The cost of a wedding cake varies by type of cake, the kind of baker and geographic region.
Typical costs:
The average cost of a wedding cake is $543, according to The Bridal Association of America[1] .
For wedding cakes, most bakeries and pastry chefs charge by the slice. A low-end option would be a smaller tiered cake in chocolate or vanilla paired with a sheet cake for cutting for around $1.50 a slice.
A mid-range two- or three-tiered cake in a standard flavor such as chocolate, vanilla, carrot cake or lemon poppy seed with buttercream icing and minimal fondant decorations can run $5 or $6 a slice.
A high-end multi-tiered gourmet cake with flavored fillings, fondant icing and elaborate fondant, gum paste and sugar decorations can run $10 or more per slice.
Decorations make a big difference in the per-slice cost. Fresh flowers are one of the easiest and least expensive ways to decorate a cake.
Fondant, which can cover a cake in a smooth, satiny shell, is one of the most expensive; it can add $1 or more per slice. Elaborate fondant decorations increase the price even more.
Cheesecakes and cakes with nuts, dried fruits or special cream fillings can add $1 or more per slice.
Most tiered wedding cakes must be delivered and assembled on site by the baker or a staff member to prevent a cake mishap, and delivery charges can be $50 to $100 or more, depending on distance and size of cake.
Some caterers charge a cake-cutting fee when figuring the total cost of your wedding cake. Cake-cutting fees can run $1 or more per slice.
Discounts:
Check to see whether your caterer can serve as your cake baker; big catering companies and hotels often employ an in-house pastry chef. By going this route, you could eliminate cake cutting and delivery fees. TheWeddingChannel.com[2] offers tips for saving on a cake.
If you want the look of a tall, tiered wedding cake without the price, ask your baker to put one tier of real cake, which you will cut into, on top of fake tiers made of Styrofoam and icing; then have a sheet cake waiting in the back to be cut.
If you are on a strict budget, the Association for Wedding Professionals International suggests looking for a wedding cake baker who is fairly new to the business or attending a wedding show if you decide to sign a contract that day. The AWPI[3] lists wedding shows by region.
Shopping for a wedding cake:
Ask to see a portfolio, and ask for references.
Tip: Try to arrange cake tastings with several bakers before choosing one. Many bakers offer free tastings, but some charge a small fee.
Tip: Start shopping around for a baker well in advance of your wedding date. Most bakers will do only a few weddings per week, so dates book up quickly.
TheKnot.com[4] offers a list of wedding cake bakers by city.
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The flowers were supplied by the bride and the cake fell over when it was being set up. They had absolutely no fix, didn't even try. They basically had the attitude, that it is what it is. Now they are saying they the will deduct $150. They didn't tell the couple up front how much the cake would cost.
I made my own wedding cake, the cake for my father and stepmother, the cakes for both my daughters, my stepdaughter and the latest, a family friend. I don't charge anything, it's my gift to them for their wedding. I've done everything from a multi-layer cheesecake on three staggered serving plates to a cupcake tower with a handmade fondant bow and hearts baked inside each cupcake to a 3 tier concoction that looked like a birch log. Time and money? Now you're getting into it. I bake from scratch, no mixes. Fondant costs me $25 a 5 lb. tub and it'll cover a 3 tier cake with not a lot left over. Still need buttercream for a crumbcoat, plus fillings and decorations. I've used cake wraps for my daughter's black and white cake, they're $10 or more per tier. Cake toppers, gum paste flowers and ribbon are additional costs. It takes me at least two days to bake, coat, fondant, place decorations, etc. So, 10-15 hours time and a minimum of $100 in ingredients for 3 tiers.
I just made my son's wedding cake. It was 4 tiers, with a rough frosting exterior. The frosting was made with real butter and whipping cream. The cake layers were baked from scratch. It cost $300 for the ingredients and supplies. We rented a beautiful silver cake stand and it was gorgeous. It took me 3 days to bake it, but saved them lots of cash and they loved it.
I have done many cakes for friends that are getting married, I hate to shop so I enjoy doing their cakes as their wedding gift. But as other bakers have said, it takes alot of time, artistry, and is very involved in doing cakes, as is cupcakes. The stress of baking and decorating the cakes and delivering it to the wedding reception without any incidence is stressful. For 25 years I was a Catering director and did hundreds of weddings and cut more cakes than I can count but having a real cake with real icing is the way to go. Fondant icing is pretty but taste terrible and is very hard to cut and serve. I also agree, go with a person that does cakes out of their home rather than a large bakery, it will be more personable than just another cake that they do in mass productions, I have seen more cakes that don't look that great from large bakeries. I know when I do cakes from my home, they are done with care and love and I make sure that it looks great, I am very particular.
