Once you have picked your day, booked your venue and chosen your wedding theme you can start
thinking about choosing your cake.
Most couples have no experience with wedding cakes, have no idea what is involved or how much they
cost. Be sure to ask lots of questions and don’t settle for anything less than the perfect cake.
The most common question is: What is the difference between a Baker a Cake Decorator and a Cake
Designer?
Well, a baker simply bakes the parts of the cake that are inside the icing and a cake decorator will add
the icing, borders and decoration according to a given design. Most bakeries have five or six different
designs to choose from which can be customized by changing the cake topper or the colour of the
ribbon. Because there is very little change made to the basic design sometimes you are able to order
your cake as little as two or three weeks before the wedding. Some bakeries will allow you to bring a
picture to be copied.
A Cake Designer, on the other hand, has a completely different approach. When you contact your
designer you will be asked first the date of your wedding since most Cake Designers make only a few
cakes per week and are often booked six months to a year in advance (this is very important to
remember). Then they will ensure that you have already chosen your venue and wedding theme
before coming for your consultation and if you are having flowers incorporated in your design it is
important that you visit your florist prior to your Cake Designer.
What determines my cake design?
If your venue has high ceilings, you will need a cake that looks tall in keeping with its surroundings, for
example. Most Cake Designers are familiar with the banquet halls and venues locally and will be able to
give you an idea of the best designs, shapes and sizes to suit the cake table sizes and where the venue
usually places the cake as well as their preferred delivery times (each banquet hall has its own delivery
times for florists, decorators and cakes).
What happens at a consultation?
When booking your consultation, ensure that you will be able to see examples of the designer’s work,
not just pictures, but dummy (or fake) cakes and that you will also get a sample of some of the available
cake flavours. Once your consultation is booked, collect colour swatches and design elements that
might be useful to you for your cake. The more information your designer has, the better suited your
cake will be to your wedding. It is never enough to simply say ‘pink’ or ‘blue’ since there can be so
many different shades to any one colour and you want your colours to be perfect. It is often helpful to
bring a picture of your dress (or e-mail it ahead of time if you don’t want your fiancé to see it) and a
copy of your invitation as well as a list of your chosen wedding flowers.
Finally, with your fiancé sit down and work out what you feel is a reasonable budget for your cake. A
custom designed cake is going to be a little more expensive than a non-custom one; however, you will
be asking more of your designer than you will of a baker. Be realistic, it isn’t just because you only want
to pay $100 for your 300 guests that this is necessarily possible. You cannot expect to have a wedding
cake at under $1.00 a portion even from a supermarket bakery. If you only have $100 left in your
entire wedding budget then go directly to a supermarket and ask what they can do you for that amount,
but do not expect a three or four tiered wedding cake, sometimes it is preferable to have no cake than it
is to have a cheap version of what you really wanted. Your alternative is to rent a dummy cake – you
can’t eat it and you have to give it back, but it’s doubtful your guests would notice.
Expect to pay at least $3.00 per portion for a custom designed cake, sometimes as much as $12.00 per
portion depending on the skill and popularity of your designer. Remember, you get what you pay for,
the more you pay, the more quality of taste and technique you can expect. If you are on a lower budget
before booking your consultation, ask your designer the average portion cost, then tell your designer
just how high you are prepared to go, they will then indicate the size you can afford and the type of
design that would be within your range. If you want extra decoration, be prepared to downsize the cake
and have fewer portions. If you want a bigger, more elaborate cake and your budget doesn’t go that
far, don’t try and haggle the price with your designer, rather ask him/her to suggest ways to maintain
the look and feel of your design, but by using less expensive techniques or decorations.
You do not need a portion of cake for every guest at your wedding, 50 to 75% of your guests will have
a piece if offered. So if you are having 150 guests, a wedding cake for 100 servings will likely be more
than enough. You can’t order a cake for 78 people, for example, the cake portions have to correspond
with cake pan sizes, you would have to have a cake for 75 portions or 100 portions and expect to have
more slices than you need (and pay for more too). Although some bakers and designers will make very
small non-standard cakes, it is a general rule that if you have only 20 people to your wedding you
cannot expect to have a three tiered cake, don’t set your sights on unrealistic cakes unless you have a
budget to match.
Keeping the top tier used to be the tradition when cakes were made from fruit cake which was kept in a
tin until the first baby’s christening, however tradition changed to keeping the cake for the first
anniversary. These days wedding cakes are not fruit cakes and some freeze their cake for their first
anniversary. If you are going to do this, ask your baker how best to go about it. The best thing to do is
order a fresh cake on your first anniversary; no one wants to eat cake frozen for a year which no longer
has its decoration in tact (you have to take it off for freezing). Think about having your wedding cake
on a cake stand which you keep and use for your fresh anniversary cakes every year.
