- 4
- 10
- Joined Dec 14, 2010
It's crazy, but i'm helping out my grad student sister and baking her wedding cake. the rub: i'm in the d.c. area; she's in denver. my plan: baker her 3-tier carrot cake here; freeze, wrap and have shipped to denver; assemble and decorate there. plan b: if cake arrives unusable (or doesn't arrive!), i have 4 days to figure it out in high altitude (or find a baker and pay some ridiculous amount of money to get bailed out). so:
i've never done a cake so large. i'm concerned about adapting the baking time/temp here for a 3-inch cake (i'm using magic line 8-, 12- and 16-inch pans). unless advice is to go with 2 -inch deep for more consistency...? what would be a good starting point as far as adapting the time and temp? (i realize this could take a few trials, but knowing how to calculate for a starting point would help.) AND i know nothing about assembly. will i likely need dowels? would it make more sense to cheat on, say, the middle layer with styrofoam? where does one buy styrofoam and have it cut? or do i need to cut it myself??
and in shipping the cake: i am doing a practice run that includes freezing and thawing, but in the meantime, anything to take into account? and problems i'm not anticipating b/c it's a (really moist) carrot cake? i'm hoping that will actually help keep it from drying out. also, once cake is cooled, i will return cakes to pan and freeze in pans to help protect during shipping (and in case i have to re-bake out there). then wrap supertight with plastic wrap, then aluminum foil... then take to a packaging store and have them pack and ship with 2-day arrival (or should i cough up the bucks for overnight?).
oh, did i mention that my lovely fisher-paykel double wall over shorted out a week ago, preventing me from doing my full dry run until at least this weekend? leading up to a dec. 23 or 27 shipping date for a new year's eve wedding?
i am insane.
help help help.
--anne
i've never done a cake so large. i'm concerned about adapting the baking time/temp here for a 3-inch cake (i'm using magic line 8-, 12- and 16-inch pans). unless advice is to go with 2 -inch deep for more consistency...? what would be a good starting point as far as adapting the time and temp? (i realize this could take a few trials, but knowing how to calculate for a starting point would help.) AND i know nothing about assembly. will i likely need dowels? would it make more sense to cheat on, say, the middle layer with styrofoam? where does one buy styrofoam and have it cut? or do i need to cut it myself??
and in shipping the cake: i am doing a practice run that includes freezing and thawing, but in the meantime, anything to take into account? and problems i'm not anticipating b/c it's a (really moist) carrot cake? i'm hoping that will actually help keep it from drying out. also, once cake is cooled, i will return cakes to pan and freeze in pans to help protect during shipping (and in case i have to re-bake out there). then wrap supertight with plastic wrap, then aluminum foil... then take to a packaging store and have them pack and ship with 2-day arrival (or should i cough up the bucks for overnight?).
oh, did i mention that my lovely fisher-paykel double wall over shorted out a week ago, preventing me from doing my full dry run until at least this weekend? leading up to a dec. 23 or 27 shipping date for a new year's eve wedding?
i am insane.
help help help.
--anne