Quantities of butter icing for cakes

[Anngel123]

Hello all. I have to make a 4 tier wedding cake. (the bottom tier is fruit cake) For three of the tiers I want to fill with butter cream and use a little to help the icing stick (they don't like marzipan). The cakes will be 10", 8" and 6". I would welcome any idea how much butter Icing I should make in total. Also, does anyone have a recipe that does not have quite so much butter (ie more like the one you buy in the shops) Many thanks for any help :)

[Quassia]

Hi Anngel ..
So the other three tiers are sponge? This recipe is sufficient quantity to cover the 7" cake. I would double the quantity for each of the second and third cake which would leave you some over to stick your icing on. I've never used buttercream to attach icing before though? I've only ever used a brushing of jam.

[Quassia]

sufficient for your 6" cake ..

[welshlibranr]

This is the frosting recipe I use both to sandwich together and coat an eight inch sponge cake generously, it's firmer than butter cream, and I prefer it, you need 1lb -2ozs icing sugar, 4 Tablespoons milk, 3 ozs butter (softened) one and a half teaspoons vanilla extract or any flavouring of your choice (optional)...add the icing sugar to the softened butter and milk a little at a time, add flavouring, when all added beat well with an electric whisk, the frosting should stand in soft peaks, then can be spread or piped onto cakes.....not sure how much you'll need to make really, depends how thickly you want to spread it, but at least 2 batches, good luck.............

[Anngel123]

Sorry, I was unclear. The butter icing is inside and outside all three cakes. Thanks for your help Quassia. did you mean to give a recipe?? I have a recipe for butter cream which is 3 oz butter 4oz icing sugare but that is a bit rich. (an expensive!)

[Quassia]

^ Sounds more what you're after Anngel .. firmer consistency!

[Quassia]

lol ! ... sorry Anngel ... http://www.therecipec...7/05/08/butter-icing/

[Quassia]

welshlis recipe looks good though !

[Anngel123]

thanks Welsh and Quassia. So kind. I will let you know how it goes. :)

[welshlibranr]

should be fine Anngel, I use it all the time, it's easy to work with, much better than buttercream, and it keeps it's shape too!.....remember to put cakes somewhere cool for a while after you out on the frosting just to let the outer edge set, and then keep in an airtight container if possible.........it's really good if you flavour and colour it (as I do often) and pipe it onto cupcakes with a very large nozzle.........

[atalanta]

If you pile 4 cakes on top of each other, the cream filling is going to ooze out.You will need columns which have spikes going through all the cakes to stop the weight of the top 2 sponge cakes squeezing down on the lower sponge one. If you don't, the squeezing will probably happen lopsidedly and the whole lot will fall over.
I suggets you hire a stand which displays each cake separately in an arabesque shape.