Wedding cakes are seriously expensive, and with the economy slumping and less money to be had all around, figuring out how to reduce the cost of a wedding is extremely important. In my opinion, there is really no need to go and blow $1500 on a wedding cake when you can do it yourself. Baking brings people together, and it can be a great experience to have all of your family in the kitchen putting together your wedding cake. In this article we’ll take a look at how to do it.
First, you have to determine the size of the cake. The size will depend on your guest list, but a large three tiered cake can serve a lot of people when it’s cut properly. Cake pans are very affordable and can be purchased online or in restaurant supply stores. The traditional wedding cake will require a three tiered cake pan, that is really just three different sized round pans. If you want to make each tier taller, you don’t need a deeper pan – you just bake more layers of cake and “adhere” them together with icing or filling. The normal large wedding cake will be three tiers of three layers each, with the bottom tier being 13 or 15 inches.
Setting up the tiers requires a bit of practice. It’s very important that you get the posts and stands perfectly centered on the cake, if not the cake will not be balanced and run the risk of tipping over. The cake pan manufacturers also make the tier stands to match their sizes, so there is no need to worry about making your own.
Decorating the cake is where things can get a little tricky. I recommend baking off a lot of practice cakes to get the design how you want it. You can go the traditional route with lots of frosting and icing, or make it easy with fondant. Fondant is like a rollable and malleable sugar frosting that will stretch over the cake making it smooth and professional looking. You can also take fondant and cut designs or patterns in it and attach it to the cake to create more elegance and decoration.
However you get the job done, your going to pay pennies on the dollar (even after buying the pans, stands, and ingredients) compared to getting a professional cake done. DIY wedding cakes are an affordable and fun way to celebrate a wedding.
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