Non-traditional wedding cake

[akw94]

The other day, my FI suggested having my mom's (actually my grandma's) chocolate cake as our wedding cake. This is my absolutely favorite cake but I never even considered it. So I talked to my mom and she and I did a trial run. It didn't turn out so well but was fun trying! The cake is normally in a bundt pan so we tried in regular cake pans. They completely spilled over. Then, they really didn't frost well at all...the chocolate came through white frosting and looked pretty darned bad! Also, this cake is not normally frosted, just has a chocolate glaze over it.
So, I have been doing some more thinking and thought of doing something a little different. Probably not frosting it b/c we didn't like it w/the white frosting as much and just using the glaze and trying to find different size bundt pans to do layers. Not layers right on top of each other but maybe off to the side or something like that.
Anyone ever seen anything like this? Any other ideas on ways to do this a little different than the norm?
Or any bakers out there that have tips on how to make this chocolate cake work as a regular cake? Part of the problem we found is that when we cut one of the cakes to use as an upper layer, it didn't frost well. And if we use regular pans, I think it would look weird not being frosted.. that was why we thought of different size bundt pans, if that even exists.

ETA: Do you think this idea will look weird? I like the idea of using my grandma's cake recipe but don't want it to look strange.

Thanks ladies!

 

[VRBeauty]

A good source of bundt pans:

http://www.nordicware.com/b2c/product_category.cfm?prod_master_cat=4&prod_cat=18

Maybe you could make a small, individual bundt cake for each table? Or several heart-shaped cakes arranged like petals in a flower?

 

[Jas12]

Hi dixie. I do a lot of baking so i may be able to help you out, but i need to know a few things.
1) what is the consitency of the cake (i.e. is it fluffy & light or dense or brownie-like?)
2) did it not frost well because the cake kept pulling up with the frosting, thus creating crumbs throughout the icing, or another reason?
3) how many people are you planning on serving?

You could do individual mini-bundts (or cupcakes) dipped or drizzled with chocolate ganache and place them on family heirloom serving platters (i like this tradtional/trendy combo) it would be very elegant

 

[heyeliza]

Just got married last September and we decided to do a dessert table. I''m not big cake fan and would hate to pick just one or two kinds.

We still had a small cake (was served to the wedding party) to cut but we also had Tres Leches cake with fresh strawberries, profiteroles (aka cream puffs) and Mexican wedding cookies.

The table was decorated by our baker and it looked amazing, also had the height you would want from having a traditional cake. The cost was about the same as ordering one cake. Here''s the baker''s link, she might have some photos in there to give you more ideas. http://www.mendocakes.com/

~Eliza

 

[akw94]

Thanks for the link! An indiv. cake for each table is a good idea. But I like the wedding cake look w/the 3 tiers, sitting pretty on the table. I wonder if I can find some sort of set-up that has the tiers but not positioned in the regular way w/one cake on top of the other. I could have a couple sitting on that stand and others in the back.
I will have to look into different types of cake pans, such as the hearts.

Thanks!

 

[jcrow]

our cake lady allowed us to give her a family recipe if we wanted. just a thought.

 

[njc]

I think its a lovely idea to use your grandmothers chocolate cake as your wedding cake. You may just need to do several experiments to find out what works best! I would keep working at using regular cake pans, but thats just me wanting it too have a bit more wedding look to it. Maybe you can use some of the fun bundt pans... they are all over the place, but I know William-Sonoma has them.

If you normal use a chocolate glaze for "frosting" how about chocolate ganche? It would be thicker and give the cakes a nice smooth finish like these...

There are also all sorts of cake stand out there... ones that stack without touching, ones that have tiers but are off set... here are some examples

You could also borrow cake plates from friends and family and arrange them on a table that has boxes under a table cloth to vary the height.

HTH!

 

[akw94]

Jas, not sure how to describe the consistency but it''s made w/regular devil''s food cake mix, pudding mix, choc. chips, eggs, etc... It is soooooo good!
Yes, the problem was that the cake was pulling up. Not so much on the top but still you could see the chocolate through the frosting and I didn''t like that. But also when tasting it, it was just too much to have the frosting on top. The cake is very rich and the chocolate drizzled on top is enough, especially b/c it doesn''t usually have a filling and we tried both the choc. glaze and the white frosting. I preferred the chocolate but I do think it would be better the way it''s made in the bundt pan. I hope that made sense!
Good question about how many people. I wish I knew the answer! I have a feeling it will be about 50.

Heyeliza, your table sounds wonderful! Thanks for your link. The dessert table link wasn''t available but I get the idea w/the cake on her front page. Do you have a picture of your table? I do like the idea of having the height.

 

[njc]

Oh, and here is a thought about have one tiered and the others just sitting around... I didnt want a massive tiered cake, so I opted for 3 small tiered cakes. Was originally just planning the one in the middle and then serving sheets cakes, but I thought of this and thought it would be different! Made taking the left overs home easy (although there wasnt much left!)

