Hi, I'm kinda new to all this. I'm very creative. I've always done my childrens birthday cakes every year and now I'm attempting to do my own wedding cake. I've never done a wedding cake before, but there isn't a place anywhere in our small town that does custom made wedding cakes and well, I'm not wanting abunch of girlie-flowers on my cake!!! Does anybody have any advice for me? Like I said, I'm new to this and I'm really wanting to try fondant for my cake. I'm open to any suggestions from the simplest things to whatever problems you could think of that might occur. My wedding is Feb. 14th so I don't have a lot of time to practice. Any advice??? Thanks!

Why don't you buy one from us?

A book endorsed by many is "Wedding Cakes You Can Make" by Dede Wilson.

I bought Wilton's wedding cake book entitled Romantic. . .something. . . and it's pretty good.

If you could give us a little more insight, maybe we could be more of a help.

I was thinking about this when I got married and my hubby said NO WAY, you will be too stressed out with everything else going on. I would have loved to make my own cake, but now looking back on it I am glad I didn't. My only suggestion would be to make it simple as possible.

I was thinking about this when I got married and my hubby said NO WAY, you will be too stressed out with everything else going on. I would have loved to make my own cake, but now looking back on it I am glad I didn't. My only suggestion would be to make it simple as possible.

Practice, Practice, Practice.. plan way ahead...do the most you can before hand, and don't rush your self with last minute things. Enjoy, it and Relax. If your doing the cake, I would suggest you delegate other things to other people. Don't try to do all the other things yourself.

"Wedding Cakes You Can Make" is a good book for recipes, but up front she says she doesn't believe in fondant, so you won't find any fondant designs in there.

**DISCLAIMER** *** I LOVE FONDANT****

A simple fondant cake with a bead border and a few fresh flowers can be absolutely stunning. Look around in the gallery, there are literally thousands of wonderful cakes and designs to choose from. Start practicing covering cakes in fondant! Start with small ones and work your way up. Once you start, if specific questions come up, be sure to come back and ask!

Also...if you decide to go with a fondant cake...I would use Satin Ice rather than Wilton. Satin Ice tastes better and is easier to work with than Wilton fondant.

You are crazy..................!!!

I think most people would advise you NOT to do it. There will be a lot of other things that you will be dealing with (and probably stressing over). You don't need to add this to the list.

However, if you are planning on a simple wedding, small number of guests and REALLY want to do it yourself...

I also recommend DeDe Wilson's book and also The Perfect Wedding Cake by kate Manchester.
Choose a simple, but pretty design that you feel ultra comfortable and confident doing.
If you really want fondant, go with either Satin Ice or MMF. DO NOT use the Wilton fondant. Make several practice cakes.


Good Luck!

Not a good idea - this is a special day, go all out and buy your cake.

Pearl dust also gives a stunning finish to a wedding cake. Get the biggest, fattest cosmetic brush you can find in the dollar store, dip it into the pearl dust, tap off the excess, then brush it on. Keep brushing gently to buff it and you will get a great sheen.

I would go simple, since you are new to wedding cakes. And as far as transportation goes, are you having your reception at home or a hall? You will have to find someone that you can trust implicitly to take the cake there and set it up.

My suggestion there is a stack cake with a border that can be put on after the cakes are stacked, like round beads of fondant. That way it can be taken to the hall in separate tiers and stacked there.

Dowels, dowels, dowels, do not skimp on them. Always use an odd number, with one in the center.

Gumpaste flowers can be purchased, if you are not thrilled with the thought of making them. Hopefully, someone here can recommend a site that you can buy them from.

Best Wishes -

Theresa

I made my own wedding cake the past January. The pic is in my profile ( it was a drum set...*rolling eyes** yes, a drum set....my husband and I are both drummers...am I a good wife or what? )
It wasn't really stressful, but it did require a ton of precise planning and organization. I am a pastry chef by profession, so that kind of planning is second nature to me.
I would never tell someone NOT to do it. If you are confident in your ability and comfortable with your timeline, and all factors have been considered, then go for it. I would really recommed that you have additional support from family or friends. You will be amazed how much help a few extra hands will be. I had another chef friend help me out with assembly the day before my wedding.
I agree with the previous posters book recommendations. Kate Manchester's book, The Perfect Wedding Cake, is one of my favorite inspiration books and gives very practical advice. Of course, for additional advice, you always have CC for reference!

Hope that helps!
Sharon

Why on earth would you want to do your own wedding cake? Believe me, your mind is NOT going to want to be focusing on your cake! If you, I wish you all the best!

I'm speaking from experience... DON'T DO IT! I attempted this and I say "attempted" for a reason! I was new at it all and did a practice cake which turned out great. I baked all the cakes ahead of time (total of 20!) and the day I let them sit out on my kitchen table while I was at work, our central air went out and they crumbled to pieces! I had to scramble 2 days before my wedding to find someone that could make a cake for 150! Ugh! I wish I would have just planned it out a little more and had one made instead of attempting this! Trust me, you have a lot more to be worrying about... I know!!!

Where do you live? Maybe one of the decorators here live near you and could help you.

