I’m practicing to make my wedding cake in 5 weeks. I had sooo much trouble with the cream cheese frosting and buttercream. I couldn’t get it right. 😢 I think I will try red velvet and ermine frosting for my wedding cake. Any tips on how to have a moist box cake mix? This is a lemon cake 🍋with cream cheese frosting. My frosting was so runny! I need my wedding cake to be 20x better than this! Any tips on how to practing my piping?
by Few-Pop-9435
15 Comments
Yuuuum! That looks good, you’ll get there 🙂 and congrats on the wedding coming up.
That looks so good for your first cake ! And I bet it was so good! Definitely impressed
This is so cute! You’ve done a good job
It looks great for your first cake! I couldn’t imagine making a tiered cake first 😅
For buttercream, you don’t want your butter too soft. If you have a cooking thermometer, you want it about 65 degrees F. A few degrees warmer is fine too. If the butter looks slick and greasy and it yields very easily when lightly touched, it’s too soft. You want to just be able to make an impression with your finger with some slight pressure for both the butter and cream cheese.
If your icing is too thin, add more powdered sugar. Be sure to always sift it. If you icing gets too thick, add a splash of heavy cream or milk. I’ll be straight that a stand mixer is a game changer for making icing. If you don’t have one, maybe a family member or friend will lend you one to make your cake. It’s certainly not impossible to use a hand mixer, as that’s what I used to several years, but it’s just easier and you get slightly better results.
Box mixes are pretty good at not being dry, so I’d assume that they had been overbaked. Don’t follow the bake time exactly on the box. Check the cakes a little earlier. I’d also get an over thermometer because many ovens run hot or cold. Having a consistent temperature is key.
I’d really suggest getting on YouTube for further help with your questions. There are countless in depth videos on making buttercream, buttercream troubleshooting, piping techniques, making tiered cakes, modifying cake box mixes, etc.
Best wishes on your cake and wedding 🎂
You could also try adding a cup of sour cream to the box mix. And also get those cake dowels!
You can practice piping on a plastic wrap covered piece of styrofoam or something else cake shaped, then scrape it off and repeat so you don’t waste ingredients! I’m sure someone here can suggest a better practice dummy haha
Ermine frosting is great but if you want to colour it you will need a gel/powder based colour as water based will make it split. OR if you could only find water based like me, add it to the pot while you cook the roux and that will cook the water off, just be careful as you need to make the colour at this point significantly darker than you want the end result
Looks good for a first cake. You can always do a simply syrup to help your cake stay moist after baking. When it comes to making tiered cakes I think cake dowels are good to use.
That looks so yummy
You can try adding some yoghurt or milk to your cake batter before baking.
That usually helps my cake be super moist
Also, check out cake straws. They will stabilize the structure
Well that’s way better than what I would’ve done for my first 😂 looks really good!
You crushed this. You are the last dragon. You protect the power of the glow.
Do you mean your very very first cake ever? Because if so, AND you made a 3 tier cake, congratulations!!! This is a very good first attempt!💐
Look into getting cake dowels, that way the weight of each tier won’t sink into the one below it and it’ll keep your cake upright.
Crumb coat and decorate the cakes when they’re cold, your cakes are sturdier this way and make for a cleaner end result
As for the runny icing, that’s easily fixable, powdered sugar/icing sugar is your pal!
Howver, when making cream cheese frosting, whip the butter and add the icing and then fold the cream cheese. I don’t know if it may be the same for you but when I started making cream cheese frosting by myself I’d start with whipping everything together and I’d end up with a runny result. I was then told to leave the cream cheese until last and gently fold it in after whipping the powdered sugar and butter together. This made for a sturdier and firmer frosting as an end result.
To practice piping, whip up some margarine based buttercream frosting and just practice on a cutting board, or some Saran Wrap. You can also get some piping practice templates off of Pinterest and place them under the Saran Wrap and then use that for practice.
All the best, good luck on your next attempt and congrats on the upcoming wedding!
This looks like the cake from sleeping beauty and I LOVE it!!! I would have loved that for my wedding! Amazing early attempt. You should be so proud!!! Great tips here too! Well done everyone!
Looks very good! Love lemon cake! I’ve heard people say sour cream or applesauce helps hold moisture
Aurora would be delighted!