Wonderfully Decadent White Wedding Cake

This 4-tiered wedding cake I made for the most gorgeous Cape Cod wedding of my sister-in-law and her husband last summer was gluten-free, nut-free, and soy-free, and yet one of the most delicious, moist cakes ever!  As it's entering that time of year when weddings are plentiful, it seemed appropriate to post the recipe!!! The 2nd and 4th tier were made of a rich lemon sponge with strawberry frosting, and the 1st and 3rd tiers were made of a vanilla sponge with chocolate frosting.  Each tier was made up of four layers of cake, making it absolutely beautiful when sliced.  To decorate the cake, soy-free, gluten-free and nut-free sparkling sugar crystals were used around the top edges of each tier and fresh mint and fresh roses were added to create the cascading flower effect on the cake.  It smelled divine!
    Lemon shortbread cookies with key lime curd, mint chocolate chip cookies, mini cinnamon rolls and party-sized mint chocolate brownies recipes were also made and served at the wedding.  Pictures are included below!  Enjoy!!!

The cake, after being topped with fresh roses and fresh mint as decoration.  The entire cake smelled amazing from nearby - a blend of rose, mint and sugar.  

A wonderful picture of the wedding cake at dusk, taken by my husbands cousin, J. Beebe.

On the left: A lovely slice of lemon sponge with strawberry.  On the right: Vanilla sponge with chocolate.  A light layer of vanilla marshmallow fluff frosting coated the outside of all layers to bring it all together. 

The cake received rave reviews from everyone at the wedding!  I lost count of the number of people who came up and told me they rarely ate the cake at a wedding, but once they tasted this one, they ate the entire piece!  They couldn't believe it was possible to make such a cake, and be allergy-friendly, too!  Of course, you don't have to make all four tiers at home, but the recipe below would be equally perfect if you need to whip up a special cake for a birthday or another special occasion.  *For allergy-safety, I scrubbed the kitchen top to bottom several times before any cooking began, and used all my own pans, mixer, bowls, utensils, to avoid chance of contamination since I was using a kitchen other than my own.*

Wonderfully Decadent White Wedding Cake
Serves 100-120

Wedding cake layers:
I made 14", 11", 9" (was supposed to be 8"), and 5" cakes.  For each layer, you want to butter the bottom and sides (up to 2") of each cake pan. Next, line the bottom of the pan with a cut-out piece of parchment paper.  Using 2" strips of parchment paper, line around the outside edges of the cake pan.   Mix together the desired cake recipe and fill each cake pan with 1" of batter, smoothing around to fill the pan.   Bake in an oven at 350 F for 12-25 minutes, depending on the size of your cake.  If you make layers taller, you'll need a longer bake time.  I shake the cakes gently to make sure the centers are fully cooked.

You'll have to use your judgment in whisking together and baking layers.   I always mixed things together in smaller batches, to avoid any mistakes.  When filling pans, I would use one batch of cake batter to fill a 14" pan and part of an 8" pan.  I would use another batch to fill one 11" pan and two 5" pans.   If you're just making a single cake, you can use one batch to fill two 9" pans, then make another batch to fill another two 9" pans for a 4 layer cake.   Smaller cakes bake ~12-15 minutes, larger cakes bake ~23-25 minutes.  I aim for a pale brown cake.  You can see some cake layers cooling right side up and others upside-down (just depended on how I was able to get it out of the pan and how many cooling racks I had available to flip things over).   

Vanilla cake base recipe: 
Mix together with a whisk in a large bowl until smooth:
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup white rice flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup oil 
2 tsp vanilla bean paste (or extract)
6 large eggs

Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 F until lightly browned and spongy.  For a 1" thick 9" cake pan, bake 15-18 minutes.  Recommended guidelines for bake times are mentioned above.  After baking, let cakes cool a few minutes in the pan before removing from pan to a cooling rack.  Remove parchment paper from cake and let cakes cool completely before frosting.

