Creating A White Birch Wedding Cake: A Step-By-Step Guide

Birch tree cakes are a popular choice for weddings, especially for couples who love nature and rusticity. The cakes are designed to look like birch wood, with a white, bark-like exterior. They can be made using either buttercream or fondant, with the former being more popular due to its ability to create a textured, rustic look. Creating a birch tree cake involves baking multiple layers of cake, stacking them with buttercream, and then using a combination of white and brown buttercream or fondant to create the distinctive birch bark pattern. The cake can then be decorated with fresh florals, branches, greenery, or fruit to match the wedding's aesthetic.

Characteristics of a White Birch Wedding Cake

How to create the bark effect

Birch tree cakes are a popular choice for weddings, especially for couples who love nature and the outdoors. The cakes are designed to look like birch wood, with a rustic, white-textured exterior that replicates the bark of a birch tree.

Step 1: Prepare the Cake Layers

Bake two 6-inch cakes and slice them into four layers. You can use your favourite cake recipe for this. Once the cakes are baked and cooled, split them and soak the layers with sugar syrup.

Step 2: Create the Bark Pattern

To create the distinctive birch bark pattern, you will need buttercream frosting in various shades of brown, a turntable, and paintbrushes. You can either use pre-made buttercream in different shades or mix your own by adding food colouring to white buttercream. The shades you will need are light brown, medium brown, and dark brown.

First, stack the cake layers with buttercream and apply a crumb coat. Place the cake in the fridge or freezer until the buttercream sets. Then, add a final layer of buttercream all over the cake, keeping it slightly uneven to create a bark-like texture.

Now, it's time to create the bark pattern. Using a narrow paintbrush and dark brown buttercream, add short and slightly longer dashes around the cake, creating a pattern that mimics the markings of a birch tree. You can also use a brown gel colour mixed with cooled boiled water for this step. As you are working with buttercream, be gentle and careful not to pull the buttercream off the cake. It's easy to fix any mistakes by gently pushing the buttercream back into place.

Step 3: Add Tree Rings

Using a tapered spatula or a butter knife, create grooves on the top of the cake to mimic tree rings. You can make these unevenly spaced and slightly different depths for a more interesting texture. Spin the turntable slowly while carving the rings to create a more natural, organic look.

Step 4: Smooth and Finish

Use a straight icing spatula to smooth out the buttercream and create a seamless finish. Gently glide the spatula over the sides and top of the cake, ensuring that the buttercream is evenly distributed.

And there you have it! A beautiful white birch wedding cake with an elegant bark effect. You can further decorate the cake with fresh florals, greenery, berries, or even small sugar craft sculptures for a whimsical woodland-inspired creation.

Choosing the right frosting

The choice of frosting is crucial for a white birch wedding cake, as it forms the base for the birch bark design and overall aesthetic. Here are some tips and options to consider when choosing the right frosting:

Buttercream Frosting:

• Buttercream is a popular choice for birch tree cakes. It provides a natural, rustic look and is simple to work with.
• When creating a white birch effect, opt for white buttercream as the primary colour. This will serve as the perfect base for the birch bark design.
• Prepare different shades of brown buttercream (light, medium, and dark) by adding food colouring or using chocolate buttercream. These shades will be used to create the bark details.
• Buttercream frosting is sensitive to heat, so it's best to keep the cake refrigerated until serving, especially for outdoor weddings.

Fondant:

• Fondant is another option favoured by some bakers for birch tree cakes. It offers more flexibility in terms of manipulation and airbrush colouring.
• Fondant can be used to create a cleaner, sharper finish for the birch bark design. However, some people may find it less tasty than buttercream.
• If you choose to work with fondant, consider the climate and conditions of your wedding venue, as fondant may also be sensitive to temperature and humidity.

Other Options:

• For a unique twist, you can create an edible birch finish by painting melted dark chocolate and white coating on parchment paper. Break it into shards and attach them to the sides of your cake.
• You can also experiment with other types of frosting, such as cream cheese frosting, to achieve a different flavour profile while still creating a beautiful birch tree design.

