Wedding cake question

wallflower77

Hi, I'm fairly new, just starting out in planning. Not sure how much to budget for my cake. Would anyone on here care to share details below?

How much did you pay for your cake?
How many people did it feed?
Where do you suggest I buy from?

danimarie88

Hi there! I'm not a cake fan - at all. I'd definitely prefer brownies or pie, but figured since it's a wedding, I should serve wedding cake. Another thing I wasn't very excited about was spending a lot of money on centerpieces. Sure, they're nice, but I would rather spend my money on a decent videographer and photographer.

We came to the conclusion that it would be best do "centerpiece cakes" - instead of an elaborate floral centerpiece, we are doing 8-inch centerpiece cakes at each table. It ends up only being 1.80 a slice rather than the 3.50 a slice (which is the price our vendor charges for normal wedding cakes) We are able to kill two birds with one stone...the cake serves as the centerpiece and we are saving a ton of money. We are making cake stands from serving platters and either a candlestick or cup.

This isn't for everyone, but we are so happy that this is the route we're going. Also, we're using JKB cakes in Blaine. Kris and Jerome have been great to work with, and even I liked the cake (yes, the girl that hates cake!)

danimarie88

Also, I should add that we will have a small, two-tier cake for the wedding party, and parents. That way, we can still do a traditional cake-cutting.

mabrown5

We are getting out cake from Miss Sara's Cakery in hastings. We are getting a two tiered cake and 2.5 sheet cakes for $475.00. That will feed about 300 people. She has amazing cake and she only charges mileage for delivery (about $0.50/mile). Where some places charge you x amount per cake. I had no clue how much to budget for when it came it cake. Your best bet is to contact a few bakeries and see how much they charge. 

ShelbyGT21

We are using The Cake Box in New Hope. We are doing a big sheet cake that we will have back in the kitchen that our venue is cutting for us.

For a full sheet cake that has "64 to 96 servings" it costs approx. $125. 

wallflower77

Thanks so much guys!

@Shelby- I was actually in a wedding and my friends bought their cake from this place a couple years back (it was DELICIOUS) but she couldn't remember how much they paid.

beckyh77

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_minnesota-minneapolis-st-paul_wedding-cake-question?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:81Discussion:028f659e-66be-4a26-9522-d4aa85298fefPost:3c4a8ddc-0f77-46e8-bb19-75e65fe7ee7e">Re: Wedding cake question</a>:
[QUOTE]We are getting out cake from Miss Sara's Cakery in hastings. We are getting a two tiered cake and 2.5 sheet cakes for $475.00. That will feed about 300 people. She has amazing cake and she only charges mileage for delivery (about $0.50/mile). Where some places charge you x amount per cake. I had no clue how much to budget for when it came it cake. Your best bet is to contact a few bakeries and see how much they charge. 
Posted by mabrown5[/QUOTE]

I have been referred to her as well. Do you know if your caterer is charging you a separate fee per person to slice an "outside" cake?

mabrown5

No our caterer does the cake cutting for free. Miss Sara's cakery does cupcakes as well. I believe those are an extra $0.20 each but you can eliminate the cake cutting fee if your caterer charges you for that. Sara did warn us that some caterers are charging for cupcakes now (I don't remember the wording she used for the fee) because they aren't getting the cake cutting fee. We got lucky and the caterer for our venue serves all desert for free.

beckyh77

Our caterer uses Buttercream at $3.50 a slice so unless I can find a place that does it for $2.50 a slice or cheaper, we may as well go with Buttercream.

Does Sara charge a different price for the sheetcakes?

mabrown5

Our tiered cake is $3.70 a slice and our sheet cake is $1.65 a slice.

bburkel

We just met with Queen of Cakes last week and she was awesome, at least for our first meeting.  She entertained all of my FI's crazy ideas and is going to do some custom sculpting of a dragon and us fighting it off on our main 3-tier cake.  Her prices were fairly reasonable, especially for the sheet cakes.  Our custom design bumps the main cake up quite a bit.  And, she'll let you do as many flavor combinations as you want.  And the tasting was amazing - 6 or 7 different flavors and combinations and all fantastic!

I also mentioned that I love Black Forest cake, so she ordered me a special sample.  I get to pick it up on Thursday and it's free of charge!

