Baking your own cake and cupcakes...overly ambitious?

Knottie1458764118 · April 2016

I'd really love to bake my own cake just for me and my hubby to be. I have celiac and multiple food allergies so over the years, I've really perfected my baking skills. My family isn't thrilled with the idea because it may not look as "pretty" as it should especially since I make my own frosting and it tends to be on the thinner and runnier side.

Am I biting off more than I can chew? It would be small and at least if I am managing it, I know it will taste good (for me at least lol).

I was planning on doing cupcakes for the guests and also wanted to bake those myself. I was going to do 25 gluten free/allergy free cupcakes since I also have 2 guests with gluten intolerance and then 150 "regular" cupcakes of varying flavors. My fiancé and our friends love my non-gluten free baking and have gotten accustomed to being guinea pigs for taste testing since I can't try those gluten filled goodies myself

My family is trying to talk me off this baking ledge but what are your suggestions or stories (positive or negative)?

ScottishSarah · April 2016

My sister's SIL baked her cake and cupcakes as a wedding gift, tbh she was really stressed the day of trying to finish them off, and she was a bridesmaid not the bride. They did look great though. I think you should maybe do a trial run for a party and see if you can handle it.

lnixon8 · April 2016

This sounds so stressful. With already runny icing, you would want them in the fridge up until absolutely neccesary and you will not want to be running around doing something like that.

Also why 25 GF cupcakes for 3 people?

ScottishSarah · April 2016

lnixon8 said:

This sounds so stressful. With already runny icing, you would want them in the fridge up until absolutely neccesary and you will not want to be running around doing something like that.

Also why 25 GF cupcakes for 3 people?

Wow that's a lot of cake! I know we normally say to over order but hell!

Knottie1458764118 · April 2016

Thank you!! I really don't know why 25 GF cupcakes seemed like an appropriate amount for only 3 people LOL. Just in case each of us want EIGHT cupcakes in one sitting after eating a full meal

My runny frosting is truly a disaster. I can't even pretend to think it looks good. It tastes good but looks more like a glaze than anything. Maybe I'll work on improving my frosting just so I can bake my own 2 person cake and leave the cupcakes up to a bakery.

As for the 2 other GF guests, I can always whip up 1 batch of pumpkin muffins with a glaze since they freeze very well and take no time...or maybe I'll give someone the exact recipe and ingredients so they can do it for me

@ScottishSarah , the cake pictured at the top of the cupcake tier you showed is actually the size I want for my cake. Those cupcakes looks absolutely gorgeous by the way. I think I'd end up with a tower of dripping cupcakes haha

charlotte989875 · April 2016

I'd advise against it. If you're already concerned the frosting won't look the way you want, why try and take this on. A good friend of mine is a professional baker, with access to an entire bakery and equipment. She baked her own cake and cupcakes and they looked and tasted amazing. She had a lot of work to do and she's a professional.

Also, please don't do the bold. Don't ask people to work your wedding for you unless you're planning on paying them.

KnottieLu said:

Thank you!! I really don't know why 25 GF cupcakes seemed like an appropriate amount for only 3 people LOL. Just in case each of us want EIGHT cupcakes in one sitting after eating a full meal

My runny frosting is truly a disaster. I can't even pretend to think it looks good. It tastes good but looks more like a glaze than anything. Maybe I'll work on improving my frosting just so I can bake my own 2 person cake and leave the cupcakes up to a bakery.

As for the 2 other GF guests, I can always whip up 1 batch of pumpkin muffins with a glaze since they freeze very well and take no time...or maybe I'll give someone the exact recipe and ingredients so they can do it for me

@ScottishSarah , the cake pictured at the top of the cupcake tier you showed is actually the size I want for my cake. Those cupcakes looks absolutely gorgeous by the way. I think I'd end up with a tower of dripping cupcakes haha

OliveOilsMom · April 2016

I am not a professional baker, but I have made some very large cakes for showers, birthdays, christenings and house warming parties. Many people asked me if I was going to bake my wedding cake. My answer was always - HELL NO! I did not want to have that stress hanging over me the day before and day of my wedding. And 150 cupcakes is just as much work, if not more, as a large cake.

My advice is leave your baking to the professionals.

If you truly want to make your own cake, my suggestion would be to either do a naked cake or cover it in fondant. Assuming that contact of fondant to your cake would not trigger your allergies. You can just roll the fondant off prior to eating your piece of cake.

Lastly, for your icing issue. Have you ever used xantham gum? It can be used as a thickener. A little goes a long way!!!! But that might help your everyday icing issue, if you can tolerate it.

