Should I bake my good friends wedding cake with little experience in such endeavors?
I’ve done it for four different weddings–three times as the baker only and once as both baker and bridesmaid. You can manage it. Maastrictian has great tips– here a re a few more that might help: – Practice frosting and decorating small cakes ahead of time. You want to get really smooth sides. best way of achieving this is on a cake wheel, but you can also use a sturdy lazy susan – You can cheat and order unfrosted layers from a good bakery in the flavors and sizes you want (I did this one when the distance to transport was just too crazy) – You can assemble and frost the cake the night before, so long as you have room to refrigerate it – See if you can get into the venue the night before to prep and store the cake. If not make sure you have some spare frosting and the proper utensils for repairs if you have any issues with transport on the day of the wedding – If you decorate with fresh flowers instead of piping out flowers you’ll c
If the choice is between a professional and you, don’t do it. Echoing gnutron, it’s easier to pay somebody else, and you avoid the animosity of a frustrated bride or her family if things go wrong. Even if things go right, you may end up feeling stressed or unappreciated. No one notices a good cake for more than a few seconds; they’re focusing on the bride and groom. On the other hand, if it’s a choice between you making the cake and the bride’s mother making the cake, go for it. You’ll be taking a big stress off of the family, so there’s much less chance of long-term animosity (though you still may feel stressed or underappreciated). If your cake is unique (fondant frosting?), it might be appreciated even if it’s not up to pro standards. My parents’ wedding cake was baked by my dad from a traditional New Zealand recipe (fruitcake, ugh!), and was small and undecorated except for plain white frosting, unevenly applied. I can tell you more about his wedding cake than about mine, though, d
Were I to volunteer to do such a thing, I’d make a small cake for the pictures and large sheet cakes for the serving. I’d also decorate it with fresh flowers instead of piped. You can do a knockout with small and pretty and it’ll be so much easier to transport and set up. (Both my aunt and I had the same wedding cake – a small two-tiered carrot cake with red rose petals scattered on top for cutting and serving the bride, groom, and attendants, sheet cakes of the same type to serve everyone else. Lovely, and got a lot of compliments for being different from the usual.
My mom made a cousin’s wedding cake once. My stupid cheap aunt bought generic cake mix after my mom specifically told her to buy brand-name. When she (my mom) tried to stack the layers, they all started cracking. She had to go buy brand name cake mix and start all over. Buy brand name cake mix – now isn’t the time to be cheap.
I’d just like to chime in with another anecdote – I did a work-friend’s wedding cake, transported it, set it up etc. Firstly, you have to be business-like about this – sketches, photos of similar cakes to ensure that everyone is on the same page, payment for equipment and materials. Costs can go amazingly astray, so keep receipts etc. Secondly, plan on having many sleepless nights about “getting things right”. On the day of the wedding I had to complete the final decorations and couldn’t get it right. Total mess. The stress that this caused was immense. When it was eventually finished, it looked great – just not exactly as originally designed. Bride looked at it, said it was fine, great etc, and I have never heard from her again. Ever. So, lastly, be aware that brides do strange things – and while they may say “oh, it’ll be fine”, if you mess up their fairytale, the friendship may suffer. I have sworn never to do another “event” cake as long as I live. YMMV. Good luck!
