Transcript:
Hey, guys, welcome back to my channel in the next few tutorials. You may notice a slight difference now in this period of uncertainty. I don’t have access to my goal or recording or baking equipment because I’m also changing location, but don’t worry, I’ve come up with a feed back to basic recipes, which involves no fancy equipment or ingredients. So I hope you enjoy these recipes. I hope you try them out and most importantly stay safe. So because of the current situation, many weddings and large events are actually being canceled and postponed, However, some people are still going ahead with their weddings and even making their own wedding cakes and so. I thought I’d do a tutorial of how to make your own wedding cake at home. The best part about this tutorial is that you can use any cake or fillings. You’d like it’s all about the technique. How to make it look elegant in a very easy way so. I’m gonna be making a lemon cake. I think lemon is a very traditional flavor when it comes to weddings. So I’ve pre baked a lemon sponge here. Which is my normal sponge with extra lemon zest. It’s as simple as that. I’ve also got some of my Swiss meringue buttercream, which I flavored vanilla. Some of my homemade lemon curd. I’m going to be making a lemon sugar syrup to soak the cakes in. I’ve also got a springform tin. So you can use a ring, but this is all I have at the moment, so it’s the same tin that I’ve made the cakes in and here. I’ve got some baking paper so to start as usual. I’m going to trim my cakes to begin. I’m going to trim off the dome at the top now. As you know, I like doing this by hand, but if you want to use a cake wire, then by all means use a cake wire. But if you want to try this freehand you can start by marking the very top of the cake and going around whilst rotating the cake. When you get back to where you started, you can then start cutting in a little bit further, and eventually you’ll cut all the way through and have a nice flat top of the cake. Now don’t throw the excess away. They can be nibbled on later and I’m actually going to use this half of the cake to mark the other half of the cake, so they’re as even as possible Same technique rotating as I go, and now I’m going to cut each of these in half again, so I’ve got a total of four layers once again, mark around halfway before I start cutting inwards and the same on the other side, so I’ve got full even layers of cake. Just gonna clear up the crumbs and I’m going to make my lemon sugar syrup, which is really easy. I’ve got 50 mils of lemon juice here freshly squeezed, and I’m going to add 50 grams of sugar, the equal amount of liquid and sugar same as any sugar syrup, and usually I make it with hot water, but because I’m using lemon juice. I’m now going to heat this in the microwave until the sugar dissolves, so just about thirty seconds. Heat it up slightly. Give it a little mix to dissolve the leftover sugar, and I can see that the sugars dissolved. And now I can start brushing it over the cakes now. I find to really bring out the lemon flavor in a lemon cake. It needs a good soaking, and it really brings out the zing in the lemon, too and now. I like to soak the cakes at this stage rather than when I build up the cake. So now I know the soaking is done and I don’t have to worry about it and just something I also like to do. I like to stack the layers of cake In order that I’m going to build it up In so keeping the two bases, one is the bottom and one is the top. The cake layers are ready to put that to the side and clean up the crumbs. So you may have seen me Do this technique, especially if you’ve seen my Instagram stories when I’m making a small cake such as a 4 inch cake, we’re basically going to use the shape of the ring to help build up the cake, nice and straight, so what I’m going to do is take strips of baking paper and line the inside of the ring. Now, if you have acetate, it is better to do it with acetate because it is slightly stronger. I don’t have any and so I’m going to do a double layer of baking paper instead to make it a little bit more sturdy, so before I start adding the cakes. I’m just going to pipe a little bit of buttercream, and that’s gonna act as a glue for the first layer of cake, so the cake doesn’t slide around the board, so I’m going to get the first layer and remember. This is one of the bases, so it’s nice and flat and I’m going to place it in the paper in the tin and press it down, so it’s secure to that buttercream. So now this layer of cake is in. I can actually tighten and knead up the baking paper around it. So it’s more snug, so because I’m filling the cake with lemon curd as well rather than just a layer of buttercream. I like to pipe a ring of buttercream around the rim of the cake, and this will prevent the lemon curd from spilling out. And I’m sure many of you can relate when I say there is nothing worse than lemon curd or Jam spilling out of the cake when you’re trying to build it up, so this helps prevent that, and now I’m gonna go in with a couple of spoonfuls of lemon curd and spread it out just with the back of a spoon, so if I wasn’t building up in baking paper, I would use a palette knife for this because it’s easier to spread, but I can’t quite get the angle, right because of the baking paper, so I’m just gonna do it with a spoon and I’m going to pipe a layer of buttercream on top of the lemon curd to get a nice even layer of buttercream, so I’m not gonna smooth this buttercream down with a palette knife like I usually would. I’m just gonna go on with my next layer of cake and then press it down and that pressing down action will naturally flatten that buttercream, and I’m going to repeat the same process. I’m going to pipe a ring of buttercream around the edge of the cake, and the paper is actually helping. Guide me around the cake. Add the lemon curd and then some more buttercream, next layer of cake and repeat this one more time. So what, look very top of the cake, Nice and flat so. I’m going to flip the last layer upside down, remember? It was one of the bases that I kept from earlier and place it on the top. Give it a nice press down and I can actually see now that the buttercream is hitting the size of the paper, which means the sides are going to be really nicely packed with buttercream, which will help with the shape of the cake too so now. I’m going to put this in the freezer for about 15 to 20 minutes to really firm up the buttercream. I want it as hard as possible to maintain the shape. If you don’t have space in your freezer, you just need to keep it in the fridge for a bit longer until the buttercream is firm, so the cake’s been in the freezer for about 20 minutes, and when I touch the size, I can feel that the buttercream has completely hardened. So now I’m going to grab my makeshift turntable, which is an upside-down bowl with some damp towel on top, so it doesn’t slide around and now. I’m gonna carefully release the tier now. This is a springform tin! So it’s actually quite easy to open and