It has been a while since I wrote about DIY (do-it-yourself) weddings. Here’s a topic I haven’t covered before: wedding cake.
Considering how expensive wedding cakes can be, maybe you want to try your hand at baking your own. There is certainly a lot of information on the internet about how to bake a wedding cake. Some of the sites even say it is “easy.” I won’t pass judgment on that, since I’ve never tried it. What I have seen is the results.
Before I tell you about the home-made cakes I’ve seen, I have to point out that sometimes professional bakers have cake disasters. (See this rather funny story as an example.) So, amateurs should be aware of the pitfalls.
My experience is that home-made cakes are likely to be a little more rustic than cakes made by professionals. This may suit your aesthetics exactly, in which case feel free to ignore anything else I say.
Here is a cake baked by the bride’s sister.
Image by theblondephotographer.com.
It is a perfectly lovely cake after its own fashion and suited their country-themed outdoor wedding reception. It might have been out of place at an ultra-formal downtown reception, though.
And here is one baked by the groom’s family.
Photo by Magical Moments Photography.
The bride and groom wanted to use the family recipe for carrot cake for their wedding cake. This was a highly informal wedding and reception, and the cake fit right in. Again, it might have been out of place elsewhere.
Here is one more example that is slightly different:
Photo courtesy of christytylerphotography.com.
The bride and groom at this wedding both had tremendous food allergies. Instead of asking a professional baker to work around their allergies (wheat, sugar, dairy, etc.) and try to come up with a recipe that would be delicious, the groom’s mother made a number of cakes from a recipe they already knew would work for them. They didn’t insist on a tiered cake but enjoyed them as regular cakes. This was a case where DIY made a lot of practical sense.
My short recommendation would be that DIY wedding cake is not impossible. The important thing to keep in mind is that the visual results may be different from what you would expect from a professional. It is probably also wise to learn some of the tricks of stabilizing and transporting tiered cakes to prevent disasters. You might also have to make more than one, in order to try out your skills. (Bonus: extra cake!) If you’re willing to take these risks, go ahead and make your own cake. If not, there are a lot of really good bakers who will be happy to do the job for you.
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