile, as high as possible. If the bride and groom were able to kiss over the tall stack, they could look forward to a lifetime of prosperity. The earliest British recipe specifically for a wedding was from 1685 – Bride’s Pye was a large round pie with an elaborately decorated pastry crust that concealed a filling of oysters, pine kernels, cockscombs, lambstones (testicles), sweetbreads, and spices. There were also humbler, less expensive versions containing minced meats or just mutton.

In the seventeenth century Bride Pie developed into Bride Cake, the predecessor of the modern wedding cake. Fruited cakes, as symbols of fertility and prosperity, gradually became the centerpieces for weddings. A much less costly bride cake took the simpler form of two large rounds of shortcrust pastry sandwiched together with currants and sprinkled with sugar on the top. Very few homes at the time had an oven, but this type of pastry cake could easily be cooked on a bakestone on the hearth.

Around this time wedding cakes were often made in pairs, one for the bride and another for the groom. Groom’s Cake, a dark, heavy fruitcake, was served alongside Bride Cake. Smaller than Bride Cake and usually not iced, the Groom’s Cake was cut up into little squares that were then placed in boxes for the guests to take home as a wedding memento and to ensure good luck. At bedtime, the recipient of Groom’s Cake would place the square underneath their pillow. This tradition was recorded as early as the seventeenth century but gradually died out, as did the Groom’s Cakes, which, until recently were no longer part of British weddings but are now starting to return, especially if the groom has a hobby or passion that a cake can be made to represent. The tradition is more prevalent in the USA where Groom’s Cake is often served to the guests as favours.

Bride Cake covered with white icing first appeared sometime in the seventeenth century. It was frosted with an early form royal icing, a sort of meringue mixture of whisked egg white and sugar, which was applied to the hot cake straight from the oven and then returned to the oven to firm up.  Icing sugar was unknown then and ‘twice-refined’ sugar was used – white sugar that had been refined twice, probably similar to our caster sugar today.   Cakes were iced in white as the finer, more refined sugar was much whiter and more expensive therefore it was  a symbol of wealth to have a white iced cake.

During Victorian times, a white-iced cake became desirable as white symbolised purity and virginal attributes.  Icing sugar was becoming widely available leading to the ‘royal icing’ as we know it today – it has been known as this since it was used to decorate Queen Victoria’s wedding cake, when she married Prince Albert in 1840.  A multi-tiered cake, or wedding cake consisted of the tiers being stacked directly on top of each other in the style that is popular today, pillared cakes which are traditionally associated with the Victorian era did not appear until around 1900 – these type of tall cakes were very desirable as they symbolised prosperity and were a status symbol at society weddings, as the less well-off could not afford a pillared and tiered wedding cake.

British wedding cakes remained virtually unchanged from the elaborate Victorian creations until the 1980s, with the invention of sugarpaste - soft, roll-out icing which could be used to cover cakes.  This revolutionised the entire cake – from flavour to design, no longer did the cake have to be a rich fruit cake as this soft icing was suitable for covering all types of sponge cakes and was much quicker to ice a cake  – royal icing had to be done over a period of days or even weeks so the cake inside had to keep well, hence the necessity of using rich fruit cake.   The sugarpaste could be draped and frilled and flowerpaste (a stronger, finer roll-out paste) became commercially available, leading to beautifully made sugar flowers. A typical 1980’s wedding cake was decorated with a garret frill around the sides of the cake, ribbon insertion and a spray of miniature flowers – lifesize ones weren’t accepted as being ‘proper’ for another 15 – 20 years. 

Today, anything goes – the only limit to your wedding cake is the cake maker’s imagination and skill!  From beautifully elegant, minimally-decorated pure white creations with lifesize sugar flowers to fun and funky styles – wonky cakes with personalised characters – and everything in-between.   Cupcakes have seen a rise in popularity, from a tiered stand consisting only of cupcakes to the addition of matching cupcakes to enhance a tiered cake.  Examples of the types of styles available can be seen at http://cakesbysuzanne.net/wedding-cakes.

Over the years, there have been many stories and superstitions connected with wedding cakes.  A few of my favourites are:

•  sharing the cake with family and friends increases fertility and prosperity
•  the bride who bakes her own cake is asking for trouble
• a taste of the cake before the wedding means loss of the husband’s love, while a piece of cake kept after the big day ensures his fidelity
• newlyweds must cut the first slice together
• every guest must eat a small piece to ensure that the happy couple are blessed with children

I’m not sure about the bride baking her own cake asking for trouble, as many brides and their families are now wanting to bake their own cakes, even if they don’t have the necessary skills there are plenty of courses available for them to learn!  Certainly the one about the newlyweds cutting the first slice together is practised today – it’s their first task together as husband and wife!

