Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

hi all,
weve decided to do a last minate christmas wedding, and im going to do our own cake im going to do fruit as i can make that now ,
my question is how far in advance can i decorate it without the sugarpatse going dry i was hoping to finish it at latest 4 days before we eat it. but maybe a week ? ? thanks in advance xx

also have i just made a big mistake ?
im doing mrs jones fruit cake ive just measured out 3 x of each fruit chucked it all in 1 bowl an booze to soak for a few days,
when it comes to making the cake how shall i measure the fruit out lol opps shall i just add up all of the fruit into one measamant on the recipe and then measure that out from the bowl hope that makes sense sorry. xx

Hi Angies

If it’s for all different size cakes add up the fruits for each individual cake and allocate the amounts to each size from the soaking fruit. Make sense?? x

yes thank you miwl … x

Oh and yes you can decorate it as soon as you want. Once decorated keep the cake in a cardboard box to protect it from air dust and damage. Store it in a room with not too cool temperature but not too hot either. The cake will continue maturing under the icing and taste absolutely fab! Is it your wedding?
If it is congratualtions. x

yes it is thankyou for all your help, weve been togrether for ages got a little boy an never got round to it, and we were just chatting 3 weeks ago an decided to just do it, im going to crate one of his ice palice wedding cakes,
im going to do a 3 tier but not all cake maybe just a 2 tiers or even just one maybe cake which tiers would you do cake and which dummie please ? x

Hi Angie

This is so exciting for you! I hope it all goes really well, again congratulations.
Yes, you can make a combinations of dummy and real cake tiers. I would use the heaviest cake as the base tier and use dummies where you want. Dummies are very strong and will hold well. Let me know if you need more information so I’m not misunderstanding anything. Need to get everything right! x

thank you . x yes very exciting … =-}
now ive decided what im doing im looking at buying all the bits an bobs, do you know where paul got the glass balls from please? the link brings up the piping gel ! x

Hi Angie

You’ll need to email the supplier here: http://www.black-noir.co.uk/
Let them know you want the same as on the Paul Bradford site for Crystal Palace cake. Look here for more information on sizes:

Crystal Palace cake

and to see lots more related discussions which I think will be helpful to you, type in the search box ‘Crystal Palace cake’.
See other online suppliers by google searching ‘clear glass Christmas baubles’. There’s loads of them. x

Thank you do you work for Paul your always helping everyone it’s amazing thankyou.
Now do you know how long to cook Mrs Jones fruit cake for an 10 adn 12in tins please? X

Hi Angie

Member Nigel-Mellon has given a lovely timing feedback for Mrs Jones’ 10″ square fruit cake here:

Wedding cake advice

This would equate to a 11″ round, use it as a guide only for a 12″ round. For the 10″ cake, check it after 4 hours or sooner if you think it is baking on quickly. Mrs Jones has given 130c fan oven or 150c non fan and she bakes her 8″ round/square for 3.5 hours. In a 10″ cake there is two-thirds more mixture and in the 12″ there is two and a quarter more mixture. However it doesn’t mean the cake has to be baked for twice as long. This is just so you know the density of the batter. My blog here may help:

Baking Problems and Solutions by madeitwithlove

The cake is being baked on a very low temp. All ovens bake differently, given times are just guides. Your own nose and eyes and the performance of your own oven will be the best judge. For a more accurate indication, check for doneness with a wooden skewer. Because fruit cakes retain heat, I always pull mine out when there are just a few moist, not wet, crumbs on the skewer. Hope this helps. x ps I am assuming your cakes are round.

(I’m not an employee of the site, however if you scroll down this page and click on ‘meet the team’, you will see where I fit in.)

thank you yes they are round im cooking the 10in now its now 1pm and has been in 1 hour ive never cooked a fruit cake before i had the oven at 150 1st hour and have just turned it down to 130 as told to by another 10 in fruit cake recipe.
as ive never cooked a fruit cake before can you check on the cake without it sinking ?

angie x

Hi AngieS

I’m so glad you turned the temperature down, at 150c it would have burned at the top. At 130 it should take about 4.5 hours. It’s been baking for 3 hours now since you posted. Fruit cakes can be checked quickly by inserting a wooden skewer in the centre of the cake, the don’t sink in the same way as sponge cakes. Try not to lose too much heat from the oven and don’t remove the cake from the oven while checking. Right now it will still be wet but go ahead and have a very quick check.