baking 4 tier sponge wedding cake

lowy59 Whilst I do have a lot of baking experience and I commend you for your taking on this on but I would seriously think again about it,I do think that unless you are a very experienced lady in this field I would leave it to the experts on something as important as a wedding cake.
When I am doing something (say a carrot cake) to stop the edges burning I bring up the lining paper around the edges until the last 1/2hr of baking to stop any burning and use a pallette knife to take the mixture to the edges so there is a shallow well in the centre which will even out on completion,I would do 3 separate layers myself rather than take the risk of not being cooked right through,the less you have in the cake tin the less chance of it sinking.I wish I lived near you and I would give you a hand trying out the recipes.glamma x

thank you so much for your speedy reply, ive been baking the individual layers lately, just thought there would be a shortcut and I could do it quicker. Im dreading this to be honest with you but my daughter insists because she loves my baking. Ive a bit of experience, ive been baking xmas, simnel and birthday cakes for 30 yrs, but only for family. The decorating of this wedding cake is to be buttercream and very informal so Im hopeful I can do it!!! The buttercream will have white chocolate added so when it sets the icing will be slightly firmer. Do you think I could ice the cake on the Thursday (wedding Saturday) or should I wait until Friday? Appreciate any advice you can give.

Oh, another thing I forgot to mention. I bought new cake tins in Lakeland and they are very heavy, loose bottomed, and very deep. Maybe I should try less heavy tins as I think these might be better for fruit cakes and Im not doing any of these, just 4 different sponges. What do you think, my reasoning was that they would defend the edges whilst the entire cake cooked?

Sponges can only take so much weight - so you may need to introduce some sort of structure such as hidden cake boards etc. I've done large plain cakes but they need to be genoa sponges otherwise there is too much weight with the classic 'victoria' receipe.

I seriously think you might have to get yourself a book on the subject as my memories of watching the 'Great British Bake Off' were of structural disasters as the contestants did not fully realise how much reinforcement was needed.

im planning to put dowels in each tier with the 3 upper tiers on thin cake boards wo that no cake is actually sitting on another but on the dowels which will be inserted into the cake below. Is this the right way to do it?

Travel is not the place to get cake baking advice.

Try one of the specialist forums on the Internet there will be plenty out there.

Best of luck

But the title of the thread will appeal to the cake baking experts on GN, surely. As, indeed, we can see here.

Sounds to me as if you've got it all under control Lowy59! I agree posts are the best option for support and stability but I think the cakes these days do sit one on top of the other without boards.

You could probably make iron Thursday if you store each layer then construct the finished cake in situ on the day. I bet it will look and taste smashing. Your daughter must have every confidence in you ... No bride would risk a disaster of any kind on her big day would she!

It on, not iron (stupidipad)