Can you get a refund on a dress if you don't return the dress? I guess not----same for the cake! Rule of thumb for pricing cakes is price of ingredients x a fair number. The detail of the cake usually is what makes the price increase. If you are asking someone to place thousands of pearl beads on a cake, you can't expect her to spend all those hours placing the pearls on you cake as a gratuity. Her time and expertise is worth a fair exchange of money. The fancier the cake, the more time it takes to complete it. Fake cakes actually cost more to complete than real cake----have you ever priced the fake cakes? Much more expensive than real cake plus all of the same details have to go on them as on the real cake. Family and friends often times think that because they know you, you shouldn't charge them for the cake. The unspoken rule is, "If I ask you it's free, if you ask me, you pay my regular prices." You don't care much about me if you want everything free.
I went to 3 weddings this year and 2 of them served cupcakes. One of them had a small cake they cut, and served cupcakes to the guests. My father and his wife served exclusively cupcakes.
Reasons they're great:
1) Easier to count than slices
2) Faster to serve
3) Can conserve costs for cutting and serving cake
4) Easier for multiple flavors
It's not "tacky" as some people have stated. Your wedding is about what YOU AND YOUR FUTURE HUSBAND want, nobody else. If it's what you want and you're on a budget, I think they're a great idea and can be done very tastefully (so to speak!)
Cake Type: 3-tier, two flavors, caramel BC filling
Decorations: all done in buttercream
I don't know how she does it, but my baker makes cakes that look exactly like fondant but are made with the most delicious buttercream icing instead. She can do all the detailing with BC instead of that icky fondant crap. It's amazing. Her cakes are all made from scratch with real quality ingredients (and is TO DIE FOR). I've found bakers putting crisco and butter flavoring in their buttercream before, and using cake mixes and white jumbo eggs, ew! The cake is made 2 days prior, decorated 1 day prior, and delivered without ever being frozen. Score :)
They charged (family friend) 200 for the supplies, and now need 300 for ingridients. Thats alot considering we watched her buy the supplies for around 60 dollars.
I have been doing wedding cakes for years, and those who have never done cakes have no idea at how much is involved, financially and time wise.
Doing the cakes by myself, I have to do the prep work, baking, icing, assembly, decorating, etc. with no help, including the time it takes to clean up afterwards, delivery, set up and serving the cake at the wedding.
But I don't ever take shortcuts; I won't compromise the taste and quality of my cakes. And every time I have made a wedding cake, I have been told by the bride and groom, as well as many of the guests, that my cake was the best they have ever tasted. I never bake the cakes ahead of time and freeze them to save time later. And I never use shortening instead of butter in the buttercream icing. The shortening leaves a greasy film in your mouth, even if it's mixed with half butter, and the taste is not as good. And I refuse to use fondant; it tastes like sweetened children's craft paste.
I never bake the cakes for the full amount of time stated on the instructions, or they will be dry. Cakes continue to bake a bit longer when removed from the oven, due to the amount of heat that is in the cakes.
For those of you who do get an 'at home' baker to make your cake, consider all that is involved in making your cake. Ask the baker questions; ask to see photos of cakes they've made. Ask them if they bake the cakes ahead of time and freeze, or if they use shortening or butter in the butttercream icing. If they bake and freeze the cakes ahead of time, or use shortening in the icing, let them know you do not want that for your cake. If they tell you shortening is the only way to get a pure white icing, that's not true. There are icing whiteners made to be used with a true "butter"cream. If they tell you shortening stabilizes the icing, there are products for that, too, so there is no need for them to cheat you out of a delicious tasting cake.
At my wedding I bought cream puffs, why? I'm a cake decorator, and at the time I couldn't afford more, and I didn't want the stress of doing it myself. Im about to open my own shop and I stumbled on this site doing research on how I should price my cakes. I'm commenting because it really burns me that people feel like bakers are purposely trying to skrew brides. The avarage bakery owner makes less than 30,000 a year, which is less than most couples ordering from them make. We work 50-70(during peek seasons) all on our feet, we lift heavy bags of ingredients ( sometimes over 100 lbs) and have to be extreemly efficient, precise, and artistic. We can't call in sick on your wedding day. We always work weekends and holidays. Creating wedding cakes is an art form, and it's really hard work for the decorator, in addition to the baker, dishwasher, delivery driver, and cashier, if your bakery is lucky enough to have all those people. Just a little perspective.
