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Advice from ladies who have baked their own cupcakes/cake

futuremrswoodzyfuturemrswoodzy member
First Anniversary Name Dropper First Comment
edited May 2013 in Wedding Cakes & Food Forum
I'm an avid baker-- I absolutely love it, and people love what I make, enough so that I am considering it as a future profession. That being said, being that the FI and I are on a tight budget for our wedding, my immediate reaction was to handle the baking myself. We've already decided on cupcakes and will be having about 150 guests. We had our engagement party last weekend and I decided to use that as a trial run, baking about 80 mini cupcakes. It was a little stressful, but I already have some ideas on how to save myself time and energy for the wedding-- including making the frosting the day before and piping on the morning of. I have a year to prep and do a bunch more practice runs, but I was just wondering if any other brides have done this themselves and what advice you can offer me. I'm sure a majority of you are going to comment saying "don't do it"... I understand where you're coming from, but please save your breath. Thanks in advance!

I included a pic of the cupcakes and cookies I made for our engagement party, just to demonstrate that I sort of know what I'm doing. ;)
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Re: Advice from ladies who have baked their own cupcakes/cake

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    daria24daria24 member
    First Comment First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Answer
    My only caution is to check with your venue. Many places require all food to be prepared by a bonded & insured company, or you might have to purchase liability insurance. And some venues charge a cutting/playing fee for cakes and even cupcakes, so you might have to factor that into the price.
    image
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    itzMSitzMS member
    First Answer First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment

    Don't do it.

     

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    futuremrswoodzyfuturemrswoodzy member
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Comment
    The advice I'm looking for is from those who HAVE done it though-- not those who haven't and think it's crazy. I've made up my mind, I don't need people trying to sway me to change my mind if I feel comfortable doing it.
    And I felt it necessary to add because I've never saw so many snarky brides all in one place, and nearly every discussion I've started has received RUDE and unwanted feedback. Yeah, you can be honest and give your opinion, but there is a way to be nice about it.

    Thanks for the suggestion @scribe95. And @daria24, I have done so, thank you.
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    Maggie0829Maggie0829 member
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its

    Ask yourself this question, the day of your wedding do you really feel like standing in your kitchen piping icing on 150 cupcakes?  Really think about that.  Do you want that added stress?  Do you want to have to make time for that task?

    Same goes for making them.  The week leading up to my wedding I was busy.  Busy with work.  Busy with last minute wedding stuff.  Busy seeing friends and family that were coming into town.  Busy, busy, busy.  The last thing that I would have wanted to deal with was baking and icing 150 cupcakes.

    Also, are you planning on making mini cupcakes?  If so, then you need to make more then just 150.  You should almost make double that because I can guarantee that your guests will want more then just one.  That is 300 mini cupcakes to bake and ice.  Then you have to worry about transporting them and setting them up the day of your wedding.

    Finally, I second what @daria24 said.  Some veneus do not allow food brought into their location unless it was made by a licensed and insured company.


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    Jen4948Jen4948 member
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its
    I agree with PPs on:

    1) Finding out if this is even okay with your venue before you do it
    2) Allow yourself a lot of time to prepare and ice the cupcakes on the day of your wedding.  If time is tight, I wouldn't do it.
    3) It's not up to you to decide how anyone should respond to your message.  Telling anyone not to be snarky is only going to result in more snark directed at you.  We're not here to validate ideas that violate etiquette or just seem unworkable to us, and if that's the case with any particular idea, we're going to say so whether the poster likes it or not.
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    itzMSitzMS member
    First Answer First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment

    Keep in mind, OP, that the majority of posters who repond to questions like yours are married (thus have planned/survived a wedding or two) or have been around long enough to know better. You may not like what is said, but it's brutal honesty.

    I hope you're not planning on making friends and family (read: bridesmaids) help you frost cupcakes on the morning of your wedding.

    If you want to take on the task yourself and are confident that you're keeping up to food safety standards, by all means enjoy your 13 dozen homemade cupcakes!

     

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    futuremrswoodzyfuturemrswoodzy member
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Comment
    Thank you @sleeper2013 !
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    jessyk1065jessyk1065 member
    5 Love Its First Comment First Answer Name Dropper
    even with regular-sized cupcakes, people may want to eat more than one, so you may end up having to make more like 175 or 200. I was a bridesmaid in my brother's wedding and made cupcakes for their dessert table. I baked the cupcakes using a store-bought mix the night before, and frosted them the morning of with store-bought frosting. Granted, not totally homemade, but most people probably won't notice, especially if you are good at piping frosting and decorating the cupcakes.

    all that said, I also agree with some of the other posters regarding checking with your venue. I know mine is pretty strict about cupcakes and other edible goods, they must be brought in by licensed vendors. in addition, I also missed out on a lot of the hanging out/getting ready with the other girls because I was busy in the kitchen (ceremony/reception were held in a church that had a gym in addition to the ceremony space, with an industrial kitchen attached). I do think it's do-able, but be prepared for the stress and to miss out on some getting-ready time, and make sure you plan for the extra time it will take so you'll also have time for pictures, etc.
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    mybestfriendswedding15mybestfriendswedding15
    First Comment First Answer
    I think the cupcakes in the picture are lovely. I am planning on making the cake for my BFF's wedding. A cake I can manage. All those cupcakes...That is panic attack worthy for me. I would suggest finding a friend, that isn't in the bridal party, to help out with the transportation. With everything else you have going on that day, driving cupcakes around town would take up a bit of time.
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    krispi921krispi921 member
    5 Love Its First Comment

    I am also an avid baker, but I chose not to bake the cake for my own wedding for all the reasons stated above.

    If this is what you want to do, I suggest that you bake all the cupcakes 2 days before the wedding and make the icing and ice them the day before. If you keep them in an airtight container, they will be fine. I have done this timeframe many times before, and it is not long enough for them to go stale.

    The other thing I would try to figure out is transportation. That's going to be a lot of cupcakes to get from point A to point B without messing them up. I have a cupcake carrier that I typically use, but it only holds 24.

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