Tuesday, June 11, 2013

How to: Double Barrel Cake, this is tall cake, fellas!!!!








 Double barrel cakes are extreme!! these cakes are super tall: one single tier can be taller than 8" and if you dare to build the right structure, it can be even taller. These are great for making bird cages cakes or simply to go for an elegant and sleek design on your cake. But How I can make this cake, and how it can hold all the way up??

 If you dare to build it, I know you can , here I will show you how easy it is to accomplish.


To start: If you bake on 2" tall pans, like I do, then you will need  4 cakes ( on the desired diameter) baked  on a 2" tall pan . lets say 4 cakes 8"x2" . By request, I did not torte the cake as much as I do, any way torting your cake in many layers, brings less stability to your cake.  Remember  to also  use a firm cake recipe, pound cake is always great for extreme cakes.



Second important Thing on your cake: dowels!!!! there is no cake with out dowels ( at least no extreme ones) I use: drinking water PVC pipes which I cut with a PVC cutter , or hollow dowels from Wilton.com  or simple bubble tea straws less pricy BTW.  And this is the equation for dowels (at least the one I use):

                   The bigger the cake  =   The bigger the dowel 

 Cake diameter-2

6" cake = 4 bubble straw 

10" cake = 8 hollow plastic rods   etc...




                

How many rods, dowels or straws you will need also depend on the weight you will put on the next tiers. Put better, bigger dowels on your bottom tier if you are planning to put 5 more tiers on top.








Next step is to place a smaller cardboard (I use Foam core always) on the top of your first cake. This means if your cake is 8" diameter, then you will place a 7" diameter foam core or cake cardboard .



Remember this cake is based on 4 cakes of 2 " tall each cake, the rest of your layers will be placed on top of this board. What's the board for?? stability !!!!



I forgot to place a ruler next to this lady so you can check how tall and elegant this baby is!!!! but I know she was taller than 9"  this was a 12" diameter double barrel cake, good to serve 100 guests.  This cake was all buttercream with coconut on it, it looked soo heavenly !!! and romantic!!!


In the case that you are covering in fondant , best way to go will be  GANACHE!!! it will stay perfectly sturdy!! best way to cover it  with fondant  you can find it HERE


 Lovely and Heavenly Cake for  Mr & Mrs Stephen McGuffin

6 comments:

  1. Hi, I have had a ridiculous week and in the midst of exhaustion I forgot to add a board in between the layers of my bottom tier. The bottom tier is an 8" round x 5" high torted and filled with a peanut butter frosting. A 6" round 4.5 " high cake will be going on top . the cake will be covered in fondant and decorated. It has to travel about 30min . ***question: do you think my cake is going to live? Or do I need to try and take it apart ( not totally sure if I can do that b/c the peanut butter frosting is pretty sticky and firm). TIA

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  2. If I understand right, your 8" x 5" does not have a board in between layers. But it is only 5" tall so it is not super tall. This construction on the double barrel cake is mostly for cakes taller than 8" height. I have done cake 5" tall and they are fine. The worst is basically the heat and humidity, so make sure it is well chilled before stacking.Hope all goes right.

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  3. Hi, I have had a ridiculous week and in the midst of exhaustion I forgot to add a board in between the layers of my bottom tier. The bottom tier is an 8" round x 5" high torted and filled with a peanut butter frosting. A 6" round 4.5 " high cake will be going on top . the cake will be covered in fondant and decorated. It has to travel about 30min . ***question: do you think my cake is going to live? Or do I need to try and take it apart ( not totally sure if I can do that b/c the peanut butter frosting is pretty sticky and firm). TIA

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi! I've just realised that i forgot to put a centre rod down the middle of my double barrel cake. I have put supports for the bottom cake (as pictured in your tutorial) and put the next cake on top - I've ganached it all together ready for fondant. I'm now worried that when I transport it it will slide and crack.... should I look at inserting a rod straight down the middle of both cakes to be safe? TIA

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