Lemon cake base recipe:
Mix together with a whisk in a large bowl until smooth:
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup white rice flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup milk
1/2 cup oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp fresh orange zest (I like to use organic oranges and scrub them well)
2 tsp lemon zest (I like to use organic lemons and scrub them well)
9-18 drops lemon essential oil (I love the Doterra oils best for cooking)
6 large eggs

Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 F until lightly browned and spongy. For a 1" thick 9" cake pan, bake 15-18 minutes.  Recommended guidelines for bake times are mentioned above.  After baking, let cakes cool a few minutes in the pan before removing from pan to a cooling rack.  Remove parchment paper from cake and let cakes cool completely before frosting.

Let cakes fully cool, then fill/frost with either chocolate marshmallow frosting (for vanilla sponge) or strawberry frosting (for lemon sponge).

Chocolate marshmallow frosting: 
Beat in a mixer until fluffy and smooth:
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 cups powdered sugar
1 - 2 tsp vanilla extract
1 - 2 cup marshmallow fluff

Strawberry frosting:
Beat in a mixer until fluffy and smooth:
1 cup butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp milk
6 Tbsp high quality jam (with strawberry bits in it)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups marshmallow fluff

Place bottom cake layer in the middle of a cardboard serving platter.  I like to put a dollop of frosting in the center of a layer and carefully spread to the outer edges.  Carefully place the next layer on top of the frosting.  Repeat with each layer, until you have your 4 layers stacked neatly on top of each other.  For my large 14" cake, one batch of strawberry frosting only filled 1 1/2 layers, as you can see here.

The 14" lemon sponge being filled with strawberry frosting.  It took 2 1/2 batches of strawberry frosting to fill this huge tier.   

I prefer to not over-fill cakes, and instead aim for a thinner filling of frosting.  Once you've filled and stacked the layers, then spread the frosting around the outside edges of the cake until it's smoothed, adding a little extra where needed to get a smooth look.  Be generous around the outside edges of the cake now, so you don't have to use as much to frosting the outside of your cakes later.

The 11" vanilla sponge being filled with chocolate marshmallow frosting, ready to chill. 

The 9" lemon sponge filled with strawberry frosting, and ready to have the outside smoothed out.

Once cakes have been filled and outer edges smoothed, place them in a refrigerator to chill for 30-60 minutes, as shown in this picture:

If you are making these in advance (a few weeks is fine for a bigger wedding cake), once the cakes have chilled a bit, you can place them in the freezer just until the outer edges are hardened.  Then, you can wrap each cake in several layers of plastic wrap, making sure the plastic wrap is firm to the surfaces of the cake.  Then, wrap the entire cake in aluminum foil, and finally wrap it all completely in plastic wrap one more time.  This will help eliminate any condensation build-up when you're defrosting the cakes.

Cakes in the freezer to chill before being wrapped in plastic wrap, foil, and another layer of plastic wrap.  They were then frozen for several days leading up to the wedding. 

If you have chilled cake(s) in the refrigerator, you can make frosting below and frost them straight from the refrigerator.  If you have frozen the cake tiers, then on the morning of the wedding, remove cakes from freezer and place on counter 2 hours.  Wipe off condensation with paper towel every 30 minutes.  After two hours, remove the outer layer of plastic wrap and the aluminum foil, leaving the inner layers of plastic wrap firmly attached to the surface.  Let the cakes fully thaw (another 1-3 hours, depending on the width of your cake.), continuing to wipe off any condensation build-up. 

Final Decorating!!!
Prepare frosting of your choice OR use my favorite vanilla marshmallow frosting recipe, below.  Begin by frosting the outer sides of the cakes with a thin layer of frosting first, in case of any crumbs, and then add extra frosting and smooth the tops and sides of the remainder of the cake.   Don't worry about piping around the bottom edges of the cake until it is arranged/set up.

