DIY Bride

Your next major cake decision, and one that tortures many a would-be DIY cake maker, is what kind of cake to make. In a later post we’ll go through flavor and filling options but this one’s devoted to the boxed mix or scratch dilemma.

There are few debates as heated in the cake world as the use of boxed mix versus scratch cakes. While I am a strong advocate of the latter, I do want to give a fair look at both sides to help you discover which option is best for your needs.

Box Mix Pros:

• Convenient, pre-mixed packages mean little measuring and no guesswork with ingredients yielding a pretty consistent result from cake-to-cake.
• Packages can be purchased way ahead of time and stored until needed.
• Box mixes are inexpensive, especially when purchased on sale.
• Most people are very familiar with box mix flavors and have fond associations of those kinds of cakes (reminds them of childhood, for example).

Pros of Scratch Mixes:

• Unlimited flavor options. If you can dream it, there’s likely a perfect cake flavor waiting for you to discover it.
• You control the ingredients and can add to or modify recipes to suit your needs. Wheat allergies? Vegan? Organic ingredients only? Carrot cake without nuts? No trans fats? Diabetic options? No problem!
• Freshness. Made-from-scratch cakes don’t need chemical stabilizers or preservatives. (Take a look at the ingredients on a box mix cake.)
• Pride. There’s definitely a satisfaction that one gets from making something that takes creativity, patience and skill that can’t be experienced with shortcuts.

Many box cake devotees argue that box mixes are faster. Over at Apartment Therapy’s The Kitchn, they proved that wrong. [Do check out their other article about scratch cakes as healthier than boxed mixes.]

As for cake mix being less expensive than scratch, you may be surprised at what we found in the DIY Bride Test Kitchen. That’s another post, though.

My best advice is for you to do a taste and bake test with scratch cakes and box cakes to find the ones that fit the taste, texture, and budget that you’re aiming for. (Check back for the DIY Bride Test Kitchen results.)

Remember: a wedding cake needs to taste great, no matter how clever or fancy it looks.

I was recently interviewed by the Associated Press for a piece about budget-saving tips. The article started running over the weekend and I thought it’d be fun to share with you. There are some excellent tips for all budgets within from such wedding gurus as Marcy Blum, David Tutera, and … me.

(Same article, different publishers)

• The Canadian Press
• Boston Herald
• Ithaca Journal
• Guelph Mercury
• Knoxville News Sentinel

Wedding debt and smart budgeting are among my favorite topics! Do check out some of the previous posts about wedding budgets I’ve done:

How To Recession-Proof Your Wedding

Avoid The Wedding Debt Trap #1

Avoid The Wedding Debt Trap #2

This is, hands down, one of the best introductory cake decorating videos on YouTube. Master cake decorator, Sandy Sheppard, shows the basic tools and shares some tips.

How to Decorate a Cake

Do check out Sandy’s other videos at http://www.monkeysee.com/channel/show/56. They’re all excellent!

[Update 2: Yay! You can find the Expert Village cake decorating videos at http://www.expertvillage.com/video-series/473_cake-decorating.htm]

[Update: Well, bummer. The video is no longer available!]

If you’re a visual learner, this great video from Expert Village is perfect for you. Learn how to make a frosting rose, one of the most basic cake decorations.

Cake Decorating Ideas, Tips & Techniques: An Essential Guide to Cake Decorating : Making Rose Designs with Icing : Cake Decorating Ideas, Tips & Techniques

[Update 2: Yay! You can find the Expert Village cake decorating videos at http://www.expertvillage.com/video-series/473_cake-decorating.htm]

[Update: The video is no longer available!]

This video from Expert Village (via YouTube) gives a quick introduction to the basic cake decorating tips.

Cake Decorating Ideas, Tips & Techniques: An Essential Guide to Cake Decorating : Cake Decorating Tools

Are you hopelessly addicted to wedding blogs? Perhaps you’re just searching for new, wonderful, and fun blogs to follow? Well, my friends, let me introduce you to the weddings list at alltop.com. It’s chock full of incredible wedding-related blogs that are sure to inspire, educate, and entertain you.