 

[akw94]

Jcrow, my mom suggested that and I was thinking about looking into it. However, given my recent budget concerns, I thought that if we could figure a way to do this ourselves, we could save $ on top of using the family recipe. I think I will look into though to keep my options open.

Njc, thanks for the pics!! What exactly is a ganache? I do like that finish much more than the way it looked when we tried it!! I didn''t think to use our glaze to try and frost the cake but wonder if we''d have the same issues when trying to use the ganache.
I didn''t know there were so many types of cake stands. That is great to know! I like the idea of doing the taller stands and putting some cookies or something on some of the layers and a few cakes on the others. This is fun to think about! Much more fun than budget concerns!!

 

[akw94]

Njc, that''s a good idea too. That would certainly be easier than doing many, different size layers!

 

[njc]

Joy of Baking definition of Ganache

It is heaven... thats what it is!

 

[jcrow]

Ganache is a French word for a mixture of chocolate and heavy cream, used as an icing or filling for pastries, filled chocolates, chocolate truffles, and other desserts. Its origins date to around 1850, possibly invented in Switzerland or in France.[1]

Ganache is made by boiling heavy cream, then pouring it over chopped (bitter) chocolate. The mixture is stirred or blended until smooth.

Depending on the intended usage of the ganache, the proportions of chocolate to cream can vary. Typically, a ganache is equal parts chocolate and cream; this is used for filling cakes. For a chocolate truffle base, a ratio of 2:1 (chocolate to cream) is used. For making a glaze, the ratio is 3:1.

Ganache is often flavored with liqueurs or extracts.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganache"

 

[akw94]

Sounds wonderful! I am definitely a chocolate addict and just love the idea of chocolate wedding cake. I can''t believe that *I* never thought of that before!
I guess I never thought to go non-traditional but I like the idea more and more.

 

[KimberlyH]

I am not a huge cake fan so we skipped it altogether. Instead the guests had a choice of two desserts (creme brulee and I''ve forgotten the other). The biggest issue guests had was selecting which one they wanted. I put in a special request with the chef that their be one of each kind available for my BIL, which he honored (very nice of him!) . My grandmother asked for one kind, saw the other and changed her mind, so she lied to the water and said that wasn''t what she asked for. My dad ended up with two desserts as they brought her the other kind and she passed off the first to him (she tried to get him to give his up, he wasn''t buying into it!).

 

[Mara]

isn't ganache typically poured over cakes as well? so maybe that woul dhelp with the whole frosting pulling up the cake and also getting too thick of a frosting on it. or you could make it thinner to actually have it poured.

or see if your baker will make your grandma's recipe into a cake for you. i'd almost rather pay an expert a little more to do it for me than hassle it with myself... lol!! but then again nothing comes out the way i expect it to when baking...hehe.

 

[fatafelice]

First of all, I am having a (nontraditional) cake in that it will be chocolate with chocolate frosting, and I LOVE ganache, so I may be biased, but I think this sounds like a fantastic idea!!!

There are so many neat bundt pan shapes out there these days! You could do three (or more) different ones and group them together. I don''t think that gorgeous chocolate bundt cakes would need much decoration, but you could always put some fresh flowers in the center. And If you don''t like the standard cake stands, here is another option. For a shower I threw last spring, we had three different cakes made to look like presents. I hit the outlets and ebay to find some pewter-looking trays, plates, etc. I ended up with one tray, one raised cake plate, and one small plate that I secured to a candlestick! Here''s what they looked like all together:

 

[akw94]

Kimberly, your wedding sounds like it was fun! I LOVE creme brulee! I also love chocolate cake which is why I am so partial to having this cake.
Mara, if ganache is poured over the cake, then that is similar to the glaze that we use now. That does seem like it would help the frosting issue but we''ve have to do a test run. Don''t get me wrong, I don''t want to personally make any of these cakes. I would let my mom handle this! We just got together to do a test run to see if this was even plausible. I wasn''t sure then but now it seems possible.
Fatafelice, I never knew there were different shape bundt pans. I was planning anyway to decorate the cake simply w/fresh flowers so I agree that it would be plenty for decorating the chocolate cakes. I like your idea for the shower but I do think I like the height of the traditional wedding cake. Wish I had some cake stands here to test things out! We''ll have to try another day w/the ganache as frosting b/c I like that idea a lot too.

Unfortunately, now I have to stop thinking about chocolate and go workout!!

Thanks for the great ideas everyone! I have a lot of research to do now.

 

[fatafelice]

Date: 1/23/2007 6:16:49 PM
Author: dixie94
Kimberly, your wedding sounds like it was fun! I LOVE creme brulee! I also love chocolate cake which is why I am so partial to having this cake.
Mara, if ganache is poured over the cake, then that is similar to the glaze that we use now. That does seem like it would help the frosting issue but we''ve have to do a test run. Don''t get me wrong, I don''t want to personally make any of these cakes. I would let my mom handle this! We just got together to do a test run to see if this was even plausible. I wasn''t sure then but now it seems possible.
Fatafelice, I never knew there were different shape bundt pans. I was planning anyway to decorate the cake simply w/fresh flowers so I agree that it would be plenty for decorating the chocolate cakes. I like your idea for the shower but I do think I like the height of the traditional wedding cake. Wish I had some cake stands here to test things out! We''ll have to try another day w/the ganache as frosting b/c I like that idea a lot too.

