Hello all! I am new to this. My Mom and I are going to make my wedding cake and I need to know if anybody would be kind enough to share a cheap recipe with me. I am trying to keep my cost to under $400 total for the whole wedding. Any help would be fabulous! I am borrowing cake pans from someone in town that my Mom knows through a friend and I don't know if it matters or not but I am doing either heart or square and I need to be able to feed 150 people. Thank you all so much for your help!

you mean a $400 for 150 people, the whole wedding?
If you can pull this one off, is you who needs to teach us!

Wow..The whole wedding, flowers, dress, rings, cake..invitations, and everything else for $400???? If you pull this off..you have my most gracious regards..and I want to know how you did it...

Is that how much your charging for the cake? You might want to look up the "White Almond Sour Cream cake." It's really yummy.
Good luck

400 dollars for the entire wedding????? What???????

If you can do it, PLEASE tell me how!!!!

If all you want are cake recipes, you'll just have to work your way thru the recipe section and find what ya like. There are tons of yummy recipes submitted my CC members.
I reccommend using the 'extender' recipe for whatever cake flavor ya chose, it makes a little more cake and makes it taste really moist and yummy!

Good luck!!!

Hi and Welcome, sgtdyersgirl.

Here are all the cake mix extender and enhancer recipes:
(Pick the one which best suits your needs.)

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-1953-1-Super-Enhanced-Cake-Formula.html

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-1599-0-Enhanced-Cake-Formula.html

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-156531-.html
(See candy120's post.)

My favorite doctored recipe is the WASC cake which can be altered in many ways.

Here's the expanded flavors version:

http://tinyurl.com/2cu8s4

Here's a comprehensive thread on making a tiered/stacked cake:

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopicp-2258141-.html

Here's a popular recipe (using the new Crisco):

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-4123-High-Humidity-Buttercream.html

HTH

I was just looking up the recipe link for the white almond sour cream cake (WASC)

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-2322-0-White-Almond-Sour-Cream-Cake.html

It is a very good cake and makes a lot as you can see...you don't need a ton of ingredients and it is very reliable. If you don't like almond, you can flavour it with anything else..lemon, vanilla, orange..
I would stick to buttercream icing and filling...you can flavour the filling..a very nice one is to take a jar of lemon curd (Walmart) and mix it with the buttercream for the filling...very yummy and people love it.

HTH..and let us know how you do...
I think it is easier if you find some round pans if you are a beginner...much easier than either a heart or a square..

Agree...White Almond Sour Cream cake with Pastry Pride whipped topping. You'll need cake boards, cover with white freezer paper. You can stack the layers on top of a table covered with a borrowed cloth and elevated the tiers from underneath using milk crates and swirl some .89 cent tulle around the table....

Cake plates from COSTCO or Smart and Final, paper coffee cups, a can of coffee, bottle of creamer, 1 box of sugar cubes, plastic forks....one bunch of COSTCO flowers or flowers from your yard, hawaiian punch or iced tea and 1 canister of nuts.... wear a nice dress from the closet and your invite an e vite online....

I had a very inexpensive wedding we held in our back yard. Some friends pulled together and made a cold buffet and a dessert table as well I bought my wedding cake at the local grocery store (before I knew how to do it myself lol) We used paper plates and utensils as well as styrofoam cups and plastic cups. It was fantastic and everyone enjoyed being outdoors. If you really new to decorating I would stick with a really nice double layer cake done up fancy (there are soooo many in the galleries) and do a bunch of nicely decorated cupcakes if you want, or a couple of 9 x 13 cakes so you dont need to get special sized pans, as these are standard sizes that most people have at home. You could use fresh flowers for your topper or even artificial ones. Go to the dollar store if you have one and you'll be amazed at how much money can save. Good luck and congratulations

I agree with the suggestion to do an 8" 2 layer cake and then decorate the cupcakes to coordinate. It is very popular right now and if you are doing them yourself it will be less stressful.

I do have 2 other suggestions for you:

1. Do small 2 tiered cakes for the guests tables for centerpieces. This way you can do regular size cakes - or even do a 6" 2-layer - and take care of coming up with table centerpiece ideas.

2. I have a friend whose daughter was married on an 800.00 budget and the grooms favorite dessert was pie - didn't matter what kind or flavor - he just loves pie. So they did a very basic small 3 tiered cake with fresh roses as the only decoration -- but then they had a huge buffet of freshly baked pies of all flavors - chocolate cream, peach, apple, coconut, and so on. On top of that the brides great aunts all pitched in and made the pies for them!! It was great and everyone loved the pie.

Also - if you are looking to purchase real flowers be sure to check you local Sams -- they definitely have the best prices on real flowers - some have to be special ordered - but they are very reasonable.

Be sure to post pictures and keep us updated!!