FromMtoH · April 2016

I see nothing wrong with making your own cake, the night before. But I would leave the cupcakes to someone else. You could always give your guests with allergies a piece of your cake. I have a Grandma with Celiacs, so I completely understand what you are saying. Some bakers just have no idea.

kmmssg · April 2016

Will your venue allow food to be brought in that wasn't prepared in a licensed kitchen? Several years ago we had a bride whose grandma always made the family wedding cakes. Well, her venue would not allow it in because it wasn't made in a licensed facility. No wedding cake at the reception, but cake for 300 the next morning. While I would never take this on (and I am a pretty accomplished baker) I would make sure you can even bring them in your venue.

SP29 · April 2016

I say no- leave the work and stress to a professional.

You need to consider when you will bake everything, as well as when you will ice it. Can do it too early, so they stay fresh. Where will you store them? When will you bring them to the venue? How will you get them to the venue? Who will help you? (Your FH before the ceremony??) When will you set them up? All of this in addition to your regular wedding day plans of hair, make up, photos, ceremony, interacting with your guests.

Find a good baker who does gluten free. If you are *really* worried about allergies, I would say OK to make a small cutting cake for yourself and the couple of GF guests you have.

STARMOON44 · April 2016

Why is your icing runny? Have you tried an American buttercream made with organic gluten free confectioner's sugar? Or a Swiss meringue buttercream?

downtondiva · April 2016

kmmssg said:

Will your venue allow food to be brought in that wasn't prepared in a licensed kitchen? Several years ago we had a bride whose grandma always made the family wedding cakes. Well, her venue would not allow it in because it wasn't made in a licensed facility. No wedding cake at the reception, but cake for 300 the next morning. While I would never take this on (and I am a pretty accomplished baker) I would make sure you can even bring them in your venue.

This is an excellent point. I believe at least some states even have laws about this sort of thing (so even if your venue wanted to allow this, they might not be able to).

Either way, OP, I think this is a pretty big undertaking that should be left to a professional. There are more and more bakers out there who can make good quality gluten free cakes. You will have enough to deal with in the days leading up to and the day of your wedding. Don't add to it.

Viczaesar · April 2016

KnottieLu said:

I'd really love to bake my own cake just for me and my hubby to be. I have celiac and multiple food allergies so over the years, I've really perfected my baking skills. My family isn't thrilled with the idea because it may not look as "pretty" as it should especially since I make my own frosting and it tends to be on the thinner and runnier side.
Am I biting off more than I can chew? It would be small and at least if I am managing it, I know it will taste good (for me at least lol).
I was planning on doing cupcakes for the guests and also wanted to bake those myself. I was going to do 25 gluten free/allergy free cupcakes since I also have 2 guests with gluten intolerance and then 150 "regular" cupcakes of varying flavors. My fiancé and our friends love my non-gluten free baking and have gotten accustomed to being guinea pigs for taste testing since I can't try those gluten filled goodies myself
My family is trying to talk me off this baking ledge but what are your suggestions or stories (positive or negative)?

Why would your frosting be thin and runny? What kind of frosting are you making? Most powdered sugars are gluten free; what's wrong with a classic buttercream? Or a cream cheese frosting? Are you also allergic to dairy?

MesmrEwe · April 2016

kmmssg said:

Will your venue allow food to be brought in that wasn't prepared in a licensed kitchen? Several years ago we had a bride whose grandma always made the family wedding cakes. Well, her venue would not allow it in because it wasn't made in a licensed facility. No wedding cake at the reception, but cake for 300 the next morning. While I would never take this on (and I am a pretty accomplished baker) I would make sure you can even bring them in your venue.

We have stories from venues doing this to brides up here - going as far as to require vendors to show up with license in-hand before they're even allowed to unload the cake from the car!

My vote is this - make something that you can freeze for just you and the few others with Celiac's that you can have in a storage bin away from the others (to avoid cross-contamination) then hire out the rest of the cake to be made/set up for the remainder of the guests. Also, get permission from the baker to bring the Celiac's cupcakes along - that said - you never know, you may find a baker who can accommodate your food sensitivities without flinching and make yummy icing to boot.

I HIGHLY would NOT recommend DIY the cake - it's more headache than it's worth, as you've said, you haven't mastered icing yet, when you're stressed is not the time to be dealing with trying new things. You're the bride - not a vendor - this needs to be set up the day-of when you're going to be doing things, that are sort of important, like being the BRIDE! Unless this was your professional career where you'd be going into it knowingly, that'd be one thing, since it's not, hire it out - you'll ultimately end up saving yourself a ton of money compared to DIY (We figured it out years ago the cost to DIY wedding cake/cupcakes from first idea to final prep - and it was cheaper by about $$$$ to hire the most expensive baker in the region to do an upscale cake that you never lift a finger to create.

