Diary of a Boho Bride – Faye and Jens, Entry 4: Making the Wedding Cake

Afternoon everyone! I hope you are enjoying the sunshine if you have it where you are? Today on Diary of a Boho Bride it’s the turn of Faye and Jens who are getting married in August. When we met up with Faye last time she was telling all about getting the Dreaded Guest List. Today Faye is sharing with us her wedding cake recipe, as her and her mum have been busy getting their bake on and making a tasty fruit cake for her wedding day!

I’ll pass the blog over to Faye…………..

Hi everyone,
Next week will be 2 months before our wedding, we are getting a little nervous and are trying to cram in us much planning as possible before we run out of time.
Last week I was back in the UK seeing my girls and doing girlie wedding things such as choosing flowers and decorations. While I was there I made a start on my wedding cake.
My Mum has always wanted to make our cake so when we got engaged that was one of the first things she asked us while we were planning, we of course said yes and I think it is great, that our cake will be personally made for us by my Mum, it makes it more special that way. We have decided on traditional English fruit cake, and we will have a chocolate cake that will be cut up (but not on show) for the guests who do not fruit cake.
I thought that I would share with you our recipe and a step by step guide on how to bake your own cake

 (All ingredients are in ounces)

• 6 inch cake

Currants* = 8
Sultanas* = 3.5
Raisins* = 3.5
Glace cherries* = 2.5
Mixed peel* = 1.5
Lemon rind* = a little
(* please add 15ml Brandy and 20ml of orange juice the night before cooking)
Almonds = 1.5
Plain flour = 6
Ground cinnamon = 1/2tsp
Ground mace = 1/4tsp
Butter = 5
Soft brown sugar = 5
Large eggs = 2.5
Brandy = 1 tbsp

Approx Cooking time = 2.75-3 hours
Weight when cooked = 2.5lb

• 8 inch cake

Currants* = 16 (1lb)
Sultanas* = 7
Raisins* = 7
Lemon rind* = 1/4
Glace cherries* = 5
Mixed peel* = 2.5
(* please add 30ml Brandy and 40ml of orange juice the night before cooking)
Almonds = 2.5
Plain flour = 12
Ground cinnamon = 1.25tsp
Ground mace = 3/4tsp
Butter = 10
Soft brown sugar = 10
Large eggs = 5
Brandy = 2 tbsp

Approx Cooking time = 3.25 hours
Weight when cooked = 4.75lb

• 10 inch cake

Currants* = 28 (1lb 12oz)
Sultanas* = 13
Raisins* = 13
Lemon rind* = 1/4
Glace cherries* = 9
Mixed peel* = 5
(* please add 60ml Brandy and 80ml of orange juice the night before cooking)
Almonds = 5
Plain flour = 21 (1lb 5oz)
Ground cinnamon = 1.75tsp
Ground mace = 1tsp
Butter = 18 (1lb 2oz)
Soft brown sugar = 18 (1lb 2oz)
Large eggs = 9
Brandy = 3 tbsp

Approx Cooking time = 6 hours
Weight when cooked = 9lb

Step one) The night before making the cake place the flour in a 3 bowls (depending on your tiers) with the cinnamon and mace to let them mingle together for 8 hours, this will enhance the flavor of the mixture. You also need to weigh out the sultanas and raisins in 3 separate bowls (or however many tiers of cake you are making) and add the orange juice and brandy as advised in the recipe. This will make sure that the dried fruit soaks up the liquid and will be really juicy.

Step two) Preheat your oven to 140 c gas mark 1. Cream the butter and sugar together, add the eggs (if it curdles add some flour from your weighed out mix) and then add your flour and spice mix, once that is all mixed in, you need to add the fruit, the other ingredients and mix together. Please do each tier mixture separately to stop confusion with the weights.

Step three) Grease the sides and bottom of the tins and then line (bottom and sides) the cake tins with grease proof paper.

Step four) Pour in the mixture, it may seem like a lot but don’t worry the cake doesn’t rise that much.

Step five) Tie brown parcel paper around the sides of the tin, this will help stop it from burning.

Step six) Place newspaper on the racks in the oven and then place the filled cake tins in the preheated oven on top of the newspaper. The newspaper will make sure that the bottom isn’t soggy or overcooked.

Step seven) When the cake is cooked all the way through (place a cocktail stick into the middle of the cake to check if it’s raw), take it out of the oven and let it cool in the tins.

Step eight) Once cooled enough for you to handle carefully remove from tins and place on wire cooling rack.

Step nine) You can decorate the cake once cooled with the classic marzipan and icing (or whatever you choose) or if you would like to decorate it nearer the time, you need to wrap it in cling film and place in a cool place away from sunlight till needed.

Our cake will be decorated in a few weeks, but I don’t actually know how. Jens and I have chosen three designs that we like, and my Mum and Dad have chosen one from the three to make us. We won’t see it till the wedding day!! I am very excited to see what it is.

I would also like to thank my Mum for her help with the cake and for being my hand model for this post

Faye xx