White chocolate wedding cake

The wedding cake is truly the crème de la crème of cakes. With so much tradition and many superstitions of luck surrounding it, the cake plays a pivotal part in your celebrations and should be an amazing centrepiece which reflects the sentiment of this momentous occasion whether traditional, classic, elegant, modern, themed or funky!


Try a Chocolate wedding cake

Ingredients

• Butter for greasing
• 200g white chocolate, chopped*
• 250g butter, chopped*
• 2 cups caster sugar*
• 1/2 cup milk *
• 1 orange, zest finely grated*
• 1 3/4 cups plain flour *
• 1/2 cup SR flour*
• 1/3 cup Grand Marnier*
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten*
• Extra 1/2 cup Grand Marnier
• 400g white chocolate, chopped
• 500g cream cheese, chopped
• 2 cups icing sugar mixture
• 600ml thickened cream
• 2 baby cabbages
• 375g pkt white chocolate melts

Here's how

1 Grease and line the base and sides of 3 deep, round, 20cm cake tins with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 160C. Combine the chocolate, butter, sugar and milk in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until melted. Transfer the melted chocolate mixture to a large bowl, let cool slightly.

2 Use a whisk to stir the orange zest, the sifted flours, Grand Marnier and eggs into the chocolate mixture. Keep whisking until the mixture is a smooth batter. Pour the batter into one of the tins and bake for 1 hour 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Cover the cake with foil halfway through the baking time to prevent over browning. Remove cooked cake from oven and leave to cool in the tin.

Repeat with another 2 batches of mixture. You may need to extend the cooking time if you bake 2 cakes at one time.

3 To make the frosting: Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over simmering water, or in the microwave on medium for 2-3 minutes. Leave to cool. Place half the cream cheese and icing sugar in the small bowl of an electric mixer and beat until just smooth. Add the remaining cheese and sugar and beat again until smooth. Pour in the melted chocolate and beat until combined. Whip the cream until soft peaks form and fold it through cream cheese mixture. Cover the mixture and refrigerate for 1-2 hours until firm enough to spread. After refrigeration you may need to stir the mixture until smooth before spreading.

4 Use a serrated knife to cut each cake horizontally through the centre. Brush 1 tbsp of extra Grand Marnier over one cut surface of cake then spread with 1/4 cup of frosting and replace top. Repeat with other cakes.

Stack the cakes on a serving board or plate, sandwiching them together with 1/4 cup of frosting each. Make sure last cake is inverted so the base of cake is on top for a completely flat surface. Secure the layers in place by inserting 3 skewers vertically through the cakes. Cut skewers down to size, so they can be frosted over. The skewers can be removed when you serve the cake.

5 Cover cake with remaining frosting. Run a palette knife from bottom to top around the sides of the cake to form a decorative pattern. Swirl the frosting on the top with a palette knife. Refrigerate the cake until you're ready to place the leaves on cake and take it to the table. The frosting of the cake can be done the day before serving. Allow the cake to stand at room temperature for 1 hour before pressing chocolate leaves into frosting.

6 To make chocolate leaves: trim off any torn leaves from the cabbages. Then carefully remove 4 outer leaves. Melt 1/3 of the white chocolate melts for the frosting. Use a spoon to spread the melted chocolate over the outside of the leaves. Avoid having the chocolate run over the edges of the leaves. Allow the chocolate to set, then carefully peel the leaf away leaving the chocolate shell. Repeat with remaining chocolate and leaves. If you're careful, you can reuse the cabbage leaves. Coat another 4 leaves, making them slightly smaller by not coating the whole leaf. Repeat one more time with 4 smaller leaves. Once all the leaves are set, arrange the larger leaves around top of cake like a flower, pressing them gently into icing to set in place. Place next size inside larger leaves and so on. Use any smaller broken pieces to stand in the centre of the flower.

7 To serve: after presenting the whole cake to the guests, carefully remove the skewers and separate it back into 3 cakes, Cut the cakes into serving size pieces - tiny if you're serving a separate dessert or larger if the cake is being served as dessert.

You can store any unused cake in the fridge for up to 3 days.