It’s a constant request- “soft, moist, fluffy, cake.” Quite often we will have clients refer to grocery store cakes, boxed cake mix, or angel food cake, for their four-tiered wedding cake. These cakes are delicious, but have you ever tried to stack and tier a cake this soft? While these cakes are mighty tasty, they turn into a pretty pile of mush because the simple weight of the fillings and buttercream will squash it in a heartbeat!
Don’t get me wrong, we all use delightfully soft and tasty cake recipes; however our cake recipes have been created to ensure the structural integrity of our stacked cakes stays strong. There’s nothing worse than a sunken, leaning, tower of cake.
One of the most difficult parts of becoming a studio cake designer, besides pricing, is building recipes. More often than not it begins with a quick Google search- “Best White Cake Recipe.” Followed by- “Best Buttercream Recipe;” then it’s game on. Chances are the first few years of your business will be spent typing those into the search bar on a weekly basis as you try your hand at new recipes to best fit your brand. Eventually you find a recipe that you like, that’s cost effective, that’s tasty, that’s versatile, and, once you’re feeling feisty enough, you will begin tweaking the recipe ever-so-slightly each time until you create the PERFECT recipe for you.
This perfect recipe will have a tender crumb, a delicate taste, and withstand layers of filling and buttercream. The only way to know if this is true, is to try it.
Every cake designer builds their cakes differently. Some use three layers of cake + filling, some use 4 layers, some use 6-8. Some layer solely with buttercream, while others alternate with fillings. Going back to our handy dandy Google, you can find the standard wedding cake height to serving ration, to which most cake artists adhere to regardless of how many layers they use. There’s a few of us that prefer to make exceptionally tall cakes, for aesthetic reasons, and have our own serving charts readily available for you.
So that’s it. That’s my explanation of our cakes. I veered off course there, but hey, it’s a great segway for a blog on discovering the best cake recipe for your needs.
Side note, I know some of you may come @ me with a… “if you use proper dowels and structure…” Hear me out- No. No matter how many bubble tea straws, wooden dowels, cake pads, you use, it will not prevent a 9” tall birthday cake from collapsing or bursting a dam if the cake is too soft.