Knottie1458764118 · April 2016

@kmmssg Good point. The venue had no problem with me making an individual cake but I didn't think to ask about cupcakes.

Plus, I truly have no place to store cupcakes the night or week before. This is seeming like too big of an undertaking.

Viczaesar I do have a dairy allergy as well

lc07 · April 2016

If you're up for making your own wedding cake and you don't mind dealing with that the day or two before your wedding go for it. If I had celiac, I wouldn't be physically touching flour, though, so would nix making the "regular" cupcakes. I assume you know better than I do, being celiac yourself, so please correct me if I am out of line. But my best friend has celiac disease and it's a serious concern to her to have flour in her kitchen, on her wooden utensils, floating around in the air in her house, in her oven, etc. I wouldn't want you to expose yourself to a health hazard. If I were you I'd hire a company to create and deliver the "regular" baked goods.

Knottie11074228 · April 2016

If you don't trust a bakery to do the cake you eat then I say make yours but spend quite a bit of time perfecting your frosting so you know yours is all set and will look good. As for the rest of the cupcakes i would say thats really up to you. I know that i could handle that sort of task because i love baking and you can actually bake a lot in advance and freeze and what not but that being said if your doing it just to do it don't but if your doing it to save money and think you can handle it than go ahead(:

[Deleted User] · April 2016

Love the plan but I think it's over ambitious. Things to think of

Do you have the space to store all of the baked items
How will store them (containers) to keep them fresh because you will probably need to start baking a few days in advance since you probably only have a regular home oven
How will you transport all of this to the reception venue
Who will setup everything at the venue the day of the wedding
How long will it take to bake all of this & do you really have the time to do this the week of your wedding while taking care of other last minute things
Do you really want to your wedding to be a testing event, people will remember if they didn't turn out well.

If you don't trust someone to make a cake that you and FI can eat, by all means, make that one & keep the decorations simple on it. Just a simple one tier cake to cut into can still be beautiful. Maybe use edible flowers to decorate it so that way it can hide some of the frosting and look colorful and creative. For the cupcakes, hire someone to do that and have one of the flavors be a gluten free option & put a sign by them that "red = red velvet, white = gluten free & brown = chocolate. That way people will know immediately what color frosting or wrapper is what flavor & which ones are gluten free.

jacques27 · April 2016

I am on Team Hire That Out! You do not want to be dealing with that in the days leading up to your wedding. You will be busy. I have done it for medium-sized events (anywhere from 45 to 125 people) and it is hard work and even harder when you are actually hosting the event and having to coordinate that as well.

I will say though, you mention gluten and dairy allergies - have you tried Earth Balance? It's a vegan margarine. They also make a shortening. They do make soy-free spreads and baking sticks if you also have a soy allergy though I have never baked with the soy-free version (they only recently came out). I can usually find the spread everywhere (major grocery chains, my smaller neighborhood grocery, Target), but have to go to my co-op for the shortening or baking sticks. They make a very good "buttercream" when following the recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World (they also have two gluten-free cupcake recipes in there). This is not in any way of an endorsement in doing what you proposed in your OP, just saying that unless you have other allergies that prevent you from using Earth Balance and a soy creamer (although I have also used coconut milk or coconut-based creamer in the recipe successfully) there is no reason to live life with drippy icing (that's icing, like you drizzle on bundt cakes, that's not frosting) that doesn't set.

hyechica81 · April 2016

first contact venue to see if they allow outside food in a non licensed bakery aka home kitchen. second will you have time to make all of these cupcakes?. i bake as a hobby and my idea was to make 40 cupcakes for the rehearsal dinner well i was so overwhelmed with everything the day before and the day of that i just didn't have the time.

how do you make your frosting? i have a recipe i am not sure if its gf as i don't bake or make any gf recipes but if these ingredients are gf feel free to try this recipe

4 cups of powdered sugar sifted
2 sticks of unsalted butter
1 teaspoon of madagascar bourbon vanilla i use trader joe's brand
1 tablespoon of milk ( only if needed)

cream butter and 1 cup of powder at a time until it is all combined on low add in vanilla and turn mixer up to high speed and continue to beat for 5 minutes it will make your frosting nice and fluffy, turn off if it looks to stiff add in some milk just a little to thin it out you want a rubber spatula to stay still in the batter but move just a little plus you can sub out the vanilla for other flavors like caramel, mint, almond, cherry etc

Baking your own cake and cupcakes...overly ambitious?

Re: Baking your own cake and cupcakes...overly ambitious?

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