The the siren song of a do-it-yourself wedding cake is a hard one to ignore. It seduces. It cajoles. “Make me” it sings. “You know you want to. All the cool kids are doing it. Maaaaaaake meeeeee.” It lures you into a false sense of culinary mastery and into the treacherous waters of cake disaster.
While there’s nothing quite like peer pressure from inanimate baked goods, most couples hire someone else create their wedding cakes. For a few adventurers, however, making their own cake is all too temping. Don’t think I haven’t noticed you as you fondle fancy molded cake pans at Williams-Sonoma and linger a little too long in the Wilton aisle at Michaels. Oh, I know your type.
You and I are kindred spirits, you see. We are would-be cake couturiers with grand visions of effortless, elegant culinary masterpieces adorning our table tops. We have pans. We have nifty decorating gadgets. We’ve watched every episode of Ace of Cakes. It’s just baking, right?
The harsh reality is that cake making is harder than it may appear. There’s a great deal of chemistry, artistry, and patience that goes into creating a beautiful, tasty cake. This, of course, doesn’t mean it’s impossible for a home baker to make something spectacularly divine. It is possible! But the big question here is: is the DIY cake experience right for you?
If you’re considering a DIY wedding cake, here are the most basic considerations to help you decide if this route is a good idea for you.
- How many guests will you be feeding? (General rule: the bigger the cake, the harder to bake/decorate/transport.)
- How many hours of baking and decorating time will you need? And do you have that amount of available time especially right before the wedding? A conservative estimate for a simple butter cream-frosted (no decoration) 3-layer stacked round cake to feed 120 people would take about 4 - 5 hours to make. (Measure, mix, bake, cool, frost.)
- How important are taste and presentation to you? To your guests? The wedding cake is a high-profile part of nearly every wedding.
- Do you have the tools — including a reliable oven — to do the job? If not, how much will it cost to buy all of the tools? Is your oven big enough to bake a 14″ round (or whatever is your largest size)?
- How good is your math? Baking is nearly all chemistry. Exact measurements are crucial to good results.
- How experienced are you at baking? At cake decorating? Are baking/decorating classes in your future?
- Will you bake from scratch or a mix?
- How elaborate will your design be?
- Will you have time (and budget) to experiment with recipes and
decorating if you’ve never done large-scale baking/decorating before?
- Thinking of using fresh flowers for decoration? Great! Which common wedding flowers are are poisonous and should never be used on a cake?
- How will you store the finished (or nearly finished) cakes? Do you have enough ‘fridge space?
- How will you transport the cake?
- Who will set it up at the venue?
- Who will serve it? (Caterers will charge extra to do this for you.)
- What if something goes wrong? What’s your Plan B or worst case scenario fix-it?
We’ll be talking more about the questions above in the coming days to
better guide you to decide if a DIY cake is in your future. I wanted to get you thinking about the time, skill, budget, and supply requirements to not only do it yourself but to do it well.
Today kicks off Cake Month at DIY Bride! From recipes and techniques to toppers and stands, we have a full month of DIY projects to make your cake a delightfully delicious part of your celebration.
We’ll be posting a glossary of cake terms, answering reader questions, offering downloadable tip sheets, showcasing cakes by other DIYers, and showing video demos. It’s going to be a blast!
Coinciding with DIY Cake Month here at DIYBride, the Food Network is celebrating Wedding Week. From pre-wedding brunch to easy appetizers to, yes, The Cake, tune for inspiration and recipes for yummy wedding from your favorite Food Network chefs. I’m really excited to see Thursday’s back-to-back Ace of Cakes wedding-related shows. (Is it possible to have a crush on the staff of an entire company?)
Don’t forget to set your TiVO or VCR for Saturday’s all-day wedding fest!
Posted in
Food + Catering at May 1st, 2008.
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A Call For Questions!
The month of May will be devoted to all sorts of cakey goodness at DIY Bride. I have a fantastic bunch of step-by-step tutorials, delicious recipes, inspired designs, and all sorts of expert information coming online for you. It’s going to be a lot of fun!
As part of the celebration I’m bringing in some experts to help answer your most pressing cake-related questions. Please submit your questions & dilemmas about baking, decorating, transporting (or anything else cake-related) to me via the contact form. We’ll be answering them throughout the month.
Posted in
Food + Catering at April 24th, 2008.
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It’s project day!
Vintage crafts and craft techniques are rocking my holiday gift-giving world this year. I’ve been having fun resurrecting things I made as a not-so-crafty kid and giving them a modern update.
Just in time for holiday gift-giving I rediscovered baking bread in a glass jar and thought that it’d make an awesomely fun wedding favor. The DIY Bride version replaces bread with the ever-popular cupcake.
We’re going to bake cupcakes in glass jars! It’s perfectly safe and the jar serves double duty as a baking vessel and ultra-cool packaging.
And if you’re looking for a neat edible gift for the holidays, this is a winner.
There are lots of notes for this project so be sure to read all the way to the bottom before you attempt.
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Posted in
Food + Catering at November 15th, 2007.
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If you’re considering going DIY on any of your catering or baking items, you must visit Epicurious.com. Not only do they have incredibly yummy recipes for, oh, EVERYTHING, they have a section devoted to weddings . Featuring everything from tips and ideas for showers to easy-to-follow video tutorials, this is a must-visit spot on your wedding surfing journey.
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Posted in
Food + Catering at May 16th, 2007.
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WEDDING CAKE WITH BLACKBERRIES AND ROSES
Are you the adventuresome type? Epicurious offers this amazingly delicious and beautiful wedding cake recipe for those of you interested in trying your hand at making your own cake.
Source: Epicurious
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Posted in
Food + Catering at March 24th, 2005.
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WHITE CHOCOLATE AND LEMON WEDDING CAKE
Are you the adventuresome type? Epicurious offers this amazingly delicious and beautiful wedding cake recipe for those of you interested in trying your hand at making your own cake.
Source: Epicurious
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Posted in
Food + Catering at March 13th, 2005.
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FONDANT-COVERED WEDDING CAKE WITH RASPBERRIES AND CHOCOLATE
Are you the adventuresome type? Epicurious offers this amazingly delicious and beautiful wedding cake recipe for those of you interested in trying your hand at making your own cake.
Source: Epicurious
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Posted in
Food + Catering at February 24th, 2005.
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