Another day, another cake-making extravaganza! I actually dreamt about cakes last night, but I have to say in all honesty that today was the day I was least looking forward to in the cake-making process. Although the wedding cake starts to take shape once it has been filled and iced, todays tasks were all quite tricky ones - splitting the cakes evenly, filling them, and finally covering them in a nice smooth layer of sugarpaste icing. In fact, I spent the entire day in the kitchen again, yet the overall appearance of the cakes changed very little - going from uncovered sponges to fully iced cakes.
1. However, first thing's first, and task number one was rather an artistic one - painting the rose leaves gold (both sides, so that I could create a 3D design on the top of the cake).
2. After that, the task was to split each tier of the cake in half, and then stick back together with a layer of buttercream and a layer of warmed Hartley's strawberry jam. For good buttercream icing, I think it's vital to sieve the icing sugar (no matter how tedious this is) and to whisk the buttercream well.
3. The next step is to paste with Golden Syrup as an adhesive for a finely rolled layer of sugarpaste icing. I've heard that some people use white fat to stop the sugarpaste from sticking to the work surface, but that freaks me out a little, so I prefer to use sieved icing sugar.
I used both my hands and a wonderful device called a 'smedger' to smooth the icing on the cakes, and to make the edges clean.
And that was about it for today: All three tiers filled, iced and smoothed. The hardcore construction and decoration are tasks for tomorrow.
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