WEDDING CAKES.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 17773, 8 October 1927, Page 10

WEDDING CAKES.

THE 1 PREVAILING KEYNOTE

When you live in town it seems an easy Ihing to order a wedding cake, hut even in.town one cannot, always get the cake of one!s..desire. The big pastrycooks, like all other tradespeople, do not take k’ndly to the idea of individuality, and if they always put fluted pillars, ami sugar bells, doves, and other wedding devices, they just hate anyone to coni.' along and to order a cake devoid of all the conventional ideas. In Sydney recently, two brides broke away from tradition and insisted upon getting just what they wanted. One had a calce with blush rose pink icing, upon which white bridal flowers were arranged in a tall silver vase. The other cake was made by a girl friend lor a girl at ICiliara, and also had an individual make and shape. Cooking home-made wedding cakes is not such a formidable task as it seems.

Wedding cake proportions are 5}II) -.self-raising flour, 3.|lb butter. 211) lOoz sultanas, 3j»ll) currants, 11!) mix.pd peel.i 12oz ground almonds, 2)!b granulated sugar, 21 eggs, loz almonds, 2 wineglasses brandy.

Of course, it is possible to either halve or quarter the amount given, according to the size of the cake desired. It'is always necessary to put on an inch of marzipan icing. For this you will need Sib ground almonds, 2Jlh castor sugar, and for the sugar icing 1011) icing sugar arid the whites of 20 to 25 eggs. Add a few drop:; of orange flower water. Allow one drop only of acetic acid to every pound of icing sugar. Clean all the fruit, sieve the flour, mix sugar and butter to a cream. Beat in each egg separately (much depends on this), and the brandy. Stir in ground almonds, and flour gradually, then the fruit. Mix thoroughly. Line two tins, one a six-pound size, and one either three or four pound size, with five layers of well-buttered greaseproof paper. . Now divide, the mixture into each, tin and bake in a slow oven, which has previously been heating for a long time. Allow seven or eight hours for the large cake, and lour to five hours for the smaller. The oven should lie “quick” for the first fifteen minutes. To prevent burning cover each cake, with greaseproof paper, as soon as the cakes’appear a golden brown, and change from time to time. When the cakes are done pour a tablespoon of warmed butter ore:' each, and place on a sieve for two days. Before icing trim thorn to thr.pe, so that tiie top or eacu one is perfectly flat. Cover with the marzipan icing, which is made by sieving the ground almonds and castor sugar together with a. little icing sugar, and warming in a saucepan. Make all perfectly smooth, ami allow iho cakes to stand for another two dry--;. Now..’-.is the moment to finish the cake'with sugar.-icing, sieve the icing sugar until free of. lumps—eiihev roil with -a'-rolling pin, or nut in a pestle and mOrtar until quite smooth. Stir in beaten white -of eggs gradually, together with the acetic acid.

Stand the cakes one upon the other, and cover with the icing. Allow to stand for two days until the icing is quite hard. Now decorate with a sharp-pointed instrument, or lightly with a lead pencil mark the intended design. With an icing pump and the various nozzles sold make the design that is desired. Broader lines and less detail make the best impression. If you wish for columns of hard icing they are to be purchased. Often a large silver tray is used upon which to place the calce, with a silver-handled knife to cut it. Be sure the icing is quite hard before you decorate. It is a good plan to stand a delicate vase on the top, ready to be filled with real flowers. Should the wedding be one where a colour is used throughout, it is easy to make the cake- ensuite. Recently a London bride chose apple green for her wedding. If a New South Wales bride should care to follow this fashion, ' instead of acid flavouring, use greerrehartreuse when mixing the icing, until a beautiful apple green tone is achieved.