Vanilla Marshmallow Frosting for Frosting/Decorating White Wedding Cake:

Beat thoroughly until light and fluffy:
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup marshmallow fluff
1 tsp vanilla extract

I made 6-7 batches of vanilla marshmallow frosting for this 4-tiered wedding cake.  You don't need to bother cleaning the mixing bowl between batches.  Just beat until fluffy, and put frosting into a large metal bowl, keeping it covered with plastic wrap while you beat the next batch.  It goes pretty quickly this way.

5" tier, sprinkled around the edges with decorative sugar (make sure to check if you have a soy allergy, I only found one brand was safe to use)

9" tier was covered and just used a simple decorative edged scraper to finish.

11" tier was coated and similarly finished to the 5" tier.

White dowels were cut and inserted into the cake to hold up each layer. (Personally, I'd recommend just buying the pre-cut dowels and hoping for the best height-wise. Cutting even dowels is quite tricky.).  Once the cakes were carefully set in place, the bottoms of each tier were decorated with additional piped vanilla marshmallow frosting.  The only tier not getting this extra bit of piping was the 9", because the board was meant for an 8" cake and so didn't leave enough room on the edges for the piping.  It worked out perfectly once roses/mint were added, and no one noticed. 

Freshly trimmed roses and trimmed pieces from fresh peppermint plants were used to decorate the cake.  Using food-friendly fresh flowers and mint work perfectly because the pieces could be stuck directly into the frosting/cake, until firmly attached.  The mint was trimmed earlier in the day and kept fresh in water.  I'd dry the edges before inserting into the cake.  The roses were cut off the rose bushes a few hours before placing on the cake.   The flowers were placed atop the cake during cocktail hour (aka, as last minute as possible).  It looked fabulous all evening!

Mint sprigs were stuck directly into the cake in a cascading manner.  Then, roses were placed throughout, creating a garland-style effect.  Sprigs and roses were just stuck in, using stems to hold them in place. The benefit of using food-safe, fresh, edible decorations.  And, my dress for the wedding matched the cake! 

The final cake with cascades of fresh mint and roses! It stayed in an air conditioned location as long as possible, then was moved outside shortly before guests were going to enter the eating areas.

The lemon-strawberry/vanilla-chocolate cake ready to be admired - then eaten!  The table was decorated with candles and sea glass.  There was a glass for the bride's bouquet set nearby.  We lucked out with matching roses in the bouquet and on the cake! 

Extra Desserts: 
Alongside the wedding cake, we also served additional gluten-free, soy-free, and nut-free desserts!  They were happily devoured as everyone danced the night away in celebration.

My daughter (6) and son (11) each helped whip up these desserts - we made a double-batch of each:

1. lemon shortbread cookies with key lime curd piped on top (made with fresh lemons and key lime juice)
     --The key lime curd was made the evening before the wedding, then piped on in the morning.  The topped cookies were kept on platters in the refrigerator until serving.

2. mint chocolate chip cookies (made with soy-free, nut-free chocolate chips)
      --These were made in advance and frozen.  They were plated the day of the wedding, and kept on the counter covered with plastic wrap until being served. 

3. mini cinnamon rolls (drizzled with frosting on the day of the wedding)
     --These were made in advance and frozen.  They were plated and allowed to thaw an hour before frosting the morning of the wedding, then kept loosely covered until .  

4. party-sized mint chocolate brownies (served in triangle shapes)
     --These were made in advanced, cooled, sliced, and then frozen in flat layers.  They were plated the morning of the wedding and kept covered in the refrigerator until serving.  (One of my all-time favorite brownies)

A few trays of cooling mini cinnamon rolls and lemon shortbread cookies.  Can you believe a six year old helped with these?  She was an expert cookie scooper.

My son, happy he could help with some of the cooking for the big wedding - we made mint chocolate chip cookies, mini cinnamon rolls, and party-sized mint chocolate brownies. A happy morning! 

Cooling mini cinnamon rolls, mint chocolate chip cookies, and a tray of mint chocolate brownies. Yum!

A final picture of the wildly successful cake - just for fun.