Having been asked to make a friend’s wedding cake I was desperate to do a trial run of at least one tier to be tasted and viewed and duly criticised so I knew what I needed to practice and perfect for the big day. I am concerned, this is the first formal cake I’ve done, and I’m somewhat paranoid about screwing it up and ruining the cake and therefore the wedding…

It’s the white chocolate sponge I used for the chequered cake back in the summer. Nice and moist and not too heavy, but dense enough to be able to support itself, and the tiers that will be above it.

The oven needs something doing to it.. baking stones have been recommended. The outside cooked far too quickly and the inside took forever.. resulting in a burnt crust that had to be trimmed, hence the wonky sides.

I was worried for a while that the slant (on the top) was too shallow, but looking at it finished I think it came out about right.

The shiny new icing smoother worked wonders *grins*

I need to get more random with the placing of the flowers.. it took til I was taking the photos for me to realise everything on the top was in lines.

I wasn’t too happy with the spirals, I need some practice with the piping, though I was getting better by the end. I was going to use royal icing for the final cake, however very thick water icing worked really well on this one, and will save faffing about with egg whites and the like making royal icing.

The sponge tasted good and will hold up well I think, had a very thin layer of butter icing between the layers and covering the cake, and then a small about of cherry preserve between the layers which worked nicely I think, enough to add a bit of flavour, but not overpowering.

All in all I’m fairly pleased with how it went. It picked up on things I need to practice and affirmed that I had picked the right recipe. It did what I wanted it to do.