Last Saturday was a very special day for my family. My only brother married his beautiful and lovely wife. It was such a wonderful day, with great memories made with dear family and friends.
To celebrate, there was a wedding cake to make. I was delighted to offer my cake making services. They wanted a simple, yet elegant cake and really liked the idea of a naked cake. The term ‘naked cake’ comes from the fact that it isn’t covered with buttercream or sugarpaste, and you can see each of the layers. I was thrilled when they asked for this style of cake because I love this fuss-free, rustic and really pretty trend. They chose lemon flavour, and I decided to make the tried and tested lemon cake that I have made many times before with homemade lemon curd buttercream.
I baked the three cakes on Thursday evening after work. I chose to make a 6″, 8″ and a 10″ round. With wedding cake portions this serves approximately 70-80 people.
On Friday morning I made my lemon curd and a lemon sugar stock syrup to syrup each cake before assembling. A few hours later myself, my fiance and all of my cakes and accessories was packed in the car ready to travel from Galway to Dublin.
On Friday evening I learned that the hotel where the wedding was to be held did not have a cake stand, as we had originally thought. So, we had barely landed in Dublin before we were straight off to the shops in search of something that would work…. not that I need any excuse to shop for cake accessories!! We went to ‘Dunnes Stores’ and picked up a simple, yet chic and elegant plain white cake stand (on sale) for 10 euro. It is by ‘Helen James’ and I was delighted with it!
On the morning of the wedding it was all very relaxed at home, which was so lovely. Doing my brother’s wedding cake in the home that we both grew up in felt really special and it meant that everyone got to be involved. In the middle of the cake assembly my Dad handed me a delicious fried egg sandwich.. what more could a girl ask for!?
To assemble the cakes, I divided each cake in half (as evenly as I could). I placed a thin cake board under each bottom layer of cake (one size smaller, so that they would not be visible). I syrup-ed each layer of cake with the lemon stock syrup to ensure it stayed moist and to give an extra zing of lemon. I then spread a generous layer of lemon curd buttercream to each bottom layer, and placed the tops on. I dowelled the bottom tier, with wooden dowels, as I would a normal tiered cake. I put a small amount of buttercream on top, to hold the the next cake tier in place. I repeated this step with the next tier also. When all the tiers where in place, I piped a thin layer of buttercream at the seam between each cake tier, to hold the berries in place. I used fresh blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and currants.
Although a simple idea, I think the fruit gives such a beautiful look. So many people commented on how fresh and appetising it looked.
The final touch was the flower piece on top. This was a spare button hole and I think it tied the wedding colours and theme in beautifully. I scattered berries all around the bottom of the cake stand to finish it off. I placed dried lavender and gypsophila (baby’s breath) on the table on all around the cake and the finished look was really pretty.
I love the way it came together and so did the bride and groom. It tasted really delicious too!!
Thank you to my wonderful cousin Sam for taking these gorgeous photos for me.
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