Alltop is a site that’s owned by the ever-awesome Guy Kawasaki (author, founding Mac evangelist, marketing guru). In addition to weddings, there are a number of other categories to keep you in touch with the best of the blogging world.

Both Liene from Blue Orchid Designs and photographer Christine Tremoulet alerted me that DIY Bride was on the alltops list. I’m humbled to be included in such amazing company.

After you’ve gathered a few design ideas, looked at pan shapes, and determined the number of servings, the next question you’ll need to answer: Stacked, sheet, or tiered?

Why is this important? Not only does it determine the overall design of the cake(s), it affects other choices as serving plates/trays and building materials. The tier style will also determine the kind of cake you’ll need. Some kinds of cakes, such angel food, are too light to be used in cakes that are are decorated and stacked or carved into unique shapes.

The basic types:

Sheet cake: A single flat cake, usually rectangular. [image: Earlene's Cakes]

Stacked cake: Multi-levels of cake, stacked on top of each other. These cakes are sometimes separated by a hidden support system that prevents the cakes from caving in and keeps the layers in place. Many, however, are held together with dowels and are stacked directly on top of each other. [image: Jennifer Wasiak from Brides.com]

Tiered cake: Multi-levels of cake separated by columns or other structural elements with space in between levels. [image: Cater It Simple @ flickr]

Cake Density:

When considering your cake tier style, the next thing is to work out what kind of cake is going to work best for your design.

Light, airy cakes (not good for cake-on-cake stacking or heavy decoration): angel food, sponge, chiffon.

Mid-density, all purprose cakes (can be stacked but will need support): basic butter batters, genoise.

Heavy (great for stacked, carved, and heavily decorated): Pound, fruit cake, carrot cake, pumpkin. [Note: many mid-density cakes can be made heavier by altering the ingredients. We'll get to that in another post.]

I’m very proud to be featured in two of the hottest wedding magazines on the planet right now.

One of the projects from the book, a super fun save-the-date, in the June/July issue of Modern Bride.

For those of you in the UK, do rush out and grab a copy of the June/July issue of Cosmopolitan Bride. The magazine re-design is gorgeous. I have a tiny section of tips in 50 Fabulous Finishing Touches article.

One of the most important thing in determining your DIY cake design is knowing the amount of servings you’ll need. This will determine the pan size, amount of ingredients, decor, plates/napkins/forks, etc.

It’s a safe bet to have 1 serving per guest. Some couples go a little lower because not everyone will want cake. I think it’s better to have a little left over than run the risk of not having enough.

A word about serving sizes: The standard wedding cake slice, 1″ wide x 2″ long x 4″ high, is typically much smaller than a piece of cake you’d get at a party or other event. Doesn’t seem very big, does it?

When you go shopping for pans, you’ll need to know how many slices you can get out of each size you buy. For example, a 3″ tall, 8″ diameter round pan will yield about 24 slices. If you’re serving 150 people, what size pans do you need for a 3 tier stacked cake?

Don’t worry; sizing a cake is not as complicated as it seems. There are some fantastic resources for determining cake size that show serving sizes and provide cutting guides to show you how to get the maximum amount of slices per tier.

• Wilton’s Cake Cutting Guide (Weddings)
• Better Homes & Gardens Downloadable Cutting Guides
• PastryWiz’s Cutting Guides

Of course you can serve slices as big as you please BUT it’s important that the person(s) cutting your cake knows how big to cut the slices. Most caterers and cake pros can do standard slices in their sleep. However, your auntie or whomever is left in charge of the cake may not be as slice savvy as the professionals. I highly recommend that you whip up a trial tier and practice cutting with your designed cake person.

Hey, everyone:

I’ve been hit with some pretty nasty database problems that are just now (cross your fingers) resolved. I’ll be extending DIY Cake Month to run throughout June instead of cramming 30 posts into the next few days. Thanks for your patience and understanding while I worked the bugs out.