Making My Own Wedding Cake

Decorating By ButtercreamAndBacon Updated 13 Nov 2013 , 4:24pm by shashasharon

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ButtercreamAndBacon Posted 19 Dec 2012 , 4:19pm
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AHi! My fiancé and I have decided to make our own wedding cake and I have a few questions! We do make cakes on the side, but we have only done kids cakes, shaped/ theme cakes. Wedding cakes seem more intimidating to me, not sure why!

There will be approx 65 people, so we were thinking 6,8,10 for the tiers. Does this sound about right? It will be our main dessert so I want to make sure there is enough.

Also, I wanted to find a cake stand to display it on, possibly one of the vintage pedestal ones. Will they hold a cake that large? I've never used them before and I am not sure how sturdy they are.

Last question! We want to use real flowers that we are getting from our florist... I've never worked with real flowers before, how should they be attached? ( there will be flowers on the top and a few on the sides).

I would appreciate any advice!! We are going to do a practice cake, I've just never done a wedding cake before and want to make sure I don't screw it up!

Thank you!!!

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BakingIrene Posted 19 Dec 2012 , 5:01pm
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A wedding cake is just 3 smaller cakes, stacked or put together with pillars.  Really.  Plan to transport it to your venue in separate tiers.

 

Pedestal stands are going to be tricky.  Most of them don't take a 10" cake with any room to spare.  

 

Maybe you can find a china cake plate (they come 12" across)  and use a plain china bowl glued to the bottom for the pedestal effect.  Or a glass cake plate which can be as much as 14" across.  These are a lot more reliable than the pedestal stands that were mostly intended to carry one tier.

 

Or maybe you can put 3-5 small round cakes on the table and then the pedestal stand in the middle with 2 tiers on it.

 

Those options give you more room for cake.  Given that you are known to be cake bakers, your guests will probably expect to eat more than the usual "wedding" size servings.  That's what happened with my wedding cake.

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BakingIrene Posted 19 Dec 2012 , 5:18pm
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Check out the make-your-own-mix recipes 

 

http://www.yummly.com/blog/2012/06/how-to-make-your-own-cake-mix/

 

I skip the salt (nobody has ever noticed).

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ButtercreamAndBacon Posted 19 Dec 2012 , 5:45pm
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AI never thought about using the stands and having a few smaller cakes. I think I like that idea! Thank you!! I am really just worried about having enough, because I'm not sure what the venue considers a serving and how they would cut the cake.

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-K8memphis Posted 19 Dec 2012 , 5:50pm
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I am very happy that you have some experience at this. If you also have someone reliable that you could appoint to be your back up for the day of the reception that would be good for you. Cakes are so last minute huh. And weddings can be so demanding it would be good to have someone in place for back up now and train them with  what you want done while it's calm here well in advance. I mean delivery alone can be most daunting to anyone much less the bride and groom themselves or a newbie caker.

 

The size is about exactly 65 servings without the top tier. I like to err on the side of too many servings. So you could have a 9x13 waiting in the wings if necessary. But if you can use the top tier you'd have that much more wiggle room.

 

Vintage pedastal stand should be no problem. My ideal size (across the top of the stand) would be 14 inch for a 10 inch bottom tier. A 12 inch stand would be fine especially since your cakes are all two inches in difference anyhow.--perfect.

 

Flowers--you want to be careful about those--some are poisonous. Check that out--google I'm sure has that listed far and wide. You can get flower picks--specially designed to put flowers into cakes--Wilton has those--or you can even place them in straws--be sure the end of the straw is folded up (dipped in wax) so nothing can seep out. Don't know how deep into diy you wanna go. Flower picks are easy and inexpensive.

 

I did my cake umpteen years ago. And it's a pretty cool thing to pull off. Best of the best to you!!

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BakingIrene Posted 19 Dec 2012 , 6:15pm
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I think you should expect people to eat more cake, because they know you are cake makers.  I would use the Wilton chart for the "party" size and maybe even a little more for those who take seconds.

 

There is a difference between cake pedestals (engineered for a single tier) and cake plates (that have a more substantial base under the plate).  Cake plates run 12"-14" across and can hold your tiers. If you find a good china cake plate, you can epoxy a  matching bowl under it for a healthy stand.

 

Or else you would make 3-5 small cakes and the stand the pedestal in the middle of the group with 2 tiers on it. That gives you more cake.

 

And a 3 tier cake is just 3 cakes put together at the venue.  Transport them as separate cakes and you will be fine.

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Annabakescakes Posted 20 Dec 2012 , 3:46am
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AI made my own wedding cake! It was a 4 tier I transported in 2 pieces. It had vines and roses all the way around each tier. I ran out of time, and moved some roses from the back to the front, lol. It may be in my pictures... Off white with off white trailing vines, and two tone pink buttercream roses.

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tabathaba Posted 20 Dec 2012 , 1:02pm
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I also made my wedding cake two years ago. It is stressful. I would do a mock up cake for sure. Keep the design to something simple. Fresh flowers are great, that's what I did. Put wax paper on the top tier between the flower topper and the cake and use the flower picks.

 

A few tips that worked for me:

 

1. Bake and freeze the cake 1-2 weeks before the wedding.

 

2. Plan ahead well and make sure that you have the day before your wedding clear to decorate the cake. (Things like have your nails already done, no showers or parties, plan the rehersal dinner accordingly, etc.)

 

3. Will your venue allow you to deliver the cake the day before and store it in the refridgerator? This was a lifesaver for me, it never hurts to ask.

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BakingIrene Posted 20 Dec 2012 , 1:37pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tabathaba 

Will your venue allow you to deliver the cake the day before and store it in the refridgerator? This was a lifesaver for me, it never hurts to ask.

Yes delivering your own wedding cake the day before is a lifesaver, but...

 

If you have any sort of delicate or valuable plate under it, build a shallow wooden box or use an old cake pan under that.  My venue BROKE my cake plate when they moved the cake themselves...

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ButtercreamAndBacon Posted 20 Dec 2012 , 3:19pm
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AThank you for all your advice! Amazing suggestions! I will make sure I have helpers to get the cake there... And check with the venue to make sure I can drop them off the day before. I also am really in love with the idea of having several smaller cakes... And that way I get to design more than one cake! Yay!! Now I need to find cake stands that are a good price!

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shashasharon Posted 13 Nov 2013 , 4:24pm
post #11 of 11

So, I'm curious. Did you end up doing your cake? And if so how did it go?  I catered my entire wedding, for 125-150, and I regretted it. But making your own cake is another matter.  

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