Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Hi

Doing a stacked wedding cake and I would like the layers to be deep. I’m ok with the sponge layers but with the fruit layer I’m not sure how to get it deep. Has anyone had 2 fruit cakes together. Just wondering if it’s possible and if it is how it’s done

Hi jb

How deep would you want your cake to be? You could put two fruit cakes together or you could just bake one deep cake if you’ve got a deep tin. On the two fruit cakes scenario, they could be stuck together with some boiled apricot jam and dowelled to ensure the top layer doesn’t slip If you want one deep cake and you have an appropriate tin, you could scale the recipe up for the depth of the cake. You can either use the cakeometre or the ready reckoner which you can find on the latest blog. You would also have to dowel if you intended stacking a further tier on top it, so you’d need to make sure the first set of dowels don’t get in the way of the next lot.  Fruit cakes are heavy and I wouldn’t take a chance by not dowlling.

How deep do you want the cake to be – I usually scale up the recipes to make them deeper.  Another tip I read in a book is to put the cake on a polystyrene dummy to acheive more depth and then ice as one cake.

Think I’m looking for 5-6 inches deep. I only have 3″ deep tins.

Just think that deep cakes look niceespecially for a wedding.

Pic I’m baking a 10″ round but us a smaller recipe so I get about 2.5 deep then put 2 together with jam and dowelling. If I can would I dowell before icing and then dowell again as normal to put the next tier on (stacked cake) as I would be worried about it movonce whilst icing.

Thanks for your help

Fruit cake is just under 3″ deep. Would it be ok to put this on a cake drum or two to get the required height?
If it is would I use royal icing to “glue ” the drums together and then ice cake and boards as one.

I wanted a 6″ deep hexagonal fruit cake so I could have a spray of orchids going up the side, I made two 6 x 3″ ones and stacked them with a layer of marzipan between them.

Hi its me again. I am struggling with my fruit cake (thought that one was made and out of the way but it’s not deep enough!) I am going to try doubling the mixture and baking it in the same 6″ tin but I am not sure whether I should turn the oven down by say 10 degrees or so, and then how long should I need to bake it for? The original recipe took about 2 hours. Sandra

Hi Sandra

You could do that but it will take ages, and to be honest fruit cakes don’t really rise that much so not sure whether you’ll gain much in height. If you go ahead with it double/triple line the tin both inside and out. Bring the the paper well up the rim of the tin to prevent burning and drying out at the top and sides and also to help the batter climb up. Oh yes reduce the oven temp for a long slow bake. There is the option of gaining height by using a dummy cake. Please come back if you need more help. x

Ok I’ll give it a go. I’ve tried using a dummy but I always get a ridge around the cake where the board shows through – not attractive!! I’ll let you know what happens. 🙂

Sandra, to get rid of the ridge, make a long thin sausage from marzipan and attach it where the dummy meets the cake and smooth it flat all the way round. I find it works a treat. Just another idea! x

Do you still put a board between the cake and the dummy? By the way I baked my double mixture fruit cake in the 6″ tin! It took about 4 hours at 130/140 degrees but I now have a lovely deep top tier and it came just above the top of the tin so I was able to slice off the very slight dome. Absolutely thrilled to bits with it. Next problem…. I am lying awake wondering how on earth I am going to transfer a 14″ Madeira cake onto its final board. It’s going to weigh a ton!!! :-/ Sandra

Yes so the dummy doesn’t come into contact with the cake, just use the thinner boards not a cake drum. I always fill and ganache/buttercream very large cakes on the board which they will be staying on. It’s much easier to clean a board up than risk dropping the cake or worse doing an injury to myself by lifting a really heavy cake. Paul transfers his cakes by lifting with a pallet knife, there’s no way on earth that I could do that! Sainbury’s sell a broad cake lifter for under £4.00, I use that very carefully. You must be so excited, it’ll all turn out well, cherish these memories. xx

Ok, thanks for the tips. I’m sure I’ll be back again before the big day but just in case I would like to send you a picture of the finished article (if it goes to plan!) because you’ve helped me through all my doubts and fears. How do I send the piccy? Sandra

Hi Sandra

That’s very kind of you. I expect if you send the pics to the site the guys will forward them to me. You’ve done really well and gained masses of experience. I think you’re great for taking on such a big and very important project, your daughter is a lucky girl! I’ll look forwards to the pics. x

I usually put my fruit cakes on a cake drum and fill in gap with marzipan sausage but when i roll my strip of marzipan to go around the cake, i always end up with that ridge cos when you turn the fruit cake over its always smaller than the actual board.Any tips!

Hello elaine77

Most cakes do shrink very slightly. When this happens to me I use a smaller cake drum. It’s easier to fill and smooth the marzipan in from the bottom if there is a slight cake overhang. In my experience the smaller board resolves the problem without too much in filling.