Practise Wedding Cakes

I had a practise run for my wedding cakes!
Im making 4, the fruit cake isnt shown as someone else is decorating that

This is them with their crumb coat - they always look so cute like this i think, all new and yummy!




This is the red velvet with toasted marshmallow frosting. I stupidly forgot to take a picture of this one cut - doh! Its totally the most dramatic :(
Anyway i used this Nigella recipe for red velvet cupcakes, just made it as a cake, and this marshmallow frosting. I spread the frosting smoothly on the sides and then piped little mini meringues on the top and then toasted it all with a blow torch

The chocolate fudge cake - by far the most popular! Its a fab recipe, again by Nigella, which ive been making for years. i love it because it isnt too sweet, and it has a really fudgey texture without being heavy. This one is topped with basic chocolate butter cream piped as roses. Its really just a swirl, piped with a large star tip nozzle. Its really easy but looks like its really complicated!

Any finally this is a lemon cake with lemon swiss meringue buttercream
Yet again, a nigella recipe, i just doubled the quantities for her Lemon Drizzle cake. The topped it with this amazing swiss meringue buttercream. Ive never made it before and it does take a little while but it sreally delicious, and very stable, which i great for a summer wedding. This was supposed to be a little better finished off but i ran out of steam somewhat on the third cake! Something to consider when making the real things...



Makes me hungry just remembering them!

Pomegranate Meringues

 

I made pomegranate meringues this weekend, i used this recipe from Manger and they were fabulous!

Meringues :)

The fruit tart i made my mum used a lot of egg yolks for the filling so what else are you going to make with a glut of egg whites! Meringues of course, the fact they happen to be one of my dads favourite things (and mine!) is just an added bonus


(Sorry my folks had eaten all the filling before i got back round to photo them! Lucky i prefer them plain isnt it!)

Meringues used to be my nemesis i could not make them to save my life. Then lovely BMs mum bought me this Good Housekeeping recipe book one Christmas and in it was a recipe for Foolproof Meringues. If im honest i probably though 'Foolproof you say? Well i'll show you!' but when i tried them they actually worked! I was overjoyed and i havent really stopped making them since.

I cant find the recipe online anywhere but its basically a cooked meringue. Instead of whisking the egg whites, then adding the sugar, you whisk the whites and sugar all together in a bowl over hot water. It works like a dream for me :)