Giant Jaffa Cake

What sort of cake do you make for your own kids, who see so many for other people that there's no longer any novelty in a decorated cake?  They don't actually like to eat sugarpaste, so I'm always seeking an alternative.

If there's ever a packet of Jaffa Cakes in our house there would nearly be a fight over them so I thought a giant Jaffa Cake might go down well.

I have included the recipe and instuctions below.  You will need a 12" round cake tin, lined with silicone paper and a large bowl - the one I used had a diameter of over 9" not far from the bottom - lightly oiled and lined with cling film.

Preheat your oven to 150C.






Sponge Base
9 oz/250 g butter
9 oz/250 g caster sugar
4 large or 5 small eggs - crack and weigh and add milk if necessary to make the total weight up to 9 oz/250 g
few drops good-quality vanilla extract
4 1/2 oz/125 g self raising cake flour (sometimes called sponge flour - a finer, lower-gluten content flour specifically designed for cakes)
4 1/2 oz/125 g self raising flour (the normal stuff)

Melt the butter in a jug in the microwave until just melted.  If it has been overheated and is warm, leave aside to cool to room temp.

Put caster sugar and both types of flour in a mixer bowl and mix gently to combine and break up any lumps. 

Crack and weigh eggs, adding milk if necessary and vanilla extract.  Whisk lightly with a fork.

Keeping the mixer at a low speed, gradually pour in the eggs followed by the melted butter.  Once the mixture is just combined, turn the speed up and beat on medium/high for a couple of minutes, until the mixture becomes light and airy.  Spread the mixture into the lined 12" round cake tin and level the top.  Bake for 35 - 40 minutes or until the cake is risen, slightly domed in the centre and light golden.  Press gently in the centre - the cooked cake should spring back up when pressed.  Remove from the oven and leave to cool overnight in the tin.

Orange Jelly Layer
2 x Hartleys orange jellies
8 oz/225 g shredless orange marmalade

Make up the two jellies with 1 pint of boiling water in total (half the recommended amount on the packet).  Stir in the marmalade until dissolved.  Pour the jelly into the bowl lined with cling film and refrigerate overnight.

Assembling the Cake - make the Chocolate Ganache Covering
200 ml double cream
160 g plain chocolate
160 g milk chocolate

Weigh the chocolate into a heatproof bowl and place the cream in a small saucepan.  Bring the cream to the boil and pour over the chocolate.  Leave for 5 minutes then stir well until the chocolate has melted; leave the ganache to cool to room temperature - do not allow to set. 

Remove the cooled sponge cake base from the tin and very gently round the top edge with a sharp serrated knife.











Remove the set jelly from the bowl using the cling film to help lift it out and set on a spare cake board or plate covered with a piece of silicone paper (sorry there is no photo of this stage as it was tricky and took both hands to lift it out).

Place the bottom of the cake (flat side) on top of the jelly so the domed part is facing upwards - you are then going to flip the entire thing over onto the serving plate so that the domed part becomes the bottom, using the board underneath to support the jelly.

Once the cake and jelly is on the serving plate, place spare pieces of silicone paper around the sides of the cake to protect it from the chocolate ganache covering.

Spread the soft ganache all over the sponge and jelly - start with the sponge around the outside and work upwards, then mark some lines gently with a palette knife across the top - one way then the other to represent the detail on an actual jaffa cake.

When the ganache is set, remove the silicone paper and serve!

Pudsey Bear for Children in Need

 My daughter, Lucy wanted to raise some money to help Children in Need, after much deliberation she chose to raffle a cake in school - it was made in the shape of Pudsey and raised £432. 

If you'd like to make your own Pudsey, you will need:

9” round cake (4” deep or 2 x 2” deep)

8” round cake (4” deep or 2 x 2” deep)

7” diameter (4 pint) ball cake

16” round cake drum

8” round hardboard

7” round hardboard

6” round board (to use as a guide for shaping shoulders)

4” round cake card

1 kg approx. white chocolate paste or marzipan for forming ears, nose, arms and legs

500 g approx. white sugarpaste for board and bandana

Small amounts of red, yellow, blue, green and black sugarpaste for spots and features

Piping bag

Wilton fur/grass nozzle 233

Wooden or plastic dowels

For the buttercream:

