Earn cash as you plan. Get a $20 gift card for every 200 points. Learn more
Wedding Cakes & Food Forum
![[Deleted User]](/)
[Deleted User]
member
Grocery Cake
OK, so initially I was planning on getting cupcakes, but now hubby to be wants an actual wedding cake because "I just want one because it's a special cake"
My dilemma is price. So I was debating a grocery store (Kroger/Gerbes/Schnucks) small 3 tier cake.
Has anyone else gotten a cake from a grocer? If so...photos pretty please!
At a mere price of ~150 I'm so tempted.....
My dilemma is price. So I was debating a grocery store (Kroger/Gerbes/Schnucks) small 3 tier cake.
Has anyone else gotten a cake from a grocer? If so...photos pretty please!
At a mere price of ~150 I'm so tempted.....
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Grocery Cake
I'm not from your area, so I'm not familiar with any of those grocery stores, but I would go in and talk to their bakery department and see if they have pictures to show you of what kind of cakes they can offer. As long as the quality is the same, you could have them make you a smaller cake to cut/display and then have large sheet cakes in the kitchen that are cut up and served, thus saving yourself a bit of money on the decoration of a larger cake.
I live in the suburbs (hour from dc, hour from baltimore) but a local baker was able to do what we wanted for less than the (higher end)grocery stores (250 people, simple 3 tier plus 2 whole double layer sheet cakes for less than $400).
We loved our cake- same baker and same flovers H gets for his birthday every year since he was 13. Bakers know brides and grooms are looking for ways to save $ so they might price competitively.
I didn't end up going with them, but there was a bakery near me who didn't "do" weddings, but if I wanted I could have ordered as many dozen as I wanted of vanilla, chocolate or red velvet cupcakes for an excellent price. The only "catch" was that there was no input on decoration- they come how they come. I cared at the time (though I did end up finding a baker who makes cakes/cupcakes out of her home, which also gave me a great price and I could pick flavours/colours/design), but looking back, it was a great way to save money and who cares what colour the icing is as long as it tastes good!
A few things to consider - who is delivering the cake from the store to your reception site? Is there an up-charge for delivery? What is the portion size (DO the geometry for what you get for the money! - cheap doesn't always equal cheap!!!) Does it taste delicious? If it doesn't taste as good as it looks, do not waste your money! Good cake gets eaten, lousy cake - is money wasted! One thing about real flowers that you don't deal with when it comes to sugar flowers is - sugar flowers aren't treated with pesticides like commercially grown flowers are... Just something to think about if you consider going that route to not let them come in contact with the cake especially since some blooms are toxic to humans anyway regardless of if they're organically grown or not...
I do need to add I'm not a huge cake fan, though, and I despise fondant, as do many others. So a simpler buttercream style from a grocery store sounds like a crowd pleaser to me! And if it helps your budget that's even better.
Of course, you need to decide which grocery store has the best bakery, so this could require sampling cakes from a few different places....
So now I'm looking into Sam's Club instead, where I can get a $60 3 tier cake.....which makes me feel both concerned and elated at the same time...
The Sam's Club cakes here in Grand Junction are delicious.
I mean, on some level I'm worried, but on another level I'm just amused by cake prices. I used to bake a lot (including cakes, cookies, fudges, etc), so I know what the costs look like. I was expecting to be able to find a small cake for $150 at the grocer, but no such luck.
I did actually meet the Sam's Club 'baker', she was nice and personable, told me she would work with me to design it, and would make it look as professional as possible.
Plus...I'm kind of curious to see the snobby distant relatives taste a Sams Club cake.....I suspect they'll say it's delicious
DO NOT SAY A WORD about where it came from - let them enjoy the humble pie LOL... For a friend's retirement I did the cakes - bought a box of frozen Sam's cakes, iced them up with a tub of the whipped icing (did them double-layers), and people had ZERO idea! (Sort of like my husband's cousin who used KFC after her caterer got sick and cancelled out of doing the food for her wedding on short notice! - no one had a clue it was "Just" KFC!)
Really the reason it's cheap is when you've got the buying power of billions, it makes it a little easier to produce in mass such that the cakes and icings are all shipped in premade, the only thing taking place at the store itself is the final assembly/icing/decoration. In some cases they're now beginning to use machines to do the actual decorating part so they can truck them in to locations to just get set out on the shelf. Yes, there are still some ways that it can get messed up but the variables are taken away and it's a relatively consistent product for a great price...
It's true....I mean, sort of
It's like positive psychology. If they know where it came from, then it would a big problem.
But from a "local bakery" they will say it's the best!
No to mention, my foodie fiance approved it, as he put it: "Wait....this means I can have more cake cause' it's cheaper?! Heck yeah!"