Assembling The Cake (wedding) 02 – House Beautiful

With the palm of your hand, smooth the top surface and then gently
bring in sides of the fondant to attach to the cake. With the palms
of your hands, rub slightly up on sides to form an even top edge. If
fondant pleats at the bottom, gently unpleat and smooth out with the
palms of your hands.

Place the 12-inch tier on a serving platter. Smooth fondant at the
bottom edge to meet the platter and trim off excess fondant at the
bottom with a pastry wheel. Knead all clean scraps into remaining
fondant, rewrap and set aside.

To support the 8-inch tier, cut 12 lollipop sticks or chopsticks to
the exact height of the 12-inch tier. Trim and insert them in a
7-inch circle straight through the 12-inch tier until they reach the
cardboard bottom. Dab a little water in the center of the 7-inch
circle to act as glue.

Roll out about half of the remaining fondant into a circle 16 inches
in diameter and cover the 8-inch tier. Place it on the 12-inch tier.

Cut 8 lollipop sticks to the exact height of the 8-inch tier and
insert them straight through, arranging them in a 4-inch circle. Dab
center with water.

Roll out the remaining fondant and cover the 5-inch tier. Place it on
the 8-inch tier.

Allow fondant to harden at least 12 hours before moving cake or
putting on the decorative icing.

Fit the larger decorating tip into the pastry bag. Fill the bag with
decorating icing. Test the icing consistency by making a few pearl
dots on a plate. If the pearls have points, thin the icing with a
little water, If the icing is runny and does not hold a pearl shape,
mix in confectioners’ sugar. Pipe all of the borders with the pearl
dots.

Switch to the smaller decorating tip. Test consistency again. Pipe
side design.

Completed cake should not be refrigerated and will keep up to four
days.

To serve the cake, slip a butter knife between the tiers and separate
the cakes. The top tier is traditionally reserved for the bride and
groom’s first anniversary. Wrap it in alternating layers of plastic
wrap and foil and freeze. Using a serrated knife, cut the second tier
into slices, The third tier should first he cut eight inches from the
edge in a concentric circle. Slice the perimeter of the circle first,
then the inner circle.

Slices of the cake can be served with fresh berries and vanilla ice
cream.