Wedding Cakes
Professional 3-Tier Wedding Cake with Matching Miniature Individual Cakes
A breathtaking centrepiece featuring a moist lemon and elderflower sponge, structured across three elegant tiers and accompanied by delicate individual miniature cakes. This recipe provides a professional-grade finish with white chocolate ganache and silk-smooth fondant, perfect for a quintessential British wedding.
- Prep
- 240 min
- Cook
- 120 min
- Serves
- 120
- Level
- Advanced
- Per serving
- 485 kcal
Method
Preheat your oven to 160°C (140°C fan). Grease and double-line a 10-inch, 8-inch, and 6-inch round cake tin, plus 24 miniature individual cake moulds.
In a large industrial mixer, cream the butter and caster sugar until pale and exceptionally fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time with a tablespoon of flour to prevent curdling.
Gently fold in the remaining self-raising flour and lemon zest until just combined. Distribute the batter between the three large tins and the miniature moulds (fill moulds only halfway).
Bake the miniatures for 15-20 minutes, and the larger tiers for 60-90 minutes depending on size, until a skewer comes out clean. While hot, prick the sponges and drizzle with 300ml of elderflower cordial.
Prepare the ganache by heating double cream until simmering, then pouring over chopped white chocolate. Stir until smooth and leave to set to a peanut butter consistency overnight.
Level each cooled sponge. Fill the layers with a thin spread of raspberry jam and a layer of ganache. Crumb coat the exterior of each tier with ganache and chill until firm.
Knead the fondant until pliable and roll out to 4mm thickness. Cover each tier and the miniature cakes, smoothing with a cake smoother to achieve sharp edges.
Insert plastic or wooden dowels into the 10-inch and 8-inch cakes to support the weight of the tiers above. Stack the tiers using a small dab of ganache as 'glue'.
Decorate the base of each tier and the miniatures with matching silk ribbon or piped royal icing pearls.
Notes
Always use a spirit level to ensure your cake boards and tiers are perfectly flat before stacking.
White chocolate ganache provides a much more stable foundation for fondant than buttercream, especially in summer.
For the miniature cakes, use a circular cutter after baking if you want perfectly uniform cylinders.
Make the sponges up to two days in advance to allow the crumb to settle for easier carving and levelling.
