Wedding Cakes on a Budget

Today's weddings are becoming more expensive than ever, and are becoming an insurmountable burden for new families. Hiring a good caterer takes time and a lot of money, while finding the perfect place to hold the ceremony can cost hundreds of dollars in travel expenses and leave you exhausted. What is actually one of the most expensive parts of the whole ceremony might surprise you though - the wedding cake. The cake itself tends to be well over 30 pounds of delicious cake and decadent icing, and the amount of craftsmanship that goes into properly frosting and decorating a wedding cake is noteworthy. Elaborate cakes can cost upwards of six dollars per serving, and if you are expecting a large turnout, this can quickly drain your coffers.

In order to cut costs on your wedding cake and still end up with an elegant edible centrepiece for your ceremony, it is important to know from where your cake draws its weighty price tag.

First, the size of the cake certainly factors into the cost. This is not only proportional to the total weight of the cake, but also the number of layers. Stacking a cake into tiers is a very specialized art, and talents like this do not come cheap. A three tiered cake is standard for weddings, and anything above this will start to get expensive, though you might be able to shave off a cool 10% by going with a 2 tiered cake. If budget is really an issue, you could opt for an extremely small wedding cake, and make up the difference for your guests with sheet cakes, which only cost about 6$-10$ apiece.

Second, is what goes into the cake. If you keep your cake simple, sticking to variations on sponge-cakes, which can still be artfully flavored with fruits or more classic flavors like vanilla or chocolate, you will save a great deal of money. If you are considering a cheesecake, be warned that these will cost you well over $6 per serving.

Finally, consider the frosting that you will be using. Butter cream frosting is the typical frosting you will find on almost every store bought sheet cake, and is arguably the tastiest thing that you can put on a cake. It is easy to work with, and inexpensive, so this will save you a bundle on the frosting end of your wedding cake. The only downsides are that it doesn't do well in heat, and can be hard to attain a smooth texture.