Step by Step Guide to Baking and Decorating a Wedding Cake

Here is the finished wedding cake, complete with roses and mini calla lilies decorating it, and a piped icing monogram.

If you wish to make this wedding cake, here is a sample schedule of how much time it takes:

Step 1: Baking the cake: 1 hour of active time + 1 hour of baking
Cooling: 30 minutes + several hours
Slicing the tiers into layers: 5 minutes

Step 2: Adding filling: 5 minutes for each layer, so approximately 30 minutes total

Step 3: Adding cream cheese icing: 2 minutes per layer, so approximately 15 minutes total

Step 4: Creating a "crumb coat": 5 minutes for each tier, so 15 minutes total

Cooling "crumb coat" layers: 10 to 30 minutes

Step 5: Creating supports with straws and stacking layers: 5 minutes

Step 6:Adding final layer of icing and smoothing it: 20 minutes to 1 hour, depending on level of smoothness desired.

Step 7:Decorating the wedding cake: the sky is the limit. It only took me 5 minutes to add the flowers seen here, but if you are creating elaborate designs it could take you much longer.

Step 8: The wedding cake platter: again, this will depend on what you choose, but can take as little as 5 minutes.

Step 9: Adding a monogram: 5 to 30 minutes, depending on your previous experience.

If you were to make this wedding cake for a Saturday afternoon wedding, you might bake the cakes on Thursday night, then on Friday spend an hour completing steps 2-4. On Saturday morning, transport the cakes and supplies to the site, then complete the remaining steps.