M&S cake - stacked without supports?

missk_2

Hello
I'm thinking of buying a Marks and spencer wedding cake and would like to have a large fruit layer for the bottom with either one or two layers of sponge on top. My question is, can I do this without pillars or dowels/ hidden support?

I've heard if you want all fruit cake you need support but not sure whether this would be the case with a sponge layer directly on top of the fruit layer.

I really want to keep it as simple as possible, with no extras like pillars, etc really so would appreciate knowing if anyone else has done this successfully.

Thanks in advance.
missk

JoeyEmma

The bottom of the cakes isn't iced, and I would worry that the uniced bit of cake that is in contact with the cake below might be damaged. It might end up discolouring the icing of the top of the bottom layer (if you know what I mean) or making it soggy and not very secure.

I have no idea about cake making and might be making it all up!

PrincessTaylor

I would ask over at hitched.co.uk, they have a few experienced cake makers over on their forum that will be able to advise you.

CatMather_2

Hi Missk

I think I can answer this one but unfortunately not great news.

I bought the same M&S cake and had a 3 tier. Like you, I wanted to keep it very simple with a stacked set so I went straight to the horses mouth and rang M&S food department. They were very helpful and said they had tested this with all combinations (2 and 3 tier) and unfortunately the answer was no. Any stacking with their cakes definitely needs additional support. The fruit cake itself is sometimes strong enough to stand a sponge cake but the icing is not.

I am not a fan of pillars, think they are a bit too traditional for my liking so I hired a C (or E, depending on if you want 2 or 3 tier) shaped stand in silver to place the cakes on. I then bought a large sugarpaste lily for each of the tiers (about £3 each I think) and added them myself. Cake stand hire was £15 with a £20 refundable deposit. If you decided on pillars, both the pillars and dowels come in a set from m&s.

The cake itself was fabulous, guests could not believe it was shop bought and both the fruit and sponge layers tasted delicious! One cautionary note though, M&S recommend you take the cake out of the box for 24 hours to let the icing harden - bear this in mind with your order dates!:o

Good luck with the wedding.

MrsTinks

I might need to go to M & S it sounds like I wonder if the plain sponge could be fed with lemon as I'd really like a lemon sponge for one of my layers...

vickyj

if your cake boards exactly match the size of the cake then you should keep them on and if you wish to you can cover them woith ribbon or flowers. then you needto dowel through the lower tears. this has very very little effect on the cake but provides a mpountain of support. .
The dowels need to be exactly as tall as the cake is (without board) then either stack ready or preferably allow your venue to stack it on arrival as then it is less likely to ge tdamages in transit. if you are having a simple flower decor then most venus will be happy to assemble this (with picture) for you or alternatively get a trusted relative to do it for you.
Hope this helps.
Vicky

homeworker

Last christmas I purchased three of sponge cakes, iced from marks ordered them a couple of days ago and mounted them on cake stand. I then as had some floristry knowledge on a small oasis had roses on each layer. I've never done it before but it was stunning everybody thought i had spent hundreds for it but I think it came to £90 which wasn't bad for three teir cake. I wouldn;t advise put the top two on fruit unless all the layers are all fruit. I will try and dig up a photo, if you pm your email. I know you can buy or even get the florist to make the small oasis with the flowers which isn't much because you don;t need that many flowers.

Have fun.

Eccle_2

I think the other problem with trying to stack them directly on top of each other is that the boards are bigger than the cake, and trying to get them off the boards can be tricky.

As another poster suggested, we hired a cake stand for ours which only cost about £10,and the florist did some flowers to go on the cake, it looked lovely and lots of people were amazed it was shop bought rather than made for us.

If you hired a stand you wouldn't need to worry about getting them out for the icing to set.

Fritha_2

Um, I'm not sure but I think you can actually shove some kind of pillar inside the cake (you cut out a bit of cake to bung a support in, and then eat the bit you cut out) I could be wrong my cake baking friend will know better than me. If you want me to ask her to find out for definite just let me know :-)

iwantabargain

My sister wanted to stack the cakes for her wedding last October however she asked Marks and they advised not to. They said the fruit cake has to be the base as it's heavier than the sponge and they stongly suggested using pillars else the layers would just sink into each other. My sister bought the pillars from Marks and her florist did a cake topper. The overall effect was stunning and everyone commented on how gorgeous it was.

If i knew how to post a pic on here i would show you.

Lara

To place cake tiers one on top of each other is classed as a Stacked Cake. A lot of brides have the bottom tier fruit (it needs to be fruit to take the weight of the other tiers) and chocolate or genoese as the next tiers.

As vickyj said - to ensure the cakes wouldn't sink you do need to dowel each tier. Dowels are either wooden or plastic. The plastic ones are either clear or white. You can buy them from a sugarcraft shop or you could go and have a look at them and speak to the shop assistant to see exactly how you would use them. You may find something else you have that could be used but to be honest it isn't worth the hassle. They aren't mega expensive just a couple of pounds maximum to dowell a three tier.

Measure the height of the cake. Cut the dowel the same height, or very slightly shorter. You will need four in the bottom tier. Push these all the way down into the cake so that it reaches the bottom drum. Make sure they are underneath where the next tier will be placed i.e. not around the outside edges!
Do the same with the next tier but you will need only three dowels. You need to secure the tiers to each lower one so the tiers do not slip off! I would normally do this by mashing down some sugarpaste with vodka and placing it on the tier below then placing the next tier on to. The stickness of the sugarpaste then hardens over time and secures it the board to the top of the lower tier. You may be able to buy just a very small piece of sugarpaste (125g) from your local sugarcraft shop for around £1 to do this. Alternatively if I have any royal icing I use this.

You can disguise the board by placing ribbon round the bottom. Do the same with the top tier. Place your flowers or whatever you are having on the top tier and it's finished.

Remember though if you have fresh flowers anywhere near the icing you must not have ivy as they are poisonous.


Good Luck and I hope it goes well for you.