Making My Own Wedding Cake, Part 2: Wedding Cake Recipe

And here it is at last: the actual recipe for the wedding cake and cupcakes! After months of planning, designing, and practicing, it finally came together.... with a few unfortunate incidents (which you can read all about in Part 1)

(I'm awaiting the professional photos: this was taken by a guest, Simon)

This recipe isn't complicated, just time consuming. I made the main cake and 120 cupcakes over the course of a few days: I can only fit 24 cakes in my oven at once, so I had to do 5 batches in total. 

I baked, cooled, and iced each two-dozen cupcakes at a time before freezing, iced and all. However, if you want to add other decorations like sprinkles, they don't freeze well at all so the cakes will have to be frozen un-iced then iced and decorated after defrosting.

I baked the Madeira cake, sliced it into layers, and then froze it in advance before completely defrosting to fill and decorate a few days before the wedding. I recommend making the cake about two days in advance to let the syrup soak in and for the whole cake to set nicely.

My husband Simon hand-painted the figurines that sat atop the cake. Despite giving the hotel instructions on how to mount them on the two provided flower nails and place them into the cake, they simply balanced the models on the cake. Next time I do a cake like this, I'll send a family member in to oversee the construction if I can't be there!

(I'm awaiting the professional photos: these were taken by a guest, Katie)

The ladybirds were bought from Lidl during their Easter season. I used them because they're black and red, like our theme colours. You could always decorate with seasonal flowers, toothpick flags, or even fondant figures or flowers.

For the cupcakes, make sure to get cases that are coloured inside and outside: some coloured cake cases are white cases that have been printed with edible ink on the outside, but better quality cases are made out of paper that is dyed which gives them a solid colour, inside and out. SuperValu sells them in packs of 50, and as of writing this they cost €2 a pack. Or, buy Culpitt brand cases online from Amazon or eBay.

INGREDIMENTS
There are many, many ingredients

Lemon Cupcakes

For 2 dozen cupcakes

5 eggs, at room temperature

10 ounces (285 grammes) caster sugar

5 ounces (140 grammes) sunflower oil

2 teaspoons vanilla essence, or 1 teaspoon of vanilla pod paste

10 drops almond essence

Grated zest of half a large lemon

5 tablespoons (75 millilitres) milk

10 ounces (285 grammes) plain white flour

⅝ teaspoon baking soda

¼ tsp ground sea salt
24 solid black cake cases (see note above)

To ice

8 ounces (225 grammes) salted butter

8 ounces (225 grammes) condensed milk

1 pound (455 grammes) icing sugar, sifted

Up to 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) extra milk

Zest of quarter of a large lemon

1 teaspoon vanilla pod paste

Chocolate Cupcakes

For 2 dozen

5 eggs, at room temperature

10 ounces (285 grammes) caster sugar

5 ounces (140 grammes) sunflower oil

2 teaspoons vanilla essence, or 1 teaspoon of vanilla pod paste

5 tablespoons (75 millilitres) milk

1½ ounces (45 grammes) cocoa powder, preferably Bournville or another good brand

8½ ounces (240 grammes) plain white flour

⅝ teaspoon baking soda

¼ tsp ground sea salt
24 solid red cake cases (see note above)

To ice

8 ounces (225 grammes) salted butter

8 ounces (225 grammes) condensed milk

2 teaspoons vanilla essence

1½ ounces (45 grammes) cocoa powder

14½ ounces (410 grammes) icing sugar, sifted

Two 19g packages of red gel food colouring (I bought mine from Aldi)
If you're not using the colouring, add up to 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) of milk to adjust the consistency


To Make the Cupcakes

• Preheat the oven to 180C (350F) and line two muffin tins with cupcake cases (mine measured 3cm x 5cm). Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature.
• Sieve the flour (and cocoa) with the baking soda and salt very well. Set aside.
• In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together until about doubled in size, a pale lemon colour, and looks like a loose foam.
• While running the mixer, drizzle in the oil in a steady stream. Don't overbeat, though: adding the oil should take all of about 15 seconds.
• Fold in the milk and flavourings (vanilla, almond essence, lemon zest, etc.), then sieve in the dry ingredients. Fold well: don't fret too much about overmixing, and be careful not to undermix.
• Divide the mixture between the 24 cake cases, using a scoop or measuring cup/spoon. Fill the cases about halfway, two-thirds at the most.
• Bake the cakes for 14 to 16 minutes, turning the trays through 180 degrees halfway through baking. If the two trays are on different shelves, swap them around too. Do this very carefully so the cakes don't get deflated.
• Once baked, remove from the oven and tap the tins very firmly on the work surface to burst any air bubbles.
• Transfer the cakes to a cooling rack and cool completely before decorating.

To Make the Icing

• Make sure your ingredients are all room temperature, including the condensed milk.
• In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and condensed milk together until light and fluffy. Add the dry ingredients in four additions, beating well after each one. To adjust the consistency, add milk between the additions of dry ingredients, but add no more than one or two teaspoons at a time.
• If colouring, add the colouring in gradually until you have the colour you want.
• Ice the cakes, and then immediately freeze for later use, or store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Lemon Layer Cake

For the cake

One 8 inch Madeira cake, made with 5 eggs' worth of ingredients, and flavoured with lemon zest, lemon juice, almond essence, and vanilla pod paste (details below)
4 ounces (115 grammes) lemon curd, homemade or shop-bought
Lemon simple syrup, or soaking

For the icing

9 ounces (250 grammes) white chocolate, cut into small pieces
3 ounces (85 grammes) caster sugar
3 fluid ounces (85 millilitres) milk
3 ounces (85 grammes) salted butter, in small pieces
Vanilla pod paste
Optional: 1 teaspoon of lemon zest


To Make the Icing

• In a saucepan, heat the milk and sugar together until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil, and cook for only a minute.
• Take off the heat and stir in the white chocolate and butter. Return to very low heat, stirring continuously, until all the chocolate and butter has melted and the icing is smooth and consistent.
• Stir in the vanilla pod paste (and zest, if using) then allow the icing to cool completely, about two hours, stirring every so often to prevent crusting.
• Once cool, beat with an electric mixer until creamy, fluffy, and spreadable. Whipping the icing makes it lighter and makes it go further, but if you want a denser, American fudge style icing don't whip it.
• Be careful not to whip too much! It can cause the icing to go crumbly. If that happens, simply melt it down again, and repeat the cooling and whipping.

To Assemble the Cake

• Bake the cake according to the above link, scaling up all the ingredients in proportion with 5 eggs. Flavour it with the zest of a lemon, 2 teaspoons of vanilla pod paste, and half a teaspoon of almond essence.
• You can use the juice of the lemon to make the lemon simple syrup. Pour the syrup into a large dish, big enough to dip the cake layers in.
• Once the cake is baked and cooled, slice into two layers and dip both sides of each layer in the simple syrup. Layer the cake with the lemon curd in the middle
• Crumb coat the cake, then chill for about 20 minutes before finishing the icing and decorating.

As you can see, there's a lot of making here! But, it was all worth it in the end. I think the cake disaster was a blessing in disguise, as it led me to using the white chocolate fudge icing that was a mega hit! If, however, you want to see how I was going to make the cake with the white chocolate glaze, I'll shortly be uploading a lovely white chocolate and coffee cake recipe....

To everyone who came to the wedding, and to everyone who helped on my journey, thank you all from the bottom of my heart! I hope that in sharing my experiences, anyone out there who wants to attempt their own cake is well and thoroughly warned!!