And welcome to CC

I think it is great you are doing this on a budget. Make 3 -4 cakes, cover in white buttercream . Use some simple fresh flowers for decoration. Use the borrowed round pans. You can get the directions of how many cups of batter for each pan from this site. If you place 3 differernt heights of boxes then drape some fabric over them you can place the cakes on them. I think you can make it look real pretty. You can sprinkle some flower petals around the fabric. You will get a 3 tiered look with this set up.

A few more thoughts ...make sure you have or borrow a camera.... don't forget some napkins....and you'll also need a free ceremony/reception area...the rings if you don't have them already will likely need to be charged for dealing with next month. If someone is loaning you the reception area are the guest standing or sitting? if they are sitting you may need to cover a few more tables and sprinkle some rose petals. You'll need to have someone assigned to cut and serve the cake and maybe a sign in book. You may be able to pull this off! You will need to see what the minister charges also and marriage license. You could borrow a CD player and play some background music.

You may need a go over your planned budget but

I have gone to weddings before where the bride and groom requested the guests to bring pot luck fare as their gift also.

Wishing you happiness....

The "pot luck" or " pitch in" is a good idea.

The very cheapest way to make a cake is using plain cake mix and a simple buttercream. Even doing that can add up when you're baking for so many.
If you've never done any decorating I'd suggest the cupcake idea, they are easy to bake and swirls aren't as hard to get right as smoothing icing is.

If it were me, and trying to bake my very first wedding cakes on an extreme budget, I would probably do a cupcake tower. Dress each cupcake with a rose from some costco spray roses and voila.

I' with txkat... do a cupcake tower or 2 and call it a day. No need to fuss with leveling and doweling and stacking and smoothing your cake(s). Use a #12 tip and swirl on some buttercream (or even store bought icing) and put a swirl of a colored buttercream on the top with a star tip and call it a very simple but pretty occasion.

With all the things you have to worry about doing your wedding, if you have never done stacked cakes before it's not worth the stress.. you can look in the gallery at some of the very pretty cc towers that can be made. Good luck with everything!!

My brother and SIL had family members bring their favorite foods for the buffet. If grandma makes great spinach dip, ask her to bring it, etc. It worked out wonderful. They asked them each to bring their dish in or on a clear glass dish. The family was excited that they got to have a part in the wedding too.

Good on you for doing it on a budget... we did but we did have a bit more than you to spend and i didnt do cakes then either so my folks paid for my wedding cake. We did our wedding in two. we had our family and dearest friends at the ceremony and wedding breakfast and then had our other friends come later on that night and had a bbq in which we asked them to bring their own meat and booze and we supplied the salad stuff. in this day and age it is quite acceptable to ask guests to bring their own alcohol and even a plate You will have no probs havin a wonderful wedding on a budget. Sorry cant beat the suggestions on cakes there are plenty of wonderful ideas already... good luck and best wishes.

Get a bulk mix from Costco or Sams. It should be cheaper. Do your extender recipe. (Butter, powdered sugar and eggs are MUCH cheaper here at Costco than in a regular grocery store.) You can bake ahead of time, wrap and freeze.

Look for cupcake wrappers at your local Party City-type store in the markdown section, if you'll be doing those.

A friend of my daughter did a simple lovely wedding for about the same amount of money. All she said she wanted was white and hydrangia flowers.

She had one woman who could get wholesale flowers and made them up as her gift. I made matching artificial flower sprays to hang on chairs, posts, etc, as my gift to her. Vines were twined around the arch they were married under, white twinkle lights and white lace 'doodads' were everywhere (people raided their Christmas decoration boxes.)
The meal was a potluck, and the area was decorated with simple white tablecloths.

It was ab-so-lutely beautiful.

Ask everyone to bring disposable cameras, take pictures and leave them for you to enjoy from their viewpoint! I agree with everyone else- if this is your first wedding cake, make it round or cupcakes. Shaped tiers are really hard to smooth.

buy a decorated sheet cake without any top decoration and make a smaller cake to put on top. That way you can feed everyone and not be worried about too much decoration. The sheet cake can have the sides and border piped and you make a simple cake for the top with your cake topper as the decoration.

The easier most inexpensive way I found to have a wedding is to do it in the afternoon as a tea or dessert buffet... very simple and little fuss. Good luck

I have had Brides that were cutting cost and a lot of 2nd intimate gatherings - the dessert/pie bar is GREAT. You and Your mom could still do a 8" & 6" wedding cake (1-2 rose peddels look nice and low $$) and have other family members do desserts or even bite size servings of stuff.
Saves you time and money and lets everyone else be a part of your big day.
Ribbon & Flowers are an easy decoration for 1st timers.

Thank You from sgtdyersgirl:

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-419163-.html