I believe the sheet cakes are $1.75 a slice, and the tiered was around $3.

MaggieandJake

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_minnesota-minneapolis-st-paul_wedding-cake-question?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:81Discussion:028f659e-66be-4a26-9522-d4aa85298fefPost:a3951714-1854-449e-bc9f-52a9c782f6ba">Wedding cake question</a>:
[QUOTE]Hi, I'm fairly new, just starting out in planning. Not sure how much to budget for my cake. Would anyone on here care to share details below? How much did you pay for your cake? How many people did it feed? Where do you suggest I buy from?
Posted by wallflower77[/QUOTE]

<div><strong>How much did you pay for your cake?</strong> </div><div>We paid $3.50/slice for our 3 tiered cake.  We also bought 1 sheet cake from Costco for $18 (+$1 cake cutting fee/slice at our venue) .   <strong>Total Cost: $537 </strong>including all additional decorating costs, delivery fee, and a grooms cake (Filled Sheet cake) and our venue's cake cutting fee. </div><div>
</div><div><strong>How many people did it feed? </strong>The tiered cake served 88 and the Costco cake served 48, so a total of 136.  We had just over 100 guests. *However, we did not cut the top tier and saved it for our 1 year instead.  We had didn't run out, but we also didn't have any left over.  </div><div>
</div><div><strong>Where do you suggest I buy from?</strong></div><div>We only did two tastings, one at Queen of Cakes (QoC) and one at Buttercream.  Our prefered vendor through our reception site was Buttercream.  We were unimpressed with their customer service and unwillingness to work with our vision and customization (which were not crazy or absurd requests).  They were very snooty and so we decided to go with QoC even though they cost slightly more. BC cost was $3.75/slice, but there would have been no cake cutting fee or delivery charge had we gone with them.  They said they do not do sheet cakes and refused to dye their cakes for my husband's groom cake (I wonder how they make red velvet then...).  Since QoC was willing to do both, we ultimately went with them. </div><div>
</div><div>We were very happy with our choice to go with QoC.  We loved working with them!  There's a full review in my married bio below.  </div>

beckyh77

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_minnesota-minneapolis-st-paul_wedding-cake-question?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:81Discussion:028f659e-66be-4a26-9522-d4aa85298fefPost:bd27066b-5f0e-4e3a-965f-be5264aa102f">Re: Wedding cake question</a>:
[QUOTE]We only did two tastings, one at Queen of Cakes (QoC) and one at Buttercream.  Our prefered vendor through our reception site was Buttercream.  We were unimpressed with their customer service and unwillingness to work with our vision and customization (which were not crazy or absurd requests).  They were very snooty and so we decided to go with QoC even though they cost slightly more. BC cost was $3.75/slice, but there would have been no cake cutting fee or delivery charge had we gone with them.  They said they do not do sheet cakes and refused to dye their cakes for my husband's groom cake (I wonder how they make red velvet then...).  Since QoC was willing to do both, we ultimately went with them.  We were very happy with our choice to go with QoC.  We loved working with them!  There's a full review in my married bio below.  
Posted by MaggieandJake[/QUOTE]

This is good to know. Our venue's preferred cake vendor is Buttercream too but at $3.50/slice. We'll still go see them I guess to see how it goes.

GustieRx

We went with Wuollet's for our cake, and I remember it being very reasonable, but can't tell you the exact cost.  I think it was about $350 for a 3-tier cake that fed 150-160 people?  Their sheet cakes were also very reasonable, but I can't remember how much it was- you'd have to check on the prices.  We were SO impressed at the tasting, and were just slightly disappointed in the end.  I didn't go in with a picture of the cake I wanted, and that was a mistake- they made my brother and SIL's cake and it was GORGEOUS, but ours was nothing special.  I didn't really eat mine, but I remember it being good, but not quite as good as the tasting.  That being said, I think it was still quite a bit better than other wedding cakes I've had.  I don't regret going with Wuollet's, but I was just slightly disappointed.

Anorton1204

We are also doing 8" centerpiece cakes on each table. Each cake serves 8-10 people and they are $22-$25 each. It is saving me in centerpiece expenses and the cake cutting fee. I also went to Miss Sara's and I will admit that her cake is delicious.