I was asked to do a cake for my friends gma's wake. What am I supose to put on it??? Please help need this for Sat morning. TIA

Do they want a decorated cake, or just one of your good tasting cakes?

I would do something very understated- no words, very few decorations, something simple that is just good to eat - unless there is something specified.

If they want a decorated cake I agree it should be very simple....maybe just ask the family if the grandma had a favorite flower and decorate it simply with that.

When my Mother passed away last May my oldest daughter went to a bakery and had a cake made for her. It was beautiful and everyone loved it. It was a beautifully decorated white sheet cake, white bc frosting, an Angel blowing a golden trumpet upwards towards a pretty blue sky speckled with a few puffy clouds. The words on the cake were; "Welcome to Heaven Granna". There were colorful flowers vining upwards from the bottom of the cake.
It was a totally unexpected thing for all of us but everyone, including myself, loved the idea of the cake and saw it as a great way to express the celebration of Mothers life being continued in Heaven.
It is a memory I will never forget and would encourage this for anyone loosing a loved one. For some reason the cake had a special meaning that day and was a very happy and bright spot in what became the second worst day of my life with the first being the day she passed.
I am not sure if someone took a picture of it or not but I can check and see. Will upload if there is one.

they left it up to me and Ive never done one so I didnt know what the protocal was. Thanks for the advice and will just do it very simple basic with sprays of roses. Do you think its inapropiate to put thier name in the middle with roses arounded it?
again TY

I think the name in the middle they way you described it would be perfectly nice and appropriate.

Here's my take on "wakes" not necessarily funerals....
A wake, in my book, would be the time after the funeral when friends and family get together to remember the person. Some memories will be sad but some will be happy ones, you know kinda like, "Do you remember when.....and people chuckle because they remember how funny it was at the time and then usually end with, "Dang, I'm gonna miss her/him!" Just things like that.
I did my grandmas cake for the get together or wake after the funeral. I decorated it with her favorite flower which was irises.
I know it's a hard time but it's also a time to remember the person's life not necessarily their death.
But, beings they didn't give much detail as to who this person was (you might have more insight on that), you could probably find out what her favorite colors were and what her favorite flowers were and make one that way.
I personally really like that angel idea. That says a lot about the people that surrounded this person.

Just an idea for you, I recently had a request for a cake for a funeral where they specifically asked for an edible image of the deceased person on it with some flowers around it. I am not sure if I like or don't like the idea, it is just a thought for you if you hadn't thought of it already. All of the others on here sound good too. Good luck!

I did a cake for partners grandads funeral, I did a large photo alblum filled with pictures of all the key parts of his life. Everyone loved it and had a memory in one of those photos. I was really nice and personal.

The favorite flower idea is lovely, so is the name and the photograph.

Before chosing any more decoration, I'd find out what they want - some ideas seem lovely but you don't know if they are in the same spirit as you'd be.

Maybe ask your friend about the deceaseds hobbies or interests. My Grandmother was an avid quilter. She stitched quilts for everyone and attached a personalized label that read from Maw-Maw with Love.

At her funeral we ordered a cake decorated like a quilt with a tag that read From Maw-Maw with Love. Everyone understood the message and quite a few tears were shed.

I recently had do a cake for my FIL best friend. I was stumped so I did a combed top with fresh flowers it turned out beautiful.

I was asked about a year ago to do a cake for a wake, and was completely lost as this was a relative of my mother's former employerer. I at that time didn't even know the employer much less the deceased. I was not given any instructions, so after much contemplation I made this cake. It was loved, very simple.




Edited to add: Ok, I guess the file is too big and I don't know how to shrink it so It is the white cake with little yellow flowers covering about 1/2 of the cake in my photos.

How are you defining "wake"? By that I mean is it something the day before or is it the meal served after the service?

A wake is normally what you call the evening before the funeral, traditionally someone would be awake with the deceased until burial. In our area they're very big, sometimes people even stay up all night the way they used to and they ALWAYS go until about midnight, they are basically an open house with people coming and going while the family stays there and the casket set out. For a setup like that I'd say to make a sheet cake with decorated slices, most people aren't going to be there to see the cake cut anyway.

For the meal after the service something decorated with words might be nice as long as it won't be cut right away and can be set out somewhere. That will depend on how the people serving the meal are running things, maybe you can ask about that.

This is the cake I made when my FIL died last march.
I hope this will help you

In my opinion it would depend on the circumstances wether or not I would put an edible image of the person. It would stand as a nice memorial, but it could traumatize someone to cut into the picture or their loved one?

I love the idea of the simple flowers.

I did this once for a funeral.

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=937423

Another verse I had done for another funeral was:
Eternal rest grant unto her, 0 Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon her.

I also wrote this popular quote on a cake once: "If tears could build a stairway, and memories a lane, I'd walk right up to heaven and bring you home again."

I had to do one recently too. It was a white sheet cake. I just did cornelli lace over it all and some pastel rose bouquets in the corners. No words or pictures. They didn't want any of that. It was very pretty and perfectly appropriate.

i did a cake for my dads funeral for the gathering afterwards. i had to go home to england to do it. all the time i was baking it in his house id say, "this ones for you dad". i did a 12x18, marked off 2 interlocking hearts, and put 'Dad' in one and 'we'll miss you' in the other, then all over the rest of the cake i did cornelli lace with messages in it. they were hard to see until i pointed them out. i had my family bring over some lilies and blue bells i had made out of royal icing, just a few weeks prior (how strange is that) and placed small arrangement of them on the edges of the hearts. Everyone loved it. we had a marque in the garden, my sisters and i arranged a table of photos of my dad from all through his life. It was a lovely sending off. Strange i had a picture of the cake, that went missing, someone gave me another copy and that too went missing, and the whole roll of film from that day came back with white streaks and you could barely see the people who i had taken pictures off. I know he was there with us. I dont think its improper to have a cake at a funeral, it is a celebration of a life.

I have done this for a friend recently. Being that they are not religious I opted for a simply round 3 layer cake with raspberry and white cream in the layers. Used a very pale green frosting and simple fondant daisies for decoration.

If they are religious a cross cake would be nice again with pale,subtle colors and decoration. Good luck.