I made my own wedding cake using boxed cake mixes and butter cream icing. It was 4 round tiers, each a different layer. I used yellow cake mix to make a sourcream pound cake for the bottom layer, strawberry for the second layer, and green food coloring for the third (my wedding colors were pink and green). The top layer was funfetti, but no one knew since we kept it for us :) I iced it with butter cream and added swirls and polka dots on alternating tiers. I bordered each tier with a string of fondant pearls that I made by rolling balls of fondant in shimmer dust. It turned out wonderful and inexpensive!
my cousins weddding was very nice...to save on money they used small 12 inch cakes as center pieces and every table had there own cake they used the long stick lollipop flower suckers for decorations on the green iceing looked great for their spring wedding and everyone had as much cake at their table as they wanted,,,
Just commenting on how some of the comments are just rude. Not everyone have a unlimited amount to spend on a wedding especially a cake that all guest may not be interested in eating. Yes, I probably wouldn't do a fake cake, but if that's what the bride want and serve cupcakes in it's replacement so be it. The wedding is a celebration of the union of two people, not how can I impress everyone with what I'm serving to them for free. If some people feel that a marriage will only last if you have a extravagant wedding, then you are missing the point of marriage/union of two people all together.
Posted by: made with love cakes in Garden Grove, CA.
Posted: November 7th, 2010 09:11PM
Number of Slices: as needed
Cake Type: anything
Decorations: anything
Ok. Just go find a young and upcoming cake artist. I am young but have done multiple cakes for different occasions. I can do many different types of decorations and flavors. I can almost guarantee that if you look hard enough you will find a good quality decorator for cheap that will do a great job. Just look at their work before you hire them and make sure that they are organized.
Posted by: Connie Arnold, Wedding Coordinator in Decatur, TX.
Posted: August 9th, 2010 11:08PM
Number of Slices: as needed
Cake Type: any
Decorations: any
Cupcakes look nice with the swirled icing all fancy on them, but when the icing doesn't cover the whole cupcake and actually touch the cupcake paper, the cupcake is dried out. I was never so disappointed as when I had a cupcake off of a cute cupcake tower, and what a dud, all dried out. Don't kid yourself that it doesn't matter.
You can get specialty cupcake papers and decorations that are very elegant! Cupcakes can be a great way to cut costs and they're fun and nostalgic! I say go for it, if that's your thing! And as for sheet cakes: some people just don't want a HUGE cake. A small cake and sheet cakes can be just as tasty and have just as much impact! Or for brides that don't have a big enough guest list, a faux layer can create the illusion of a monster cake without being wasteful. There's a time and place for all the alternative methods mentioned here. If you want to make your own, then dive in! Do it! Have fun! It's your day, ladies (and gents) do what makes you happy. And for the love of Pete, don't start your marriage in debt because you needed a $4000 cake to impress someone else! As a soon-to-be bride myself I've been contemplating my own cake. I can tell you that as a baker, knowing all the possibilities does not make the process easier! Good luck!
I understand the concept of it costs just as much to decorate a fake cake as it does a real one. I do know a gal, however, who went that route because she and her groom both disliked cake, so their dessert was something else entirely (like ice cream or something--don't remember). However, they wanted a traditional cake cutting, so the baker made them a fake cake with just one little section of real cake in there for them to cut and take bites of. Then they and the guests all had the other dessert. Worth it? Wouldn't be for me, but she was very happy with the whole thing.
cupcakes can look beautiful if they are displayed properly. If they aren't for you, but you can't afford a huge tiered cake, opt for a smaller one and have a sheet cake to cut for the guests. The display makes all the difference and taste is the most important thing anyway. Who wants a beautiful cake that no one wants to eat?
Posted by: Outdoor Florida Weddings in Brooksville, FL.
Posted: June 7th, 2010 05:06PM
Number of Slices: 108
Cake Type:
Decorations: white fondant w/ribbon, beads, roses
A beautiful cake, 4 tier, smooth white fondant icing, teal crystal beads and roses cascading down the cake. Looks fab in all the pictures, including the bride & groom "cutting" the cake. It was a display cake! No one knew til we told them! A double layer sheet cake was waiting to be served to the wedding guest. As someone who is in the business of wedding planning and helping my clients have a perfect day without breaking the bank...it's a great idea! Rented cake with sheet cake to serve guest...Total $125.00! vs. $540.00. Remember...when serving alcohol...not many folks eat cake!
I went to a local supermarket and got half chocolate cupcakes with white icing and vanilla cupcakes with chocolate icing. I found cupcake papers in my color, aquamarine online for 18 bucks and purchased them and gave them to the baker. I also made my own chocolates which were 3 different colors swirled into small seashell molds which which also given to the bakery to add as decoration. I would never pay over $100. My cupcakes looked beautiful and professional and the cake tastes just like a gourmet shoppe that would charge triple. People do not know the difference. Flowers you can't go cheap on. Cake, you can! It's ok I wont tell!!!
"The service we received was fantastic and when we saw the cake on our Big Day it definitely had the big 'wow' factor. We had so many compliments on how beautiful and unusual it was. The cake that dreamiedecors produced was exactly what we had in mind and matched our colours perfectly. The taste was simply divine and the best cake we have ever tasted!
