Wedding Cake
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Serves ~300 - just don't fight about how many from each side...
The cake itself is the same as the birthday (or bar-mitzva) cake - the one with the nuts, just quadrupled or more!!!
Traditionaly, Ema bakes the cakes and Elisheva covers & decorates it, including the bride & groom on top!
We use a special 3 tiered cake stand to assemble the cake.
For 3 layers (see photo) you will need 3 Pans:
- 1 round 45 cm.diameter
- 1 round 30 cm diameter
- 1 round 15 cm diameter
As I [Jean] do not own an industrial size mixer or oven, the cake is mixed and baked in sections...
Ingredients:
| cake: | |
| 4 cups | finely chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans) |
| 600 grams | bitter parve chocolate (chopped or grated) |
| 3 cups | flour |
| 5 tsp | baking powder (If using self rising flour omit the baking powder) |
| 4 tsp | instant coffee powder |
| 6 cups | shredded coconut |
| 3 cups | sugar |
| 36 | egg yolks |
| 1 cup | sweet red wine |
| 6 Pinches of | salt |
| 36 | egg whites |
| 3 cups | sugar |
| dressing for cake: | |
| 6 tsp | instant coffee |
| 3 cups | boiling water |
| 3/4 cup | brandy |
| icing: | |
| 1 1/2 kg | RFM (Sugar paste/dough) |
| Food coloring |
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| silver candies |
Preparation:
- For Pan 1 (45 cm. diameter) we must make 2 separate batches of 9 eggs each.
- Mix 9 yolks with ¾ cup sugar and 5 Tbls sweet red wine. Beat
- Mix ¾ cup flour, 1 1/2tsps baking powder, 1 ½ cups coconut’ 1 cup chopped nuts, 150 gms chopped chocolate and 1 ½ tsps instant coffee.
- Add to eggyolk mixture. Mix together until blended.
- Beat eggwhites until stiff while adding ¾ cup of sugar Fold into the above mixture. Pour into Pan 1 which has been lined with baking paper.
- Batch 2 – Prepare exactly as Batch 1. as fast as possible and add to the batter in Pan1. TIP- Prepare the dry mixture for Batch 2 at the same time you prepare it for Batch 1 and put it aside so it will be ready.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven 350 degrees F about 45 minutes. Turn pan after 20 minutes (My oven scorches in the right back corner, so I must watch and turn) Check if cake is ready and cool in pan. (If you are baking a wedding cake, I’m sure you know how to check if the cake is ready.)
- Now that you are experienced, the next is easy. Just repeat what you did for Pan 1. Now Pan 2 and Pan3 can be baked in the oven at the same time. You will probably have enough batter for a good sized “taster”.
- Mix dressing while cake is in the oven. Prepare about 2-3 cups of instant coffee with Brandy.
- Pour on each layer when you take it out of the oven (cake should be hot).
- Cool cake & remove from pan.
- Usually at this stage the cakes are frozen until the day before the wedding, when it is assembled..
- To assemble: put each cake on it's respective tier. if there are alot of crumbs and cracks, you can cover the cakes with a layer or marzipan-bought, rolled out) or prepare chocolate gnash & spread on top & sides.
- roll out the RFM and cover each layer (this is quite tricky, you have to know how to do this without getting folds & tears - or ask Elisheva to do it, anyway!).
- Prepare flowers from tinted RFM - this is better done a few weeks before the wedding, and letting them dry before using.
- Arrange the flowers on the cake, sticking them with some Royal icing, or a paste made frome powderd suger & water. Stick also some silvery candies among the flowers.
- Put some lace around the cake bases and the Bride & Groom on top.
- Now figure out how to transport the ready cake to the Ulam!!! Good-Luck & Mazel-Tov!!