Cupcakes?

vikingmom806

I've been considering (and my sister who used to work as a baker at a coffee shop and my bridesmaids have offered to help) baking cupcakes myself for the reception instead of paying for a cake to save money.

So, three questions if I decide to do this:

1. When it comes to all the materials to make them (I'll probably do it from scratch, but haven't decided yet for sure), will I actually be saving money?
2. How early/late should I start baking them so I'm not overwhelmed too close to the wedding, but so they also don't get old and dried out by the wedding day?

3. How can make this look classy and elegant? (I come from a very "traditionalist" area)

Thanks!

BmoreBride311

I'm not an expert on this, but I would think you may save money, but it would be very difficult to make them look as professional as a professional baker could. How big is your wedding? If it's a relatively small wedding (i.e. less than 75 guests), I think you may be able to do a good job yourself. But if you have much more than that, I think it would be a very big endeavor.

As far as baking them in advance, I wouldn't think you would want to do more than a day and a half early (i.e. if your reception is a Saturday night, make them Friday morning at the earliest). If you have a lot of family and friends coming in from OOT that you want to spend time with that day, you may not want to be busy baking at that time.

I'd suggest you post this on the DIY board to get some perspectives from girls that may have experience doing this for their weddings. I'm sure they can provide better guidance.

Madisonpenny

Well I know here you can bake your own cake and then have a professional frost the product.  I would check into that and see if this is an option.  To answer your other questions, I wouldn't bake them anymore than maybe 2 days before your wedding (but if you go the pro-frosting route you'll have to see how early they need them) .  As far as costs, you'll have to figure how many you have to make verses having a cake and the costs of buying that from a baker.  It's going to involve lots of math.

michelle11988

PP's make good points.  One other thing is that my venue I believe makes it mandatory that whoever bakes the food has some sort of license to do so.  It sounds like it could be a very time consuming project.  Best of luck!

dramaqueen91087

I have a friend who did this recently. They came out very nice but she was going crazy trying to get them all done. I think added a little to much stress. As for when, that depends on what your using. I know that my from scratch cupcakes and especially the frosting won't last more than a day or two because I don't use any preservatives. If you using store bought you may have longer. Also, the cakes won't get hard if they are completely covered by frosting and you dont take them out of the paper, but the frosting will set. I'd say more than a two days especially if they are from scratch. As for decorating, practice using a piping bag now. As long as you don't want super fancy fondant and gum paste designs you should be able to frost them cry nicely if you practice. Also play around with different tips and techniques to see which one you like best.

littlemoments324

you would need to go to the store & price out all the materials & what you would need...plus...are you really going to want to have to worry about baking X amount of cupcakes two days before your wedding???

Also, you could purchase edible cupcake toppers...Etsy has a ton of sellers!!

mekiakoo

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_july-2012-weddings_cupcakes?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:066005ef-215f-48b1-8655-328b41e07c52Discussion:897f84b4-071a-4da2-b4d1-85a7181d65e9Post:6bfb00da-5c5e-4332-97fb-b46b5a812adf">Re: Cupcakes?</a>:
[QUOTE]PP's make good points.  One other thing is that my venue I believe makes it mandatory that whoever bakes the food has some sort of license to do so.  It sounds like it could be a very time consuming project.  Best of luck!
Posted by michelle11988[/QUOTE]

This. We were planning on having our neighbor bake a cake but after finding out a baker has to be licensed (technically bake in a licensed place), we had to change our plans.

butterflyjumper1

Yep, ditto what the others said. My venue requires that the baker be licensed.  There could be lots of licensing, health department, etc. issues with baking your own cupcakes (unless you are just having your reception at someone's home, something like that, then this might not be an issue).

Honestly, with all the expenses that go into planning a wedding....I don't think the cake is the place to DIY.  Some bakers aren't as expensive as others, and even if you just get a cake or cupcakes from a local grocery store or something, I think it would save you a LOT of time, effort, and stress. 

I have gotten bithday cakes and cupcakes from Sam's Club and for being dirt cheap, they are pretty darn good.

I think it would be a better money saver for you to do a special order from Sam's Club, Costco, or a local grocery store for cupcakes in a certain color. Then you could put them on a cute stand, purchase some of the edible toppers that littlemoments mentioned, and voila - cheap and gorgeous semi-DIYing.