1.5 kg block butter

2 kg icing sugar

4 tablespoons Meriwhite

340 g caster sugar

Pure vanilla extract

Paste food colours – Sugarflair melon and autumn leaf

For the spotty board covering - roll out a piece of white sugarpaste big enough to cover your board then roll small balls of red, yellow, green and blue sugarpaste and press them flat on the white sugarpaste with your fingertips.  You shouldn’t need to use any glue to get the dots to stick so long as the white paste is freshly rolled and hasn’t crusted over.  Use a smoother to smooth out the paste and incorporate the spots into the white paste.  Smooth the sugarpaste onto the board being careful not to distort the shape of the spots, then trim away any excess paste.  Set board aside so sugarpaste can dry out.

If the top of the cakes are slightly domed then cut the domed part off using a sharp serrated knife so that the cakes are completely level.  Split each cake three times horizontally, giving four layers of equal height.  This is easier done if you bake two 2” tall cakes – you can level the top and then split each cake equally in two.

Take the bottom half of the 9” cake (two layers of the four), flip it over so that the bottom of the cake is facing upwards and, using the 7” board as a guide carve the sides of the cake at an angle so that the bottom will sit on the 7” board, tapering evenly out to 9” at the second layer of buttercream/filling.

Take the top quarter of the cake (one layer of the four) and repeat the carving using the 8” board only this time keep the cake facing upwards – you want to carve the top.

Place the cake on the 7” hardboard.

Using the 8” cake and the 6” board, carve the top two layers in a tapered fashion as before for the bear’s shoulders.  Place this cake on the 8” hardboard.

Remove the 6” board from the top of the cake and carve a little more away from the top edge, giving a rounded top.

Make the buttercream for filling and crumb-coating - beat 500 g butter, 1 kg icing sugar and 1 tsp vanilla extract together until soft, light and fluffy.  Use to sandwich the layers of each of the two ‘body’ cakes together or use a combination of buttercream and raspberry jam, if preferred.  Dowel the bottom cake (on the 7” hardboard) before stacking the upper cake (on the 8” hardboard) on top.  Cover the cake closely with cling film and leave overnight to settle before crumb-coating.

Torte and fill the ball cake for the head as before and place on the 4” round cake card.  If the cake doesn’t sit level on the card trim a small slice off the bottom.  Cover with cling film and leave to settle.

The following day, spread a thin layer of buttercream over the body of the bear and place on the covered cake board, towards the back of it to allow room for his legs at the front.  Dowel the top part of the body.

Stick the head to the body and form ears, nose and chin from white chocolate paste and stick in place, as shown.

Form legs, feet and arms from white chocolate paste or cake trimmings and stick to body.

At this stage, you can also insert dowels into the arms to hold them in place so long as you inform the recipient that they are there.

Make buttercream for piping – cream 500 g butter and 500 g sifted icing sugar together until light and creamy.  Place 170 g caster sugar and 2 tbsp Meriwhite in a separate bowl, pour on 125 ml boiling water and whisk until stiff.  Fold this meringue into the butter/icing sugar mix, adding vanilla extract to taste.  Leave this aside and make another batch of exactly the same quantity (the mixer bowls aren’t big enough to mix the entire quantity needed in one go) and mix both batches together in a large bowl.  Colour to the desired shade with the paste colours.  Place a small amount of the buttercream in a piping bag fitted with the Wilton grass/fur nozzle. 

Pipe the buttercream all over the bear – squeeze the piping bag lightly against the cake then pull the nozzle away – repeat until he is completely covered.  Do not underestimate the time this will take – make sure you have several hours free!

Make the bandana with spots in the same way as you covered the board with sugarpaste, cut to size and place on the bear’s head then use the black paste to make eyes, nose, mouth and buttons if required.

You can also make a miniature Pudsey from small ball cakes – a 50mm and 70mm sphere, covered in sugarpaste.  Arms, legs, ears and features were also made from sugarpaste.

Racing dessert table

This is possibly the most challenging one I've done, as I'm not really passionate about cars but I'm surrounded by boys who are - and we all know that car enthusiasts are the hardest to please as the replica car has to be just perfect!  I've also shown the 'real' car the table was themed around above.

I attempted a car cake which, after a lot of hard work eventually passed scrutiny - it did actually look like the proper car this year, I was told - last year's effort was more like a Fiat Punto, according to the expert.

My bonbon jars were again put to good use - filled with sweets and popcorn.  I made the 'podium' to display the bonbon jars on from stacks of cake drums covered in silver vinyl and  trimmed with chequered ribbon.

