Lets talk CAKE!

chinofiesta93

After many months of not working on the wedding, I feel like I'm in overdrive!

Today I met with my WP to talk centerpieces and decor, Saturday we're going to DB to look at BM dresses, and now I'm looking into cakes/cupcakes.

We're for sure going to do a small decorated cutting cake and serve guests either cupcakes or sheet cake.

My online budgeter (using weddingwire's budgeter) says to spend $500 on cake and cutting fee. SAY WHAT! I feel like that's not enough!
I'm already thinking it's going to be $200-250 alone on unfilled cupcakes and easily close to $300 for a "basic" 2-tier cake.
I don't even know what the cutting fee IS! Agh!

What kind of cakes are you serving? Is it staying within your budget?

Blondy214

Some venues or caterers charge you a cutting fee. I'm not sure why, I guess just another fee that they are able to tack on. They don't all do this though, so check with yours. 

We are also planning to have a smaller 2 tier cake and a sheet cake. We haven't decided 100% on the cake yet, but I think we are going to get it from Publix. Depending on your area, you might not have Publix there but I'm sure there is some grocery store that is similar. When we met with them I was quoted a price of around $400 for a 2 or 3 tier cake (I honestly can't remember, it was a few months back) and an additional sheet cake for around 125 people. It also included delivery. 

We had originally budgeted I think $600 for cake, and my WP said that that was a low estimate to get it from a bakery, but strongly recommended Publix (their cake is delicious!) I think it also depends on your area. I know that in my area a 4 tier cake can run as much as $900 or $1,000. The quote from Publix was well within our budget so that made me happy (as not much else was well within our budget lol). 

Have you met with a baker yet? It is really hard to get an idea of how much a cake can cost in my opinion because there are a lot of factors that go into it (i.e. location). 

bdpbride

My fiance and I are much bigger fans of ice cream than cake so we decided to just have our local Ice Cream shop serve up our favorite flavors of ice cream.

However I then decided to do a Grooms cake as a surprise for him so we will have cake after all.  His grooms cake is essentially a large sheet cake that showcases his five favorite sports.  And then I got another plain sheet cake so there are enough servings for everyone.  There are 150 servings but since its sheet cake it was only around $150. 

I think you can avoid the cake cutting fee by having a friend or family member cut the cake for you over the hall.  Otherwise many halls charge to have someone do that for you.

ChiGirl2013

My FSIL just ordered 3 different flavored cakes and had them frosted in plain white.  She had about 150 servings and spent about $200.  She just never told them it was for a wedding.  She bought a wire cake stand that could hold the 3 cakes all staggered and put the topper on the cake that was on top, plus some flower petals around the base of the cake stand.  It was gorgeous!

Our cake is ridiculously expensive, but it's from a very well-known East coast baker and they have to transport it about 100 miles.  The cake is costing more than my dress and the delivery fee is $150.  So yeah, it's way more than I budgeted for, but the average cost per serving is about $4pp for a VERY plain cake and can go up to $20pp for a fancier cake with fondant and lots of decorations.  Kind of makes me want to make my own cake.  lol

Christine9866

We are doing cupcakes! So we will have 2 mini cupcake holders that are tiers and one larger one which will have our cake on the top of it. She told us to do 1 cupcake per person.  I am excited, we love cupcakes It cost us about $550, this is based on 150 people (how many people we are inviting). We have 6 flavors and 25 of each flavor. I think our cost will go down once we notify her of our official headcount.

[Deleted User]

I think ours was around $425 for a four tiered cake for 150 people.  She doesn't charge extra for design complexity.  The bottom(largest) and top tier are key lime cake with cream cheese filling and buttercream icing.  The next largest layer is vanilla cake with strawberry filling and buttercream icing.  The last layer(under top tier) is vanilla cake with blueberry and cream cheese filling with buttercream icing.  All of the combinations taste sooooo good.  Originally we were budgeted for $350 or $375, I think?  Here's a pic of what it will look like: 

GinaV0822

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_april-2013-weddings_lets-talk-cake?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:820178d7-4f43-4671-bcab-c5c2c01eef1eDiscussion:048935b8-df20-4fb9-8db4-2ff81bb402b6Post:a122569d-625b-4f0e-b375-9737e12200b0">Re: Lets talk CAKE!</a>:
[QUOTE]I think ours was around $425 for a four tiered cake for 150 people.  She doesn't charge extra for design complexity.  The bottom(largest) and top tier are key lime cake with cream cheese filling and buttercream icing.  The next largest layer is vanilla cake with strawberry filling and buttercream icing.  The last layer(under top tier) is vanilla cake with blueberry and cream cheese filling with buttercream icing.  All of the combinations taste sooooo good.  Originally we were budgeted for $350 or $375, I think?  Here's a pic of what it will look like: 
Posted by lch0708[/QUOTE]

<div>This is the same cake(design) we are thinking of having but with bavarian cream filling.  I love it! </div><div>
</div><div>Our venue includes the cake in the total price so I have no idea how it breaks down.  They use a very reputable bakery in Chicago so I hope it's good.  We get to do a tasting in a couple of months.  Cake is one of my absolute favorite things so I hope everyone will enjoy it!</div>

mrsguilbert42013

We are doing a small Vegas wedding so we have ordered a two tier cake iced in ivory buttercream with fresh pink calla lilies on it.  It serves 25 people and costs $225.

dani1361

We are doing a two tier cake for cutting and us and the bidal party, but everyone else gets cupcakes! about 90 cupcakes plus the two tier cake is costing us around $340. We just asked friends on facebook and family if they knew of anyone good, and found an awesome bakery thatthis lady started out of her home. We sampled it and weve seen her work, both with the person who recommended her and her portfolio. Smaller bakers can for sure save a ton of money! We are doing all small buisnesses and its saving us around $1500. were doing it for cake, flowers, invites, dresses, and suits

faile556

We went to a couple tastings here with the big local bakers. I was a little taken back by the $3.50 per serving price. Then when they explained the serving size was 2"x2" ... I was just annoyed. Oh did I mention then you tack on the delivery fee, decorating fee, etc.

So, I went to my local grocery store... Albertsons here in the Southwest USofA ... and they could do a 3 tier, 100 serving cake, that tastes fantastic, for $200. That's $2 a serving, and no extra charges for delivery, decoration, etc. The exact words out of the baker's mouth was, 'Oh that type of decoration? Sure no problem, just print out a picture and we'll take it from there."

LuckyGirl1713

Our venue includes the cake which is made by a very popular bakery.  Our cake is 4 tiers and we are alternating the shape of the tiers and having two different flavors.  A chocolate cake with nutella filling and vanilla cake with chocolate fudge.

tiny speck

We haven't figured out cake yet, but we are thinking of doing a naked cake without the outer layer of icing. Probably chocolate with vanilla buttercream between the layers. We'll see. It will just be 2 tiers, and hopefully each tier will be 3 layers.

In the UK traditional wedding cake is booze-soaked fruitcake... so we're having a hard time finding someone to do a cake the way we'd like.