Unfortunately, now I have to stop thinking about chocolate and go workout!!

Thanks for the great ideas everyone! I have a lot of research to do now.

Absolutely! Here are just a few I found going a google image search! I adore the mini ones! You could do something like a cupcake tower, but with mini bundt cakes instead!

 

[Pandora II]

Okay girls - none of you have the nightmare I have ahead.

FI is totally not into any aspect of wedding planning except... the CAKE.

He wants... wait for it...

A DINOSAUR cake

or an evolution cake - bottom layer full of sea creatures, middle layer dinosaurs and a pair of cavemen on the top I think!

Now, please keep in mind that this is a very formal English country wedding! I have managed to nix his favours idea - he wanted silver ammonites buried in the cake and little pickaxes for each guest to hack them out with!!!

I had visions of a large number of aged aunts being driven off to the dentist having broken their false teeth.

Anyway - he is absolutely imoveable on this one point.

Suggestions anyone? Do you think I could just have the odd stegosaurus peeping out behind a carefully placed rose or two?

 

[sumbride]

Date: 1/23/2007 7:21:23 PM
Author: Pandora II
Okay girls - none of you have the nightmare I have ahead.


FI is totally not into any aspect of wedding planning except... the CAKE.


He wants... wait for it...

A DINOSAUR cake

Two words... GROOM''S CAKE! Do they do Groom''s cakes in England? He can have whatever shape he wants, minus the inedible treasures buried within for saftey''s sake! and you can have you lovely bride''s cake.

 

[Jas12]

Pandora--that is too cute--a dino cake ! hehe

I am really trying to think hard about how this could be made tastefully (the idea, not the cake) martha stewart weddings magazine is so great at taking themes and making them elegant, personal and conversation starters. I am opposed to cookie cutter weddings, I love when couples keep a framework of a wedding ceremony but add a personal dimension--like the couple from one article that incorporated baseball touches (elegantly!) in their wedding and another that had a grade-school theme (complete with report-card invitations and apple place cards). The grooms cake is a good idea, but if he is really stuck on it you are going to have to think long and hard on this theme b/c it''s a tricky one!!!


Dixie, some variations on a ganache will ''dry'' somewhat solidly so you can coat the cake without worrying about anything showing through and it will look great. If you like the height of a traditional cake i would simply bake 4 round cakes of decreasing size, ice the layers in between, and pour the ganache over the whole thing for a deep chocolate tiered cake. The batter should not overflow if you just fill the pans around half way full.

 

[akw94]

Pandora, I think Sum''s suggestion is a great one. Although a dinosaur cake would certainly be original!!

Jas, a few questions. I''m a little confused. When you''re using cake baking terms, is one cake considered two shorter layers, one on top of the other, and then ice in between? So if you say use 4 round cakes, do you mean using 8 layers, 2 for each actual cake?
Also, you''re saying don''t frost each cake separately, just pour it over the entire 4 cakes? But when they take the cakes apart to cut them, wouldn''t that leave part of each cake unfrosted? Am I just completely confused here?

 

[Mara]

mmmm this is making me want cake.

chocolate with ganache.

 

[Gypsy]

I totally second the groom''s cake idea.

If that doesn''t fly... how about a dinosaur cake topper. You could probably get a very cute tongue in cheek cake topper with a dinosaur bride and groom. Let me see what I can find.

 

[akw94]

Mara, when my mom and I did the trial run cakes, I actually threw them both away (after doing a testing of each, of course!) just so that I wouldn''t have them in the house.
That was tough but otherwise, I would''ve gained a ton!

 

[Gypsy]

http://www.glasscaketops.com/
http://www.glasscaketops.com/deer/deer15.htm
http://www.glasscaketops.com/deer/deer8.html

Something like this with two dinosaurs would be cute and nice at the same time.

You could also do a cake like this... only instead of the pink flowers... have a couple of flirting dinosaurs with different scenes.

 

[akw94]

I'm not sure if this picture is attaching or not since it says it's attached but I don't actually see the pic in my post, ignore this if you see nothing.
If you see a picture of cake stand, how do the legs of the above levels not sink into the cake beneath it? Is there a trick I'm missing? Do the legs go into the cake?
Thanks!
ETA: the pic worked! Finally I've figured it out!!!!!!!

 

[Jelly]

Here''s a pic of my wedding cake, they were decorated like wedding present boxes.

Just a thought...you may not want the added stress of worrying about a cake the days before your big day.

 

[akw94]

Jelly, I like your picture a lot! Very cute! You''re absolutely right, if we do the cake ourselves, it will be my mom actually doing the cake. I have enough to do!! We''re just doing the trial runs together.