To Cake or Not to Cake - The Hungry Bride

5-03-2009 @5:12PM Liz said... As someone going into the cake business...

Cupcakes are more labor intensive than a larger cake that you slice into.. So, don't be surprised if you're quoted more per cupcake than you are per slice. And if you're going for small, individual cakes for each guest, that will run a small mint--I've not seen less than $10 per, but that's on the cheap end.

As I said above, the large part of the cake cost is labor. Therefore, a decorated styrofoam cake plus sheet cakes will run you roughly the same as if you had cake underneath, if not actually more. Many bakers do not do styrofoam cakes and then let you purchase sheet cakes at WalMart--we really don't like our work associated with pre-baked then frozen, greasy Crisco frosted cakes. So don't be surprised if this type of request is denied.

I'm in the DC area, so that's the pricing here.

If you want cheesecake, brownies, a dessert table, or whatnot instead of a large wedding cake, more power to you. Hope you figure out what yummy dessert to serve your guests!
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5-06-2009 @11:00AM Sarah said... When we got married in 2006 I was thinking quite a bit about what to do. I had no desire to have a traditional cake. Never have been impressed by them and honestly most wedding cakes I have had are D-R-Y by the time eating time gets there.
On a lark I looked at the cakes made at Sams Club, yes, Sams Club. I bought a 3 tier cake holder from them for under $20 and decorated it for a few dollars. The 3 cakes were less than $14 each. They were massive 3 layer cakes. We did two in vanilla, one in chocolate. They decorated the 3 cakes down to the exact color I wanted and did a very pretty job overall - actually they did a GREAT job. Each cake was topped with a spray of flowers.
The whole thing was less than $100. The cake was made the afternoon before so was still very fresh.
Funny is, the older people at our wedding raved about how the cake tasted good. So we did well!
Later in the year my MIL threw a party for us on the other side of the US. She took in photos to her local Sams Club and asked them "can you duplicate this?" and they did perfectly. She brought 2 cakes to the party and again, all the older relatives loved it.
And there was so much cake both times we were giving out slabs of cake, not a weenie 2" square!
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5-06-2009 @3:19PM jennywenny said... I did mini desserts for a wedding as well as a cake and they went down very well.

I did mini pavolovas, brownies, tiramisu baby cupcake, red velvet baby cupcake, shortbreads and lemon tarts:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennywenny/3358925946/
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5-07-2009 @1:35AM Rose said... At our wedding in October we had a chocolate fountain instead of a cake. We also got a very small cheesecake from a local bakery for cutting and serving to guests (one 8-inch cake was plenty for our 75 guests, since most people had only a tiny bit). I think this has all the advantages of wedding cake -- big presentation, fun to look at, you can feed each other (and it's even a better show!) and you can always give people pound cake to dip in, satisfying anyone who just has to have boring wedding cake. At the same time, it was a cheaper option and just a ton more fun than a boring old cake. People are still telling me that was by far the best thing about the wedding.
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5-07-2009 @2:01PM Extraordinary Events & Design said... Why don't you do a smallish wedding cake that you and your groom can cut into and do the traditional thing. Then offer a dessert table for everyone to enjoy. Action stations are becoming a big trend also - such as sundays or s'mores if you want something more casual.
I also had a bride who used cheesecakes as her grooms cake (but it would work for either. They bought a bunch of plain cheesecakes - took one of them and decorated it with beautiful chocolate seashells, chocolate curls and chocolate ganache. This was the "display cake". The other cakes were cut and served and guests could choose their own toppings from a variety of choices that included sauces, fresh fruit and chocolates.
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5-08-2009 @11:10AM hyperangel85 said... I got married last August and my mom offered to make the wedding cake. What we did was create a 6-tier wedding cake, the bottom 4 layers were fake and the top 2 layers were real so we could cut the cake.

Then what we did was make slabs of cake and decorate them to look like the wedding cake, and put them in individual wedding cake boxes i found online (they were personalized boxes!), and we handed them out to every guest so they had a piece of wedding cake to eat for breakfast the next morning. This also allowed us to use a special portuguese sponge cake that is phenominal but cannot be used for traditional tiered cakes because it is too soft.

We came up with this idea from going to other weddings and seeing expensive cakes not even get touched to eat because there is so much other desserts available!
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5-28-2009 @6:15PM chelsea said... We did a plated meal, with the last course being dessert. We offered molten chocolate cake, and creme brulee. A lot of people said, "where is THE cake?" but it was really fun to do something different. I don't like the pressure that comes with the tradiational wedding cake. People assess the quality so stringently. With another dessert, they seem to just sort of accept it! With that in mind, if you want the cake picture, do it! I didn't want any of it--no bouquet/garter toss, no guest book, no cake--just a fun party for my world.
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