Almond Raspberry Wedding Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream

One of my best friends, Lindsay, got married last weekend. Thankfully, despite everything going on with COVID, she managed to plan a beautiful wedding. Lara and I were honored to be able to make her a wedding cake. It was my first tiered cake which was so much fun to plan and execute. Thankfully, we had a couple of days off prior to the wedding to make the cake. This made the whole process stress-free and run smoothly.

We also made about 5 dozen cupcakes to supplement the cake. We used the same cake recipe for both the wedding cake and the cupcakes. The same recipe I made for my cousin’s wedding about 10 years ago. It’s still the best for a wedding cake, whatever form that might take (layered cake, sheet cake, cupcake)!

I would estimate that everything, cake and cupcakes, took about 2 full days to make and put together. This is with two of us working together on it. We had a lot of fun planning everything out, prepping, baking, and decorating. It was definitely something I would do again if asked!

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Martha Stewart’s Wedding Cake
Slightly adapted from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook
Ingredients

  • 3 cups cake flour (I did 360 grams, then took out 3 tablespoons and replaced with 3 tablespoons of corn starch)

  • 2 teaspoons baking powder

  • 1 teaspoon salt

  • 3 sticks butter, at room temperature

  • 2 cups (400 grams) sugar, plus another 1/4 cup sugar (50 grams)

  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 teaspoon almond extract, optional)

  • 1 cup (226 grams) 2% or whole milk

  • 8 large egg whites

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 9-by-2 inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Dust with flour, tapping out the excess. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and 2 cups (400 grams) of sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla extract (and almond extract, if using). With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour; beat until just combined. Transfer mixture to a large bowl; set aside.

In the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites on low speed until foamy. With mixer running, gradually add remaining 1/4 cup (50 grams) sugar; beat on high until stiff, flossy peaks form, about 4 minutes. Do not overbeat. Gently fold a third of the egg-white mixture into the butter-flour mixture until combined. Gently fold in the remaining whites.

Divide batter evenly between prepared pans and smooth with an offset spatula. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until cakes are golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the centers comes out with just a few moist crumbs. 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool 20 minutes. Invert cakes onto rack; peel off parchment. Reinvert cakes and let them cool completely, top sides up.

Notes:

  • I made 2 full recipes of the cake for the tiered cake. Three 9-inch layers, and two 6-inch layers.

  • I made 2 full recipes of the Swiss meringue buttercream which was the perfect amount for this cake. However, I ended up using very little between the layers of cake. Just a very thin layer of the buttercream underneath the raspberry preserves to make sure the jam didn’t soak into the cake and make it soggy. Then I ended up using some leftover American buttercream as the frosting “dam”. If I had had to use some of the Swiss meringue as the dam instead there still probably would have been enough to frost the whole tiered cake, but it would have been tight. So if I were to do this again and needed to use the Swiss meringue in between the layers I would probably up the frosting recipe just a tad - add in 1-2 more egg whites and the corresponding amounts of sugar and butter.

  • If I had wanted to do any decorating with frosting then I definitely would have needed to make more.

  • I added 1 teaspoon of almond extract to each batch of cake and it was definitely noticeable. I really loved it, but if you want a more subtle flavor then I would only use 1/2 teaspoon.

  • I used a 6 inch cake round lightly pressed into the top of the frosted 9-inch cake to mark out where the second tier would go. I then inserted four cake dowels (cut to the height of the 9-inch cake) about an inch and a half in from the edge of the marked edge. Finally, I used a skewer the was 1-2 inches taller than the 9-inch cake as the center support to hold both tiers together. Note to self, put a hole in the center of the 6 inch cake round before frosting the top tier. I forgot to do this and had to use a new cake round, transferring the frosted tier to the new round before placing on the bottom tier.

  • Cut the 6-inch cake round slightly smaller so that it doesn’t stick out from under the later. After placing this tier onto the bottom tier, use a piping bag with pain circle tip to fill in a small line of icing between the two layers.