Other craft items included chequered boxes which I filled with crisps but would be suitable for popcorn as well; I can't provide the template as a download due to the type of file required to cut the boxes out but I will make them to order once I figure out how to add a 'buy it now' button to the site.

The cupcake wrappers were also machine cut - printed with a cartoon design of Robert's car (lots of fun with Photoshop) and a chequered flag design.

I changed the drinks bottle labels to match the theme - the boys had lots of fun drinking 'gear oil', 'engine oil', 'antifreeze', 'brake fluid' and 'octane boost' though it all had the distinct flavour of cola.

My edible image printer was also put to good use printing images of the car to put on cookies and alloy wheel centres for the brownies - I baked my usual brownie mix in cupcake cases but only filled the cases less than half full.  When cooked and cooled I carefully peeled the cases away and was left with a round 'wheel'.  As brownies can naturally sink in the middle due to the dense, fudgy texture it left the perfect indent to apply the wheel centre to.

My favourite part was making the chocolate truffle racing cars.  Ben (6) and I made a great team - he sorted out and matched the different coloured Smarties for me to stick on to the truffle cars though there were quite a few Smarties that disappeared in the process - I can't think where to;-)

Chocolate Truffle Racing Cars

You will need:
500 g milk chocolate, plus a little extra to stick the Smarties on
1 x 397 g tin sweetened condensed milk
50 g butter
a few packs of Smarties and Smartie eggs

Melt the chocolate, condensed milk and butter together, stir well until combined then pour the mixture into a lined tin, cover with cling film and leave overnight to set.

The next day divide the mixture into pieces approx 30 g in weight and shape each into a sausage, tapered at both ends.  Melt a little bit of chocolate and place in a small greaseproof piping bag and snip off the end. There's no need to use a nozzle.

Sort out 5 Smarties and 1 Smartie egg the same colour for each car.  4 of the Smarties are for the wheels, the remaining one represents the steering wheel/dash - you need to cut in half with a sharp knife and place it towards the front of the car, in front of the Smartie egg (driver's helmet).  Stick all on with the melted chocolate and leave to set.

With all those Smarties lying around Robert requested Smartie cookies as well, so I modified my chewy oat and raisin cookie recipe to make them.  Went down a treat!

Chewy Smartie Cookies
You will need:

9 oz/250 g butter

9 oz/250 g light soft brown sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

6 oz/170 g condensed milk

13 oz/370 g self raising flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon cream of tartar

7 oz/200 g multicoloured Smarties

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla together until light and creamy.  Stir in condensed milk, flour, baking soda and cream of tartar to make a soft dough.  Gently knead in Smarties, reserving a few for decoration at the end.  Roll the mixture into small balls and place, well apart on a lined baking tray – the cookies will spread during cooking.  Press the remaining Smarties into the cookie balls.

Place in an oven preheated at 150C (fan) for 10 – 12 minutes.  The secret to chewy cookies is not to overcook them – they won’t look ready and will still be sticky and wobbly but once they have spread and are just starting to colour on top they are ready - remove from the oven.  Cool on the tray – do not attempt to lift whilst still warm.

If you've made a racing theme table or are going to attempt one I'd love to see your creations so please feel free to share!

Girly Dessert Table

I have only one daughter (and four sons) so my opportunities for girly celebrations are rather limited.

Taking inspiration from the bunting design I created, I had the idea of using patterns - stripes and polka dots and since her birthday is in the spring I thought cherry blossom would be pretty and seasonal.

The centrepiece is a two-tier cake with polka dot round top tier and striped square bottom tier.  The sugar cherry blossoms carry the design down both tiers.

Other items (left to right) are strawberry and 'blue' bonbons in my gorgeous (but expensive) bonbon jars, raspberry fluff in shot glasses, chocolate truffle pops with sugar flowers, flower jammy cookies, marshmallow snowballs, vanilla cupcakes in polka dot cases with sugar blossoms and malteser and marshmallow mini cheesecakes.

If you'd like to recreate this look here are some recipes and tips you may find useful:

Bunting

You'll need:
bunting template - click here to download pdf
A4 paper or card
drinking straws (if using paper)
narrow ribbon in a coordinating colour - length depends on the number of letters in the name
sellotape

To make the bunting, print out the letters you require onto the A4 sheets.  Fold along the lower edges, trim at the back then stick securely. 

Make a fold approx 2 cm from the top of the bunting and trim the edges so that they do not show from the front.  If you are using paper cut a length of drinking straw to fit inside the fold and stick down then fold the paper over and secure.  You can then thread the ribbon through the straw.

