Let's talk dessert

Simky906

A family friend (who is a pro) was going to make our wedding cake at a massive discount but due to family issues can no longer guarantee that she can do it. Totally fine, and I just hope everything turns out okay with her. However, it leaves us with a wedding cake problem. 

We're still almost 2 months out so we have time to figure it out, but the money we originally budgeted for a cake has been spent elsewhere (tip for lurkers: don't do this!) and we're trying to do this on a budget. Our favorite local cupcake place does do cakes, but the largest size serves 35-45 people. If we're expecting about 110 guests, should we order three or four cakes? We've cut a couple things and can definitely do 3 but 4 puts us back over budget. And should the cakes all be the same flavor, or would it be okay to have 2 or 3 different favors? Or should we find someone else to make a traditional wedding cake? There are some other things in our budget that we could cut or get cheaper versions of that would free up some money.

SBmini

Traditional wedding cakes are very expensive. It would cost you a few hundred dollars to do a three-tier cake to feed all your guests. Sheet cakes or some sort of "non traditional" cake would be a cost saver. Especially if you don't care to do the whole cake cutting thing. You could do a little cake you cut then sheet cakes for the guests. And go for it on the extra flavors! I had three at my wedding. They were all so delicious.

theartistformerlyknownas

I think the more flavors you have, the more servings you'll need. Some people like to take one of each flavor so if you only have just enough, you could run out.

Definitely just get a smaller decorated cake to cut/display, and then simple sheet cakes in the back. They call them "kitchen cakes."

Simky906

That's one reason I like this bakery, they can decorate one of them to be the fancy little 'cutting cake' and then sheet cakes for the rest. And I like the idea of multiple favors, but I'm concerned that everyone may want chocolate so we run out and then no one wants vanilla. Not sure if I'm being silly there or not.

 Edited because I can't spell on Fridays

RebeccaFlower

I would also go with one flavor since I think you'd need to order extra, so you don't run out of one flavor. I think one display cake and sheet cakes is the way to go. 

And please for the love of all things holy, tell your venue to cut the cake in real slices. I have a serious vandetta against these absurdly small pieces given out at weddings.

tigersgirlgv

I'm another vote for multiple flavors (or at least make your one flavor "normal"). Not because I would expect to be able to try more than one, but because I was at a wedding last week with a whole cake that was banana flavored. Not a big crowd pleaser. I get that the bride and groom liked that flavor, but make it one layer and get a more universally liked flavor for the rest.

I know that you don't have to cater to everyone's preferences, but I think it's nice to choose something you think most people will like. A whole cake that's vanilla or chocolate would be fine, but I personally think if you're going to go with something "fancier" you should have other options.

Simky906

My original thought was to do 3 flavors- chocolate and vanilla for the sheet cakes and red velvet for the cutting cake. Not sure about the red velvet though now since I mentioned that to FI's family (who are mostly NY/NJ folks) and they didn't even know what it was. I guess that's a Southern thing? It's my personal favorite but I can be just fine with chocolate too. I would just feel weird though if one flavor ended up being more popular and we ran out of that. Le sigh. I can feel my propensity to over think things taking over.

RebeccaFlower

tigersgirlgv said:

I'm another vote for multiple flavors (or at least make your one flavor "normal"). Not because I would expect to be able to try more than one, but because I was at a wedding last week with a whole cake that was banana flavored. Not a big crowd pleaser. I get that the bride and groom liked that flavor, but make it one layer and get a more universally liked flavor for the rest.

I know that you don't have to cater to everyone's preferences, but I think it's nice to choose something you think most people will like. A whole cake that's vanilla or chocolate would be fine, but I personally think if you're going to go with something "fancier" you should have other options.

Good grief, who chooses banana cake for a crowd? I would be so disappointed. 

blabla89

A Practical Wedding has some tutorials on how to pretty up a cake from the grocery store. Definitely worth checking out.

huskypuppy14

The only time I've had more than one piece of cake, was when they put them out and let people choose their flavor. And I would never take 2 pieces right off the bat. I had my first piece, and it was so good, once a little while went by and there was plenty of cake left, I took another.

 If you are worried about running out of cake, have the servers pass them out. At my wedding, we had two flavors. But they were both crowd pleasers. (Vanilla cake with either raspberry or white chocolate butter cream). The cake was out on a serving table, and people picked their own flavor. Now we had more white chocolate than raspberry, so the raspberry was gone first.

mysticl

Simky906 said:

My original thought was to do 3 flavors- chocolate and vanilla for the sheet cakes and red velvet for the cutting cake. Not sure about the red velvet though now since I mentioned that to FI's family (who are mostly NY/NJ folks) and they didn't even know what it was. I guess that's a Southern thing? It's my personal favorite but I can be just fine with chocolate too. I would just feel weird though if one flavor ended up being more popular and we ran out of that. Le sigh. I can feel my propensity to over think things taking over.

It is, though it is becoming more widespread.  

theartistformerlyknownas

Even if you have the servers pass them out though, if you've got 35 guests and 5 flavors, chances are each flavor won't be chosen by exactly 7 people. Sure, nobody should expect to get their favorite, but what's the point in getting multiple flavors if you're not at least a little bit concerned about people getting what they like? If you're worried about budget, having enough extra of each flavor might not be feasible when there are a lot of flavors. 20 servings each of 2 different crowd-pleasing flavors should work though.

Simky906

Ok, so what I'm leaning towards is 3 sheet cakes and 1 little cutting cake. Do 2 chocolate sheet cakes (since I know my family are almost all choco-holics) and have the cutting cake and the 3rd sheet cake vanilla flavors. And I just found out that the bakery does vegan cupcakes so I can order those too for our 3 vegan guests!

theartistformerlyknownas

Awesome!

beethery

RebeccaFlower said:

tigersgirlgv said:

I'm another vote for multiple flavors (or at least make your one flavor "normal"). Not because I would expect to be able to try more than one, but because I was at a wedding last week with a whole cake that was banana flavored. Not a big crowd pleaser. I get that the bride and groom liked that flavor, but make it one layer and get a more universally liked flavor for the rest.

I know that you don't have to cater to everyone's preferences, but I think it's nice to choose something you think most people will like. A whole cake that's vanilla or chocolate would be fine, but I personally think if you're going to go with something "fancier" you should have other options.

Good grief, who chooses banana cake for a crowd? I would be so disappointed. 

We're going to have banana-toffee cupcakes at our reception, BUT that will not be the only flavor.

Plain banana cake would make me think of banana bread or muffins.

Simky906

@kimches Good point! I know you can buy them individually if you walk into the bakery but I'll confirm that they do that for orders as well.