Remember, the key to choosing the right frosting is considering the overall aesthetic, taste, and practicality for your wedding. Birch tree cakes offer a lot of flexibility, so feel free to get creative and make it your own!

Adding decorations

Once you have your white birch cake, you can add decorations to your liking. You can add buttercream frosting leaves, real leaves, sculpted or fondant creatures or mushrooms, initials, sugar ferns, or anything else you like. You can also add fresh florals, branches, greenery, or even fresh fruit.

If you want to add a Halloween twist to your cake, you could add a chocolate axe and some forest fruits blood.

For a winter-themed cake, you could add flocked pine needles and sugared cranberries.

If you want to add a pop of colour, add some citrus fruit or bold blooms.

For a simple, rustic look, add some flowers, leaves, herbs, or ganache.

Colouring the buttercream

The birch tree cake is designed to look like a piece of wood cut from a birch tree. The exterior is usually white or off-white, with brown marks throughout to replicate the pattern of a birch tree.

To create the brown marks, you can use chocolate buttercream or brown food colouring. If you are using food colouring, it is recommended to use liquid gel food colouring as it takes fewer drops to achieve the desired colour and has less impact on the flavour of the frosting. However, any type of food colouring will work.

To make light brown buttercream, add approximately three drops of food colouring to one cup of buttercream. For a darker shade, add around five drops of food colouring to half a cup of buttercream, and for an even darker shade, add about 20 drops of food colouring to one cup of buttercream. You can always adjust and add more colouring to reach your desired shade.

If you are using chocolate buttercream, simply substitute or add it to the brown buttercream. You can also use melted chocolate to create a rustic look by spreading it sporadically around the cake.

Using fondant instead of buttercream

If you're looking to make a white birch wedding cake using fondant instead of buttercream, here are some detailed steps to guide you through the process:

Baking the Cake:

Firstly, you'll need to bake your cake layers. For a birch tree cake, it's recommended to bake 2 to 3 layers of 6" diameter cakes. You can use your favourite recipe, but a moist spice cake or a chocolate cake can complement the birch tree design well.

Stacking and Crumb Coating:

Once your cakes are baked and cooled, split them and soak the layers with sugar syrup. Then, stack them with layers of buttercream or fondant between each cake layer. Apply a crumb coat using a thin layer of white fondant, and place the cake in the fridge or freezer until the coating is set.

Creating the Birch Bark Effect:

To achieve the distinctive birch bark pattern, you'll need to use fondant and food colouring. Mix some brown gel food colouring with cooled boiled water. Using a wide paintbrush, slowly spin the turntable as you apply the brown gel colour to create a bark edge circle on the top of the cake. Use a small spatula to blend it in while continuing to spin the turntable.

Now, create some tree rings by slowly spinning the turntable and carving them into the fondant with a bladed tool like a spatula or cocktail stick. Make these rings unevenly spaced and slightly different depths for a more interesting texture. You can even carve your initials or other designs into the fondant to add a personalised touch.

To add the birch bark pattern, use a turntable and a narrow paintbrush. Slowly spin the cake while adding short and slightly longer dashes of brown gel colour mixed with cooled boiled water around the cake. Since you're working with fondant, you'll need to dab your brush into the surface or carefully pull it around to avoid pulling the fondant off. Don't worry if you make mistakes, as they can easily be pushed back into place.

Adding Details and Final Touches:

You can further enhance the design by adding branches, leaves, and other details. Use a piping bag with a small round tip filled with brown fondant to pipe the branches, starting from the base of the cake and tapering towards the ends. For the leaves, use green fondant with a leaf-shaped piping tip, piping them directly onto the branches. Vary the angle and size of the leaves to make them look more natural, and feel free to add clusters of leaves for added depth.

To complete the woodland-inspired look, consider adding edible decorations such as ferns, mushrooms, or sugar craft sculptures. You can also incorporate fresh florals, branches, greenery, or even fresh fruit to match your wedding's aesthetic.

Remember to keep the additional decorations balanced, using them sparingly to highlight the beauty of the birch tree design without overwhelming it. With these steps and your creative touch, you'll be able to create a stunning white birch wedding cake using fondant.

Frequently asked questions