I did my own cake. It was a 3 tiered ivory cake with silk flowers. I did the silk arrangements in advance, I also did my flowers (silks) and most of the cooking. I wouldn't do the cooking part again, but I would definitely do my own cake. I did it the way I wanted it, and I knew I wouldn't be happy with anyone else doing it. Not that no one else could do a good enough job, but I knew exactly how I wanted it, and how I wanted it to taste.
Keep it simple and do as much in advance as you can.
By the way, that was 6 yrs ago, and I still use my bouquet and the arrangements from my cake as decorations in my living room. I still love them!
GOOD LUCK!!!!

I think it totally depends on the size of the wedding. If it is a rather large, I think more than 50 people, then I would NOT make my own cake. If it was smaller, I would go for it. This way I know I'm going to like to cake and that most of my guests are going to love the cake.

As far as fondant goes, I didn't think its been that hard to work with. I don't use it a lot because we do not like the taste of Wiltons or MMF. I have some Pettinice that I just haven't had the time to try out.

Good luck and congratulations!

Wow .. what a great thread!

I too am toying with the idea of making my own wedding cake in February. I am not worried about the cake, just about my time and the stress of transporting it, etc. I REALLY don't want to spend the $$ to have someone else make it (although I COMPLETELY understand why they cost so much). We are on a pretty small budget, but could have as many as 150 guests to feed.

I am considering making a beautiful and simply small cake for the cake cutting ceremony (or whatever you call it) and then make sheet cakes to feed everyone. I've also considered making a small cake myself and then **GASP** buying sheet cakes from Costco! Is that sacrilegious or what?!

I, too, attempted using fondant to cover my cakes... I was planning on having the groom and all his men deliver the cakes before the ceremony that day... I'm glad I didn't have to do that either... it ended up being about 85 degrees out that day, very humid... I'm scared they would've melted!

You could make a dummy cake (That way you could decorate it now!!!) Then make a cake for the kitchen that gets cut up and served to your guests!

This way if you are in a rush the kitchen cake does not have to look pretty cos the only ones that will see it are the kitchen staff before they cut it up!!!

The first time I got married, I bought my cake. It was a horrible experience (late, not what we ordered, tasted like sawdust blah blah got a refund)....this was before I was doing cakes.

Since I do cakes now and we had a very small wedding, the second (and final) time, I did my own cake. I enjoyed it, did as much advance prep as possible, and just let things happen. Very happy with the experience.

If you want to do it, then do it. Practice, practice, practice! It's true, you will have a lot on your mind, but that's when you learn to delegate.

Good luck!

Oh and PS - I LOVE working with fondant too! I exclusively make my own MMF. Haven't tried Satin Ice. Wilton sucks.

If you are going to do something like 3 or 4 of those nice 2-or 3-layer cakes on the stands rather than a huge tiered one - I say go for it, IF you aren't the type to get all stressed out if it isn't perfect... If you want huge tiers, well... your call.

I did my own wedding cake. It was 3 tiers on pillars with cascades of royal flowers spilling over the edges of all the tiers. I loved doing my own cake. Just make sure everything else happening that day is well taken care of by others. Being the bride and doing the cake is pretty much all you should have to deal with.

P.S. Ours was an outdoor wedding, and it rained cats and dogs all morning. I was DETERMINED that it was going to come off as planned, so I decorated the cake...outside...in the rain...under a huge plastic paint tarp. It went fine, although I nearly smothered under that plastic! The rain eventually stopped, the sun came out, and it was a gorgeous day. Everyone thought I was totally nuts, though!

If you feel comfortable doing it... go for it! As others suggests, plan ahead and make it simple.

Best Wishes!

I did do my own wedding cake and I wouldn't advise it. It is very stressful considering all the other details that make up a wedding. What you might do if you have a cake friend in the area is you design the cake, work on only one aspect of it, the flowers, the icing, whatever, and let her/him do the actual baking, icing and constructing as you supervise.

We are doing our own cake, and it will be the first wedding cake as well. HOWEVER, my MOH can also hold a bag of icing to fix any boo-boos, etc that may happen that day, PLUS it's only 60 people.

I would advise doing a Christmas cake for every single person you know, just to get the practice in. Teachers, bus drivers, firemen, police, doctor, dentist, neighbor, etc, etc, etc. You can make up the frosting and fondant ahead of time, do a cake a day, and get 30 cakes in by Christmas. A small, 1/4 1/4 sheet (cut the 9x13 into fourths) costs about $.50-1.00 to bake decorate using bc and mmf with a mix.

Also, don't go scratch for this. Mixes are more stable UNLESS you are a tried-and-true baker, which I am not. And as good as DH dark chocolate fudge cakes are, they tend to crack and also get crumbs in the frosting. Better to have a chocolate grooms cake if you want chocolate.

The Melvira method with crusting bc under thick-rolled mmf is what I will be using to get a smooth finish.

What kind of cake are you looking for? Molded chocolates are an easy way to decorate, also, and can be done in advance. Shouldn't have to worry about the heat in February in most parts of the US. What can you tell us about the cake you picked out so we can help more?