lift off and remove the paper and you can see that because the buttercream is hardened, It’s not even sticking to the paper anymore. If it’s not hardened enough, it will come off with the paper or acetate. So you want it as far as possible and you can see how beautifully straight the sides are too, so it’s a really good trick in getting a straight-edged cake. So if you wanted to go for the full naked look, you can stop there and then start decorating. I personally prefer the semi naked Look, which is basically a crumb coated cake, so I’ve got a little bit more buttercream here, and I’m gonna go over with a thin layer all around the cake, so I’m using my step pallet knife and spreading it around the sides filling in the holes and making it as even as possible and then onto the top as well. It’s also a lot easier and you have a real turntable, but this is working just fine, so I’m going to even off the top, almost pushing the buttercream over the edge of the corners because we want to fill those corners in and I’m just gonna use the scraper to make that top layer really thin, and now I’m gonna scrape off the excess buttercream around the sides of the cake, rotating the cake every time, so this is not only scraping off the excess buttercream, but it’s also moving the buttercream around the cake, so filling in any holes and eating up the very bottom corners to, so I can see that some buttercream needs to be filled in here, so I’m just gonna go over with my palette knife again and then scrape on top of it now. Usually I don’t care so much about a crumb coating because I go over with a second layer of buttercream, but because this cake is going to be a naked cake. I want the crumb coating to be as even smooth and neat as possible, so I’m happy with the sides, and now I’m going to clean off the top corners, one swipe with the palette knife from the outside in scraping every time. So I’m happy with that. I’m now gonna put this back in the fridge for about 20 minutes to half an hour for it to fully set before I go on with my decorations, so I thought to make some dried lemon slices because the cake is lemon, and they’re really easy to do as well. What I’m gonna do is cut some thin slices of a lemon, so I’m not using a mandolin here because I find that If the slices are too thin, they’ll actually get burnt, so I cut them to about half a centimeter thick, and I’m leaving the skins on and all I’m going to do is place them on a wire rack and the oven is on at a hundred degrees Celsius, so really low and then basically going to leave them in there for about an hour to an hour and a half for them to dry out, and it’s really as simple as that. Don’t worry if there are any pips in there, because once they’re dry, they’ll either dry into the slices or just fall out so once they’re fully dried out. That looks something like this now. Some of them have caught a little bit of color. I personally like when that happens. As long as it’s not too dark, and they really are the most simple, yet effective decorations for a cake, so 99% of the time wedding cakes have fresh flowers on them, and I actually always get asked about using fresh flowers on a cake. You can get edible flowers, which are obviously safer to use for cakes because they’re obviously not gonna poison you, but you can use non edibles. You just need to know how to prepare them correctly. Like this one right here, you can see it’s totally sealed and it goes into a straw and therefore, none of the flour is actually touching the cake, so what? I’ve got here is some fresh peonies, which are my favorite flowers and definitely wedding like. I’ve also got some eucalyptus branches and I basically want half of the bottom stem completely clear of so I’ve done that with the peonies, and I’m just going to tear off the leaves of the eucalyptus to prepare them for taping together. So I’ll start with the flowers. I want to trim the stems to no more than ten centimeters because you obviously don’t want a really long stem in the center of the cake. You also don’t want it too short. I’m now going to use some flower tea and wrap it all around the stem, including the very bottom. I’m then going to get a straw and measure it to about a centimeter below where the stem stops and then simply insert the flower stem into the straw. And that’s the flower done and I’m going to repeat this to each flower that I want to put on the cake So wrap around the stem trim the straw and insert the stem into the straw. I also really like the variation of the open. Peonies, the half-opened ones and the buds. I think it’s gonna look really nice on top of the cake now. Peonies are edible, but only if they’re grown organically, eucalyptus leaves are not so. I’m going to be extra careful with the eucalyptus leaves. I’ve also only got small straws, so I can only do one of these flowers at a time, but if you have those jumbo straws, you can fit in two flowers or even the flower, with some of the eucalyptus leaves as long as they’re taped together. I’m gonna do them separate, but I am gonna pair up the eucalyptus branches. I’m gonna take two here and then take the branches together. So obviously it’s a lot easier to do this. And there are no leaves on the stems, which is why. I took them off before I wrap them up. Nice and tight, making sure the ends covered so no. SAP comes out of the end once again into a straw and actually doing this the wrong order. But I’m gonna trim this now and I’m going to make a few more bunches, so I’ve got the flowers and leaves prepared to decorate and my lovely lemon slices. So now all that’s left to do is to decorate the cake, so the cake is nice and chilled, which means it’s not going to start squashing or moving around when I’m adding the flowers and decorations, so I’m going to start with the large flowers. I think it’s easier to put the larger flowers in first, and then the small decorations around it. A lot of needs to do is simply insert the straw into the cake. And then I’m actually gonna use some scissors to help. Push the flower down as much as possible and go in with the second flower. And you can see that no part of the flower is actually touching the cake, which makes the cake still safe to eat. Go in with a smaller buzz and then. I’m going to insert eucalyptus leaves in between the flowers. I’m just channeling my inner flower Arranging skills. I feel like when you’re using fresh flowers. You don’t need to apply too much effort for it to look beautiful, so for the lemon slices. I’m just going to apply a little bit of buttercream and place them in between the flowers, so they’re almost like sneaking out of the flowers don’t. Forget the back as well equally as important, especially at a wedding. And there you go. DIY wedding cake, complete with fresh flowers, eucalyptus leaves and dried lemon slices. If you’re still getting married in this difficult time, then good for you and don’t go, Kate. Let’s try and make one yourself. You’re making enough sacrifices already. Hope you enjoyed it. I will see you next time.