2008 May | DIY Bride

May29 1

Hangin’ With The Cool Kids at Alltop

Are you hopelessly addicted to wedding blogs? Perhaps you’re just searching for new, wonderful, and fun blogs to follow? Well, my friends, let me introduce you to the weddings list at alltop.com. It’s chock full of incredible wedding-related blogs that are sure to inspire, educate, and entertain you.

Alltop is a site that’s owned by the ever-awesome Guy Kawasaki (author, founding Mac evangelist, marketing guru). In addition to weddings, there are a number of other categories to keep you in touch with the best of the blogging world.

Both Liene from Blue Orchid Designs and photographer Christine Tremoulet alerted me that DIY Bride was on the alltops list. I’m humbled to be included in such amazing company.

May29 9

DIY Cake Month: To tier or not to tier?

Posted by Khris in DIY Projects & Tutorials

After you’ve gathered a few design ideas, looked at pan shapes, and determined the number of servings, the next question you’ll need to answer: Stacked, sheet, or tiered?

Why is this important? Not only does it determine the overall design of the cake(s), it affects other choices as serving plates/trays and building materials. The tier style will also determine the kind of cake you’ll need. Some kinds of cakes, such angel food, are too light to be used in cakes that are are decorated and stacked or carved into unique shapes.

The basic types:

Sheet cake: A single flat cake, usually rectangular. [image: Earlene's Cakes]

Stacked cake: Multi-levels of cake, stacked on top of each other. These cakes are sometimes separated by a hidden support system that prevents the cakes from caving in and keeps the layers in place. Many, however, are held together with dowels and are stacked directly on top of each other. [image: Jennifer Wasiak from Brides.com]

Tiered cake: Multi-levels of cake separated by columns or other structural elements with space in between levels. [image: Cater It Simple @ flickr]

Cake Density:

When considering your cake tier style, the next thing is to work out what kind of cake is going to work best for your design.

Light, airy cakes (not good for cake-on-cake stacking or heavy decoration): angel food, sponge, chiffon.

Mid-density, all purprose cakes (can be stacked but will need support): basic butter batters, genoise.

Heavy (great for stacked, carved, and heavily decorated): Pound, fruit cake, carrot cake, pumpkin. [Note: many mid-density cakes can be made heavier by altering the ingredients. We'll get to that in another post.]

May28 5

Catch DIY Bride In Modern Bride & Cosmo Bride UK

Posted by Khris in DIYBride News

I’m very proud to be featured in two of the hottest wedding magazines on the planet right now.

One of the projects from the book, a super fun save-the-date, in the June/July issue of Modern Bride.

For those of you in the UK, do rush out and grab a copy of the June/July issue of Cosmopolitan Bride. The magazine re-design is gorgeous. I have a tiny section of tips in 50 Fabulous Finishing Touches article.

May27 0

DIY Cake Month: Slices – Size Matters

Posted by Khris in Food + Catering

One of the most important thing in determining your DIY cake design is knowing the amount of servings you’ll need. This will determine the pan size, amount of ingredients, decor, plates/napkins/forks, etc.

It’s a safe bet to have 1 serving per guest. Some couples go a little lower because not everyone will want cake. I think it’s better to have a little left over than run the risk of not having enough.

A word about serving sizes: The standard wedding cake slice, 1″ wide x 2″ long x 4″ high, is typically much smaller than a piece of cake you’d get at a party or other event. Doesn’t seem very big, does it?

When you go shopping for pans, you’ll need to know how many slices you can get out of each size you buy. For example, a 3″ tall, 8″ diameter round pan will yield about 24 slices. If you’re serving 150 people, what size pans do you need for a 3 tier stacked cake?

Don’t worry; sizing a cake is not as complicated as it seems. There are some fantastic resources for determining cake size that show serving sizes and provide cutting guides to show you how to get the maximum amount of slices per tier.

Wilton’s Cake Cutting Guide (Weddings)
Better Homes & Gardens Downloadable Cutting Guides
PastryWiz’s Cutting Guides

Of course you can serve slices as big as you please BUT it’s important that the person(s) cutting your cake knows how big to cut the slices. Most caterers and cake pros can do standard slices in their sleep. However, your auntie or whomever is left in charge of the cake may not be as slice savvy as the professionals. I highly recommend that you whip up a trial tier and practice cutting with your designed cake person.

May21 0