I made my own cake. It was butter cake with whipped chocolate butter cream. the sides were ivory fondant with a design pressed on the sides and the top was chocolate ganache. 3 tiers topped with bride an groom figures and brown and gold flowers. It was b eautiful and saved us a lot of money!
I made my own faux cake AND served decorated cupcakes. We served 70 cupcakes in different flavors from a local bakery for $50. I provided the baker with tin cups for the cupcakes so they looked elegant.I borrowed multiple crystal cake stands from friends and family to display the cupcakes around the faux 3-tiered cake. The cake was used as a table decoration and we posed for photos with it. Decorating a fake cake is much easier than the real thing. I covered floral wreaths with royal icing then covered each 4 inch layer with fondant and stacked them. After the form I added fondant details. A decorating novice could even use fresh flowers to cover seams and save money on materials.The cake can also be finished months ahead so it's not another last minute stress. The other upside of this idea was the delicious flavor of freshly baked cupcakes. A beautifully decorated cake can take days to make sometimes and taste horrible due to too much fondant and stale cake. Not to mention, no cake cutting fee!
I can't believe what I am reading about "faux" cakes. I have to throw the "Really!?" card in here. You people have missed the point entirely. Fake wedding cakes? The whole point of a wedding cake is to have one celebratory piece of food that all friends can enjoy together. What is next - a fake limo and fake tuxedos? How about a fake ceremony. Faux is the way to go only if the "idea" and novelty of a wedding are far more important than the Marriage itself. Have a real cake that you share together. That's the whole point and it symbolizes a real celebration and a real marriage!
Posted by: Nan at HolidayRentalCakes.com in Louisville, KY.
Posted: February 14th, 2010 04:02PM
Number of Slices: 6 tiers (6" to 16" diam.)
Cake Type: Faux fondant
Decorations: Ribbon, silk floral, topper
As the person above pointed out, purchasing a faux cake won't save you any money, because the cost is all in the decorating. The way to save money with faux cake is to rent it, and the smartest is to rent a fully faux cake. Why fully faux? Because fondant is fragile, susceptible to moisture, and hard to repair, even when it's put on Styrofoam. That's why traditional faux cake rental companies have steep security deposits and lengthy rental disclaimers. Fully faux is the way to go.
Cake Type: lemon berry torte and Bailey's Chocolate
Decorations: hand sculpted cake topper and flowers
I wanted people to go WOW when they saw my cake. The topper was important to me and my baker (Kelley Kakes) created something unique to us. She hand sculpted us and our dog and I just absolutely loved it! Along with that, she made gorgeous sugar flowers and tons of white chocolate pearls. My cake was the highlight of the evening and we were so excited to share it with our guests! It tasted amazing! I'm still dreaming about the layers of lemony goodness with fresh raspberries and blackberries. Kelley is making us an anniversary cake (included in her services) and I cannot wait to devour more yummy cake! Well worth every penny!
just a comment on wedding cake cupcakes, sorry Martha but this is the worst rendition of a traditional wedding cake to me. Please rethink the cupcake tower maybe for a childs birthday party but ladies this is your wedding day and if the cake is important to you skip the tacky cupcakes.
Decorations: Fodant w/ fondant flowers and buttercrea
If you have the patience and the time, it's not so difficult to make one yourself. This was only my second attempt at a fondant cake, and it turned out wonderful! Cost was $35 and it looks like it's worth a lot more. Great way to impress your guests.
As a gift for my sister on her wedding day I spent $25(plus $30 to buy a really cool stand to put it on...but thats for me) on 3 cake mixes, 2 bags marshmallows, 2 bags powdered sugar, eggs, oil, bag chocolate chips, heavy whipping cream, 5 bunches faux flowers, and a spool of ribbon. She provided the cake topper. What she ended up with was three cakes (6in, 8in, 10in) filled with homemade whipped chocolate ganache filling. Each cake round had 4 thin layers filled with ganache. The cake was decorated with homemade marshmallow fondant topped with faux flowers. It left me with a very happy very smiley big sister!!!
Bakers in my home city were quoting $450-$525 for the cake design we chose, and just outside the city, a newer bakery did it for $300 and a $50 delivery/setup fee.
The triple tier was fashioned to look like a castle tower, and the bride figure was placed on the top tier.
The single layer was airbrushed to be the ground that the groom figure was placed on and set up next to the castle and connected with a plastic bridge covered in fondant and detailed to look like wood.
A beautiful picturesque fairy tale, and it was delicious!
my cousin just got married and i loved her idea. she got a small tiered cake thst looked gorgeous and could serve 1/3 of the guests then she got a cupcake stand and filled it with diff flavors for everyone else. she said it was less expensive than a big cake and it was very cute.
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