DIY Wedding Cake Questions

by Carolyn
(York PA)

Hi, I will not have access to a refrigerator at my reception location, which is about an hour from my parents' house where the cake tiers will be stored in their standing freezer until the wedding. We are going down the day before the wedding for the rehearsal.

I am not sure the best way to get the cakes to the reception hall since I would like stacked layers and read that it is best to keep them refrigerated right until you go to stack them. They are round tiers of 16" pound cake, 12" red velvet, and 8" carrot. The reception is in an air conditioned room.

I can have a relative drive the cake tiers down in boxes on Saturday. I plan on doing a heavy crumb coat of flavored frostings and doing a final coat of your meringue buttercream a.k.a. your wedding cake frosting over all of it and then adding decorative ribbons swirled around.

Can I do a heavy crumb coat and still freeze the tiers ahead of time? if so would it be best to have my relatives drive the tiers down frozen and crumb coated and I will do the final frosting layer on site the day of the wedding? or will I be able to stack them on site if I final coat them the day before, fridge them, and have relatives drive them an hour to the site to be stacked?

I also heard ribbon may bleed into the frosting. if I wax coat or oil coat the ribbon before application, can I add the ribbon the day before or should that be done the day of to avoid potential bleeding? I really appreciate any tips!
Carolyn

Hi Carolyn, In this case I would recommend that you final frost and stack them at the hall. When cakes are frozen with buttercream they tend to crack with temperature changes and with moving. Take them out of the freezer early in the morning the day of to get them thawed somewhat. (yes you can have them crumb coated ahead as well) Don't worry too much if they show cracks at this stage.

Once at the hall, you may want to rough up the sides of the cakes with a frosting comb, much like you would sand a wall before painting a new coat. This will help make it easier for you to add the final coat and fill in the cracks.

Can you use fondant ribbon? I highly recommend it when using buttercream. If not then this post talks about how to prepare ribbon for use on a buttercream cake.

Good luck with your DIY Wedding Cake and please send a picture of it. We would love to hear all about it and see a photo. You could be the next featured DIY bride.