Diy cake

I just got engaged last month. We are only planning to get married in 2022 due to COVID so I plan on doing a lot of DIY for my wedding, including the cake. I make custom cakes as a sideline and know which ones would freeze well (plastic wrap, foil and then a plastic bag) for a few weeks. I plan to make the sugar flowers 2 months in advance and put them in a cardboard box for safekeeping, it's not as if anyone will eat them anyways. I plan to have a top tier to save for our first year wedding anniversary, a tier to cut and probably a fake tier or 2 since we only plan to have 60 guests.

Do you have any friends or family who would be willing to make the cake? My aunt and cousin are making my cake for me. I think it would be too much stress to add on top of your already full schedule. What if something unexpected happens close to the date and eats up a lot of your time? You don't want to have to worry about doing so much on your own. You could always pick up a nice grocery store cake too, or even cupcakes!

I had the thought of doing my own cake for my covid wedding, but my mom convinced me otherwise. We have a family friend who does cakes for a living and she's making me a gorgeous one I found on pinterest for $175! If you have connections, or can make connections, I'd suggest going that route. I'm highly satisfied with my choice to let someone else take charge of the cake and I don't have to worry about a thing. Plus, I'll still get the wedding cake I always wanted!

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I will make it if it's anymore than 250-300, it's not a priority of mine and I'd rather have more wine on the table or buy a bridesmaids dress than have a fancy dessert!

I love the doughnut idea though so fun!

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Hi thank you! I'm in NB so this wouldn't work. It's not a must have for me so I found a hobby baker to make cupcakes and sobeys will make a small cake.

All the best!

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I did try that! My friends were too afraid of messing it up! I found an affordable baker near me who is a friend of a friend so that should be good! Worst case I may get a sobeys small circle cake

Is there someone you know who likes to bake? Your cake doesn't have to be tiered to cut into. We got a couple of family members to make cakes and had a cake buffet instead of one cake - it was a hit! We still did the cake cutting of one of them.

View quoted message Of course! www.flourconfections.com

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Hey! Do you mind providing me with the link to your cake supply store?

Have you considered getting a cake from a bakery other than your vendor? That is what I am choosing to do now that I found a venue with food included in the package. Before finding the venue, I considered the pride and joy of making my own cake and even some food with my SIL to be. But then I considered the stress and wanting to just relax and enjoy the moments before the big day.

This was a wedding cake we made for a family friend of mine. All fake, covered in fondant with fresh flowers on it!

As a cake decorator myself, I would NOT suggest doing this. If you want to save costs, what I WOULD recommend is this:
Order fake tiers. My cake supply store sells them for between $3-8 each. You can also buy fondant as well. I would cover the tiers (hypothetically speaking, if you do a tiered cake) with fondant since it’s easier to roll out and cover. You can hot glue the tiers on top of each other and stop by a fabric store and pick up some stone borders to hide the seam where you stack the tiers.
You can also add fresh flowers to this, you just need to heat up a metal screwdriver and stick it through the foam and insert the flowers in. If I can figure out a way to attach a photo of one I’ve done I will! Note: it’s EASIER, not EASY! The reason why I’m recommending this is because you can actually get this done at least 2 months in advance if you have that much time. It seems like you’re doing a lot yourself, plus the added weight of being the actual bride can be super stressful. I get stressed when I decorate cakes regardless, so that’s what I would suggest.
I’m making my own cake too, and we’re starting the “fake” tiers in May and my wedding is in July!

Do Not Do This.

Please. You're going to have to make it within the last day or two before your wedding, and as somebody who has done the wedding, was ZERO stressed in the planning, had all my ducks in a row/was super organized the whole way, let me tell you that the week before the wedding is CRAZY.

How many guests will you have? Do you have to go with the dessert the venue provides? Does it HAVE to be a cake? If you can get dessert from somewhere else, I would look at other options for sure.

We did fancy doughnuts from a local doughnut shop and it was around $500 for 120 guests.

One option is, especially if you just want a cutting cake, to redecorate a premade bakery cake. A cousin of mine got married this summer and did that with a cake from the grocery store! That way the work you'll need to do for the cake is significantly reduced and still cheaper than a bespoke wedding cake.

View quoted message I just ordered some moulds on amazon for the flowers Spent less but hoping it still does the trick.

View quoted message Thanks I'll check it out. I found an affordable Baker for the cupcakes but I just wanted plane ones ish with two specific flavors. The cake cutting cake is still in the air but I'll definitely check out the flowers!

View quoted message We are also finalizing the details from another province. We are lucky in Ontario until April, however we go out to Alberta and don’t get back until 1 week before the wedding. You can do your flowers using fondant and it keeps for a while. We are making ours in Alberta and bringing them back when we come home. I have attached an article that may help should you choose to go this way.
https://www.mybluprint.com/article/you-can-make-sugar-flowers-weeks-ahead-of-time-and-keep-em-looking-fresh

I also am planning on making my own cake. I will not do tiers, just simple, homemade-looking cakes of different types and flavours. I have so much time before the wedding that I think I can manage it and am sure my friends could help me. Two guests have also volunteered to bring cakes so there will be a selection! This is in addition to the dessert offered with our catering.

