I haven't posted to this forum in quite sometime. I have not had an occasion to make cake for a wedding although I teach twice a week. I don't do weddings anymore. Too stressful, hard to make profit and I hate bridezillas. My neice is getting married (360 ppl) at the wedding. Wants cake for her centerpieces. 8" round on a pedestal. She will reimburse me for expenses so my effort is the gift. I'm OK with baking and frosting. She wants buttercream and I know I'll have to use royal icing flowers or gumpaste flowers to pull this off. She's a young, contemporary girl. I don't think pink roses and green leaves is quite right for her. She says that the cakes can look all different but I almost think that is more effort than 30 identical cakes? I need to be efficient so I'm not exhausted by the wedding. Any ideas??? Pictures someone could direct me too. I can copy anything. Feel burned out before I begin.

All I can say is - start now! I don't know when the wedding is, but you can start the flowers now. You will need so many of them. Also, bake and freeze. Make up your buttercream ahead of time and store it.

As for decorating, what are her colors and flowers? I think a very pretty look for table cakes is shaved chocolate covering the whole cake with maybe a few flowers on top. You could use white, milk, and dark chocolate and the cakes would all be a little different because of the colors of the chocolate, but they would also go together. Plus if you use shaved chocolate you can have someone else help you ice, since the cakes won't have to be smooth.

What if you did 5 of each cake the same? This way all you will have to do is 6 diffrent designs? Or you could cut that down and do 10 cakes=3 diffrent designs.

I like alvarezmom's idea.

One of the designs could even be a simple ribbon on the bottom with flowers on top.
Try to think of something that you could do on each cake to have them all 'connect'.

Oh, and I just thought of something. I really think that it should only be either 1, 3 or 5 designs - having each cake look differently may end up looking not so elegant.

How many people will be at each table?? If there's only 8, an 8" cake will be a lot of cake. I'd do 6". I only mention that becuz I just had someone talk to me about that sort of thing. Even with the 6" cake, there will be extra cake.
As for decorating them....I agree with the other posts!

I had individual cakes for centerpieces and had strawberries as toppers. You could use different fruits and place them differently on the cakes. Have different textured frostings.

I like the idea of several cakes with the different design/colors.

It will keep it fresher and more interesting than having them all the same. Plus it will help you from getting bored making 30 cakes the same. yawn.

Something like this would be nice, I'd do a round cake though with the buttercream (easier to frost), maybe with a ribbon around the bottom:

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1240905

You could also use the colors of her wedding so that you not having to mix up 10 diffrent colors. This will help on time and help you be ready for the wedding. The fruit idea sounds good. Did your neice say what kind of "topper" she would like or is she leaving it up to you?

I think the 6" cakes are a better idea than 8". It seems like that would be a lot of wasted cake. I'd pick about 5 or 6 designs and go with it. You can make your flowers early and go ahead and bake/freeze the cakes and then all you'll have to do is ice and place your flowers right before the wedding.

It sounds like an awsome concept. I've heard of serving sheet cakes, but not individual cakes for each table. That takes care of the centerpieces too!

I have one of these types of weddings for next august. Her theme is butterflies and hearts with the color scheme being sage and ivory (second wedding for bride). Good luck with your neice's!

I would do 30 cakes the same because after the 10th cake the next 20 will be a snap to whip together. Keep it simple, white with the flowers (or whatever decoration) the same color scheme as the rest of the decorations. It will also save you time doing them all the same as you will have everything ready to go all at once instead of stopping and redoing a different fondant, royal icing etc. I do agree that 8" cakes are too big and 6" cakes (I'm assuming they will be two layered cakes each) would be plenty to feed everyone at the table 'cause not everyone eats cake.

Yes, the time of the event will make some difference as to how you decorate them.
Definately get started now Hopefully you have fzr room so you can bake ahead.

I did 30 single layer 9" hearts once. I had tried to talk them into dbl layer 6"ers but they would not go for it
Get your boards ready now! It's going to take sooooooooo much room working on these. You probably won't have enough room to work on them assembly style -- just one or two at a time

Gather your boxes together. You will need to box them so you can transport. Have any idea how much room 30 cakes take up in a vehicle?? A lot!! If they are boxed they can be stacked.
The choco dipped strawberries is a good choice for some of them if it's not too hot. Can't make those ahead

Hope our ideas and suggesitons help you thru this.

I did centerpiece cakes for DD wedding Absolutely, a 6" round cake will be plenty. There will be 8-10 people at the table. Even the new Wilton chart says a 6" round will serve 12.

I attended a wedding with 8" square cakes as the center, they were all white with a different color fondant or gumpaste floppy ribbon. So they looked like gifts. Very pretty but such a waste of cake, I would recommend the 6" size. Even with that there will be lots left over.
I also think fresh flowers would be more her style. A simple frosted cake w/ a ribbon around the bottom and a small possie of flowers laid on top would be lovely.

I love cake central. In an hour....plenty of ideas and input. I do believe I will try to talk her into 6" cakes. It will save wasted cake and buttercream. I like the idea of fresh flowers with ribbon on the bottom. I can change the base buttercream color to change things up a little but really keep things similar for continuity. I like the idea of starting now! Yes, I realize I will have a real estate issue. I'll be in the basement where it is cool on long tables and I'll use boxes so that I can stack. Thank you again!

I do agree with the 6". And also it's easier to do them all the same. When we did these, I made a stencil out of a crisco can top to mark the divisions very fast. After we decorated them I started making 30 small roses and attaching them one to each cake. It took me about 2-3 hours to decorate everything. The secret to baking fast is having a lot of pans. I have 10 so I could bake the day before.

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1225958