If you have used card for your bunting you can secure the ribbon directly without using a straw - just check that the letters are the correct way round!

Raspberry Fluff

You'll need:
1 x Hartleys raspberry jelly (strawberry works too but the finished colour won't be so vibrant)
1 large (410 g) tin evaporated milk - not the semi-skimmed sort, full fat works best

Dissolve the jelly in the minimum amount of water (around 100 ml) - this is easiest to do in the microwave, put the jelly cubes and cold water in a jug and microwave on full power for 30 seconds, stir well until the jelly cubes have all dissolved, you may need to return it to the microwave for a further few seconds.  Ideally you don't want the jelly to be too warm when it is dissolved as you need to set it aside to cool to room temperature before adding the evaporated milk.  It will thicken slightly, but do not allow to set otherwise it won't work.

When the jelly is at room temp, put it into a large mixing bowl and add the evaporated milk.  Whisk at full speed until the mixture becomes mousse-like, light and airy (I do this in the Kenwood mixer).  Pour into serving glasses and place in the fridge to set.

You can decorate the finished glasses with fresh fruit or miniature chocolate swirls as above.

Jammy Flowers

You'll need:
9 oz/250 g butter
6 oz/170 g caster sugar
1 lb/ 450 g plain flour
small amount of strawberry jam
flower cookie cutter
small circle cutter - I used a piping nozzle

Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy then fold in flour and knead until the mixture binds together.  Roll out and cut out flower shapes, half with cut out circles in the middle the other half plain.  Bake at 140C for 25 - 30 minutes, until the biscuits are firm to the touch.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

When cool, spread the biscuit with no centre hole with the strawberry jam and sandwich one with a hole on top.

Marshmallow Snowballs

You'll need:

24 digestive biscuits

7 oz/200 g chocolate

4 oz/115 g butter

1 x 397 g tin condensed milk

2 – 3 packets pink and white marshmallows

fine coconut, for rolling

a little petal dust colouring, optional to colour coconut if desired

Crush the digestive biscuits finely.  Melt the chocolate and butter together then add the condensed milk and mix well.  Stir in the crushed biscuits.

Using the fingertips, cover each marshmallow with a little of the mixture.  Roll into a ball and toss in fine coconut (if you want to colour the coconut then do this before rolling).  Leave aside to firm.

Malteser and Marshmallow Mini Cheesecakes

Base:
3 oz butter
6 oz digestives

Melt the butter, crush the digestives finely then mix together. Press firmly into 12 mini round loose-bottomed tins, or 1 x 8" round tin.

Filling:
200 g pack soft cheese
55 g/2 oz caster sugar
250 ml carton double cream
100 g maltesers - reserve about 6 for topping, roughly crush the rest
50 g mini marshmallows - cut in half for the mini cheesecakes - I picked out the pink ones only, keeping back a few for decoration

Beat the soft cheese and caster sugar together briefly to soften then beat in the double cream until stiff. Fold in the maltesers and marshmallows then spoon over the base in the prepared tin and level.

Decorate with a marshmallow and the remaining maltesers - finely crushed. 


Name Cards

click here to download template then just print, cut out and fold in half.

Science Magic Theme Dessert Table

My youngest son's birthday party - we booked the Party Professor to entertain the children whilst I provided the food.  As most of the experiments had a science or rocket theme this gave me some ideas for the table.

Ben's cake had a rocket on the top (edible of course) with a science equipment side design - laboratory beakers, flasks and pipettes.  I managed to source some real laboratory equipment - beakers, a conical flask and stopper bottle to hold the drinks and some plastic test tubes which were filled with mini jelly beans.  My absolute favourite thing was the worms in jelly - my eldest son borrowed (brand new) petrie dishes from school, into which went a jelly worm and some jelly.  'Disgustingly brilliant' - or so I was told!  There were various types of cookies, chocolate brownies, mallow krispies, rocky road mini cupcakes and lots of fruit and vegetable kebabs.

Sleepover Dessert Table

This dessert table was created for my 11 year old son - he wanted his friends to stay for a sleepover at his birthday.

His cake depicted him on his bed and each child had a mini cake with a model of them to take home - I did try to match hair colours and styles to the boys and they had good fun choosing which one was them.

The personalised bunting and popcorn boxes were hand made, using a pattern that was carried throughout the table design.

Other items included multicoloured jellies - orange, lemon and lime; chocolate crunch slices, krispie pops, choc orange shots and some multicoloured sweets.