View quoted message Thank you that's really good to know!!

View quoted message That's awesome. You're cake ideas looks great. We're planning from another province so it's a little tricky to get much done. Luckily dad is helping me with all the wood work related things . I don't know how much time the flowers will take is my only concern.

We are doing pretty much the same thing... using Costco flowers to decorate and for bouquets.. making own centre pieces.. back drop.. signs and decor.. and making our own wedding cake.


Luckily my fiancé is amazingly helpful and we are doing pretty much everything together.
For the cake, we are doing a 3 tier - 12”, 9”, and 7” and are considering doing a sheet cake with little icing for those who don’t like icing. We are also doing a very simple icing technique. Similar to the photo. We are making the flowers for the cake the week before so it will be very easy to put together once done. And if it’s too stressful and the flowers aren’t working out, I’m going to use real flowers to save the headache.

I like the fake cake idea. Create a cake you would love. Then in the back of the kitchen serve a sheet or half a sheet cake. Very cost effective and you can create at the same time. I have heard of many people ordering a small or part real cake, then in the back have a sheet cake for service.

View quoted message So cool! Do you have a picture?

Im making a fake cake myself. no one ever eats the wedding cake it gets wasted and i dont want to be taking all that wedding cake home either. we dont eat too many sweets. plus we have so many desserts and pastries from the venue as well. its too much. i bought some foam tiers and fondant and i made a a draft cake and it was soo simple and easy!! i also only spent $30!!

We had my Baba make a bread cake called a korovai

If you can I would have a cake for display or why not consider just a small cake from safeway or a pie!! That would have been our top choice if we were doing the cake cutting ceremony - didn't have time though

I love the idea of making your own cake in theory, by practially it seems like a lot to do right before your wedding!

Have you thought about doing tiers of cupcakes to look like a cake? Something like this: https://ca.pinterest.com/pin/823806956821055919/

The cupcakes will be WAY less expensive, and then you don't have to worry about the waste if not everyone eats one!

I'm also thinking of doing my own cake. I love baking & like you, not sure I can justify spending that much on a cake (although since starting decorating cakes for others I do see why they are so expensive). I'm also thinking of making my own flowers & decorations. So I am also worried about taking on too much, but I'm hoping to get the decorations done a month in advance

I agree with Caitlyn, I would be worried about the extra stress. Unless you've baked many before you'll spend a lot of time and money on the practice, and you still might not be happy with it. And you can definitely save by using a sheet cake or store bought cupcakes instead of ones from a fancy bakery.
Cake is next on our "I do to do list" and I'm hopeful that we can find a yummy one without breaking the bank.

My mom and I took some of the Wilton cake classes, while we are far from professionals we can do a small cutting cake. I have figured out what I want without too much fuss and bother I think. I want a 6" cake it'll have fondant (ew) and a glittery sparkle. I'll put a silver ribbon with a red ribbon over the bottom to hide any imperfections. I have a rhinestone "we do" pick and I may put a couple of my sola flowers on it. The design is super simple but it should look amazing. However, if my time is too crunched my mom will 100% take over and make sure the cutting cake is done for me. I'm going to get buntletinis from nothing bunt cakes. I think to get 7 dozen it'll be less than $200. If you do a cake yourself keep it simple. You can place real or fake flowers on it to dress it up.

View quoted message Cupcakes actually freeze really well! I've never tried freezing frosted cupcakes though, so I can't recommend that. But freezing unfrosted cupcakes is as simple as wrapping each one separately in cling wrap and then aluminum foil and then storing them in an air tight container. They usually keep well enough for about 2 months from my own experience. So if you're really set on doing them yourself then this could be a good route for you

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Thanks! And wow that's a great deal! I come from a small town so there are two baker options. My friend who is a hobby baker said she's too worried she'd mess it up for me . We might ask the grocery store to see what they charge. I thought about making the cup cake part and paying someone to decorate but I wasn't sure how ever cup cakes freeze or keep.

I wanted to do my own cake too since I bake a lot, so it's not like I wouldn't know what I was doing. But literally everyone talked me out of it, and I'm actually thankful that they did. I don't want to be under that kind pressure leading up to my wedding day. Plus I found a baker that I absolutely fell in love with and 8 dozen cupcakes plus a mini 6" cake will cost $300. For that price tag, the amount of pressure taken off my shoulders is worth it. We almost didn't even bother with the cake/cupcakes at all since the dessert provided by the caterer is to die for and is just part of the package, so no one would've missed the cake in the end I'm sure