How To Make A Square Wedding Cake

This is everything I wish I had known about how to make square a wedding cake when I made my first one in 2009. I'm re-making that exact disaster start to finish using my white cake recipe layered, stacked, and covered in fondant.

My First Wedding Cake Disaster

I was actually proud of this cake when I made it. It was the first wedding cake I ever made back in 2009. The cake was a 12 inch, 10 inch, and 8 inch tiered design. The 12 inch cracked because I didn't level the layers, so I baked a new one. Then I proceeded to stack the new cake warm. You can imagine what happened next. Yep, it cracked again.

Then Dan drove this unchilled wedding cake for two hours to an outdoor beach wedding. Bumps and turns and car vibrations led to that bottom tier turning into a warm crumbly mess. Needless to say, this cake did not do so well. The things I wish I knew when I was a beginner.

I had no idea about how to stack and frost a cake, how to get sharp corners, how to chill my cakes, or how to cover square cakes in fondant. The worst part was that I knew it looked bad but I didn't know how to fix it.

If you struggle with any of those things, this post is for you. Recently, I posted a picture of this first wedding cake on social media to show that everyone starts somewhere. People joked that I should remake it, so I took the challenge.

Back then there was no social media for me to learn from, only books. Books that would say "stack your layers, frost, and make it smooth." I had no idea what that meant or why my cakes didn't match the photos in the books. But that didn't stop me.

Wedding Cake Timeline

When I'm baking wedding cakes for a Saturday delivery, I start baking on Wednesday and have everything crumb-coated and frosted by Thursday so all of Friday is decorating time. I always try to have my cakes fully decorated the day before delivery so if I run into problems, I have time to fix them.

Here is my standard timeline for a Saturday wedding:

• Tuesday - Review the cake design, make a shopping list, and order anything online I'll need.
• Wednesday - Grocery shop for supplies. Make the buttercream and fondant ahead.
• Thursday - Bake the cake layers, chill in the freezer, fill them, and apply the crumb coat. Rest in the refrigerator overnight.
• Friday - Apply the final coat of buttercream and chill. Make buttercream flowers and freeze them. Cover in fondant, assemble, and decorate the cake.
• Saturday - Deliver the cake.

If your wedding is on a different day, just shift the timeline back by a few days.

What You Need To Make A Wedding Cake

Here's what I used to make this wedding cake. If you're working from your own design, you may need different sized boards, colors, or amounts of frosting and fondant.

Edible Materials

I covered my cakes in fondant using the paneling method, but you can also use the one-piece method.

• White cake layers, baked, chilled, and wrapped (I made two double batches of my white cake recipe to get two 10 inch, two 8 inch, and two 6 inch square layers, all 2 inches tall)
• 10 lbs of white fondant (I made two batches of my LMF Marshmallow Fondant; you can also use any store-bought fondant. I prefer Renshaw Americas brand.)
• Easy buttercream frosting (I made two double batches)

I applied my frozen buttercream flowers to the cake with a dab of buttercream. I tried to create the same flow of flowers down the corners of the cake. Alternating the dark flowers with lighter flowers.

Once my cake is completed, I put the whole thing back in the fridge to stay chilled. Try a gold drip cake finish for a modern wedding look

Recommended Tools

• I used acrylic disks to get my cakes really square, but they're optional. You can also try frosting with the upside-down method, which I used for years. It takes a little longer but works just as well.
• Fondant smoothers
• 10 inch, 8 inch, and 6 inch square cake pans, 2 inches tall (I have Magic Line pans)
• Parchment paper
• 10 inch, 8 inch, and 6 inch square acrylic disks (optional)
• Brand new razor blade
• Square cake cardboards (if using acrylics, cut your boards to be 9.5 x 9.5 inches, 7.5 x 7.5 inches, and 5.5 x 5.5 inches)
• Large serrated knife
• Offset spatula
• Bench scraper
• Thick plastic milkshake straws
• 12 inch wooden cake board or cake drum (I like Cakeboards Avare. Don't use flimsy cardboard for a 3-tier cake or it could crack and collapse)
• Piping tips for buttercream flowers - #4 round, #366 small leaf tip, #104 petal tip
• Flower nail
• Turntable
• Turntable extender (optional but makes it easier to frost large layers)

How To Make A Square Wedding Cake Step-By-Step

For exact technique, watch the video tutorial above. Here's the high-level flow:

1. Bake the cake layers. Use my white cake recipe (or WASC if you prefer a doctored mix) baked in good-quality square pans. Cool, wrap, and chill or flash freeze the layers so they're firm before you start working with them.

2. Fill and crumb coat each tier. Trim the brown edges, tort the layers, stack with buttercream filling, and apply a thin crumb coat to seal in crumbs. Chill until firm.

3. Frost the final coat. Apply a smooth final layer of buttercream to each chilled tier. Use square acrylics for sharp corners or the upside-down method. Chill again.
   

4. Cover each tier in fondant (optional). Roll out conditioned fondant and either panel each tier or cover in one piece. Smooth with fondant smoothers, then chill.

5. Stack the tiers. Insert milkshake straw supports into the bottom and middle tiers, lift each tier into place with an offset spatula, fill gaps with buttercream, and run a center dowel through the whole cake for stability.

6. Decorate. Pipe details and apply pre-made buttercream flowers (made ahead and frozen) according to your design. For a modern look, try a gold drip finish instead. Chill until delivery.
   

7. Deliver chilled. Transport the cake on a flat, level surface in an air-conditioned vehicle. Aim for 1 to 2 hours before the ceremony so the cake has time to come up to temperature without sagging in the heat.
   

Common Wedding Cake Problems To Avoid

No sketch or plan before you start. Wedding cakes are too complicated to wing it. Sketch the design, list every decoration, and make sure the design is buildable in advance.

Stacking warm cakes. This was my first-cake mistake. Warm cakes collapse under the weight of the tiers above. Always chill or freeze your layers before frosting and stacking.

Skipping the dowel through the center. Without a center dowel, a cake can lean or topple in transit. The 30 seconds it takes to insert one is worth it.

Cardboard or supports that are too flimsy. Use sturdy cake boards under each tier and a wooden cake drum at the base. A 3-tier cake is heavy and flimsy supports will collapse.

Cake sweating after taking out of the fridge. Don't touch it. Let the surface dry naturally with a fan blowing across it. Touching wet fondant smudges the surface.

Delivering an unchilled cake. Warm cakes shift, slide, and crack on the road. A well-chilled cake holds up to vibration and looks crisp on arrival.

Driving the cake on your lap. Almost guaranteed disaster. The cake should be on a flat, level surface in the car with the AC blasting.

Final Thoughts

Making a wedding cake is not as simple as some articles make it sound. When I was first learning, every tutorial I read made it seem easy. When problems came up, I realized I didn't have all the information I needed for success.

I hope this long post didn't discourage you. As you can see, I was no expert when I tried my first cake, but you get better with practice. Anyone can make a beautiful wedding cake. The biggest thing is to give yourself time, plan ahead, and trust the process. The first cake will not be perfect, but it'll be way better than my 2009 disaster, I promise you that.

Square Wedding Cake FAQs