Wedding Cakes & Food Forum

Cake...Cupcakes...Single cakes

In researching cake prices I have discovered...Holy Crap! Cake can be expensive! I personally am not a cake person so I could honestly care less about even having one, but the fiance totally is. 

What do people think about doing cupcakes with a small cake to cut? I found a local bakery that does that (as I am sure lots do), and if I were to go that route, 1 cupcake per person is totally fine right..? Or am I just thinking that way because I don't care too much about sweets? 

Another idea I had, though I haven't actually priced it out so any thoughts on this would be appreciated, would be what if instead of a grand ol` tiered cake, if there were a few single layered cakes? Do you think that would cut costs or end up being just as much as if they were all stacked up as one big cake?

Re: Cake...Cupcakes...Single cakes

  • We had cupcakes and a small cake to cut for our wedding.  The cupcakes were larger then your average cupcake so we had one cupcake per person.  Now if the cupcakes are smaller then normal I would have 1.5 cupcakes per person.  For us to have 135 cupcakes, rent the display stand, the small 6" cake, custom made cupcake holders and delivery it was $500.

    Sheet cakes are completely fine to have and tend to be less expensive then a traditional wedding cake because they are simple and don't take nearly as much labor as a tiered cake.

    Just remember that the more complicated in decoration and the more fancy you get with fillings and flavors the more expensive the cake.  So if you had a three tiered cake that was a simple vanilla with butter cream and no lavish design then that will cost you quite a bit less then say a six tiered, fondant covered, hand made flowers, crazy piping, godiva chocolate cake filled with some liquor filling and then dusted with 24 carat gold.

  • Agree with Maggie.  A lot of the cost of a more traditional tiered or stacked cake comes down not only to size but to level of decoration and detail.  The more you ask for, the more customized your cake is, usually the more expensive.

    I think that both of  your alternatives sound fine - after all,  good cake is good cake regardless of how it is served - though I would keep in mind that if you introduce any variety in flavors (ie: both chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, or red velvet sheet cake and butter pecan sheet cake) you will probably want to plan on more than one serving of cake per person since some people will want to try multiple flavors. 

    I'm also generally a fan of dessert so I would plan to order more than 1 cupcake per person just to have a shot at leftovers.  But only you know how big of a dessert crowd you have coming and what that might mean for you needs.  I think with cupcakes, especially standard sized cupcakes, using 1.5 per person makes good sense and shouldn't leave a lot of leftovers.   
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  • 1 cupcake per person seems a little lacking.  I'd go for at least 1.5 or 2.  I do like the idea of having one slightly larger cake along with the smaller cupcakes. 

  • One traditional cupcake per person is equal to a half-slice of filled wedding cake geometrically.  Just food for thought when a full slice of cake is $3 and the cupcake is $2.75..  I would let your FI run with the cake decision given that he's the one more "into" it and the cake be one detail you don't have to worry about since it's not important to you.  The most important detail is how awesome it tastes, and if you're going for cheap only without being concerned about how it tastes you're going to be throwing a lot of it in the trash if it doesn't taste good, so take the time to balance this out.

    As the PP pointed out, the design is where the cost of the cake is.  If you tell your baker "Here's your budget, and I need it to feed XYZ number of guests, here's my invite, picture of my dress, what can you get for the money?" you might be surprised.  But you've got to open the conversation with where your price-point is before designing something.   

  • Thanks for all the suggestions on CC servings. To be clear, I do enjoy a delicious dessert, I could just do with something that's a few bites and I'm satisfied. I know that's not everyone though and people love their sweets. We'll keep looking around at places and prices, and of course, tasting :)
  • The rule of thumb is 1.5 cupcakes per person.  So 150 person wedding = 225 cupcakes.  If there will be other desserts available, you can estimate 1.25 cupcakes per person.  If you will have multiple flavors of cupcakes, then you should estimate 2 cupcakes per person.  If you will have multiple flavors of cupcakes AND will have other desserts available, then you can bring that down to 1.75 cupcakes per person.

    Another thing to think about is depending on the bakery, what they consider a slice is actually much smaller than you think.  A standard slice is considered 1" x 2"x the height of the layers for wedding cakes - which may be smaller than say one would traditionally cut of a birthday cake.  If you have other desserts than that size is probably fine, but if cake if your only dessert then you probably also want to up the servings a bit.

    Also, the thing that ups the price on tiered cakes for weddings is the fondant work is usually more labor intensive.  So if you go with buttercream and/or a very simple design, that's going to reduce your costs considerably.
  • I did my cupcakes a bit differently.  I had them served to each person at the conclusion of a plated dinner--just as if they were brought a slice of wedding cake.  I had about 130 cupcakes for what ended up being 119 guests.  We ended up having about 20 leftover--so about 9 guests declined their cupcake.  The extras were in case the decoration was damaged, something got dropped, etc. and because I was hoping I could eat an extra or two the day after the wedding.

    By serving the cupcakes individually, and granted they were larger ones, I got around renting a display, having the mess of a picked over display, and I controlled the number of cupcakes each person would eat.  No one could eat three when it was brought to them at their seat.   
  • I did my cupcakes a bit differently.  I had them served to each person at the conclusion of a plated dinner--just as if they were brought a slice of wedding cake.  I had about 130 cupcakes for what ended up being 119 guests.  We ended up having about 20 leftover--so about 9 guests declined their cupcake.  The extras were in case the decoration was damaged, something got dropped, etc. and because I was hoping I could eat an extra or two the day after the wedding.

    By serving the cupcakes individually, and granted they were larger ones, I got around renting a display, having the mess of a picked over display, and I controlled the number of cupcakes each person would eat.  No one could eat three when it was brought to them at their seat.   


    STUCK

    Ooh good idea!
    Image result for someecard betting someone half your shit youll love them forever
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