When looking through magazines for ideas, keep in mind that the makers of these cakes are “high end”
cake designers who charge $1,000’s for their cakes, do not expect the very same results from your
cake designer for $500! Once again, you get what you pay for! There is nothing wrong in taking a
picture or two along for inspiration, this is often very helpful and very much appreciated.
Insist on having your cake sketched, not simply “described” to you, there can be much confusion with
technical terms and what one person sees as swags another person sees as curtains. Be sure you’re
both on the same page. You cannot expect your designer to let you walk out of the showroom with a
sketched design in your hand, you must keep in mind that until you commit to using his/her services
(with a deposit) the design remains his/hers.
Some flowers are toxic, most lilies, for instance are poisonous. All flowers that are purchased from a
florist are grown using fertilizers and pesticides (and sometimes even hormones) to make them bloom
better and remain insect free. These chemicals must not come into contact with food products by law.
You can check with your local food safety department for further information. Also, you may be
interested to do a little research into allergies and learn that pollen can have a similar effect on some
people as peanuts. Fresh flowers are to be avoided at all costs; what is more, sugar, paper and silk
flowers are so pretty, last for many years, don’t die half way through the evening, won’t make your cake
taste funny, won’t poison anyone and are often cheaper than fresh flowers!
Some bakeries and designers charge extra for delivery, make sure that you find out how much the
delivery is and what sort of delivery you can expect. Do they just put the cake into a van and send a
driver to drop it off with the staff at the venue or does whoever made the cake actually accompany it
and set it in its place on the cake table and photograph it?
Ensure you ask your venue if they charge a cake cutting fee. It is not unheard of for a couple to pay up
to $15.00 (yes, fifteen dollars!) per head for cake cutting by the banquet hall. This cost apparently
covers the carrying, slicing, serving, plates and clean up of the wedding cake. If your banquet hall is
thinking of charging this outrageous fee (three times more than the average cake costs) then try to
negotiate, you’d be surprised at the results….or simply opt for a dummy cake rental.
Interestingly some folk think that having one fake layer in your cake makes it cheaper, you may save a
few pennies, but Styrofoam dummies are expensive and whether or not you can eat that layer, it still
has to be constructed, carried and decorated to match the rest. Your savings will not be that great.
There are sometimes demands for kitchen cakes…these are cakes that are the same cake as the
wedding cake, iced but with no decoration. These are cut at the same time as a smaller decorated
wedding cake and are generally a little cheaper than the tiered cake. This would make more sense if
your cake was being served as the main dessert and you absolutely have to have a portion per
person. The higher the tiers the more decoration you would need to have, and, if you were having 500
guests to your wedding, kitchen cakes would be a considerably cheaper option than a 7 tiered wedding
cake! You don’t need a cake designer to make you kitchen cakes though, this may not make good
financial sense. NB: some cake designers will reserve the right to remove their cake if kitchen cakes
that are not made by them are served as wedding cake at the same time, avoid surprises, read the
small print.
You should also insist on a written quotation with the total price clearly marked so that you know the
“bottom line” of what you have to pay for and what you can expect. When you have decided confirm
your booking with a deposit, ask for a photocopy of your design. Read carefully the terms and
conditions. Deposits are generally non-refundable, but you are usually allowed to make changes (up to
a certain time limit before the wedding date) which must always be done in writing, confirmed and re-
sketched if necessary, but be aware that could alter the price of your cake. Check that the date, time
and venue have been entered correctly.
Take your time at your consultation; make sure that you have chosen the perfect cake for your needs
in every way. Do not however expect a second and third consultation for free, most designers will
charge for their time if you wish to re-design or “go over details” in person. E-mails are an acceptable
means of communication most often since they can be answered at any time and constitute a written
record of your demands. Avoid making verbal agreements in telephone conversations, if you do agree
on something over the phone, always confirm with an e-mail after.
Personal recommendations and testimonials are the greatest tool for whoever makes your cake, if you
enjoyed your cake then it would mean the world to let your vendor know. A simple e-mail or letter with a
picture of the cake cutting is a generous gift to anyone’s portfolio and is always much appreciated.
If you have any further questions, would like some more information about wedding cakes please
contact me, Lynne Jury at LetThemEatCakes.com, I would be happy to answer your questions.
Happy Wedding Day!
Help With Your Wedding Cake
By Let Them Eat Cakes
Lynne Jury is the Proprietor and Cake Designer at Let Them Eat Cakes in Dundas, Ontario. She
operates the Cake Spotters Guild and is a cake decorating instructor.