A DIY Wedding cake MIGHT be something you can handle, but you need to be honest with yourself about whether you want to. Part of the reason that you pay a professional is so that you’ll have someone with the experience to know what to do when something does go wrong in the middle of the process.
I’m a big proponent of Do-It-Yourself projects to save money, but I’m also someone who knows when to pick up the phone and call a professional to do certain jobs.
Some things are do-able if you have the time and enough experience to muddle through, but not everything is.
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Things to consider if you decide to do your own wedding cake.
- It might not save you very much money.
- You need to plan for the time that it will take.
- You should keep the design simple if you’re not a professional decorator.
- You don’t HAVE to have a tiered cake. Individual cakes that are decorated nicely will work and are easier to store and transport.
- Cupcakes can work but can be more difficult to store and transport, and take extra setup time.
- It can add a lot of stress to the week and days right before your wedding.
- Having realistic expectations is the key to making it work.
How much does a DIY wedding cake really cost?
The cost of a DIY wedding cake will vary widely, depending on whether you use plain or fancy fillings, buy premade or if you bake yourself, whether you do a trial run beforehand, and how you decorate the cake once you make it.
One bride who made her own cake reported that it cost $800 for a cake for 100 people because she made so many practice cakes! You don’t have to do that, but you might want to, so plan for the expense!
Why are wedding cakes so expensive if they’re only flour, water, eggs and butter, as people like to say?
Because that wouldn’t be a wedding cake, it would be this:
You’ll need to buy equipment.
Now, I assume that a DIY-caker isn’t thinking of this as being the result when they decide to take the task of making the cake on themselves in order to save money.
However, you do have to buy the ingredients as the first step in your DIY cake adventure.
Then you need pans, cake boards, dowels, and let me add in the cost of electricity, water, and gas to drive to the store for the shopping.
Then the cost of your time, because when you’re working on the cake you’re not able to do other things.
I added up the cost of everything you’d need to make and deliver a three-tiered cake and a two-tiered practice cake, including groceries, pans, boards, boxes, and other equipment, and the total was around $250-300 for everything.
And you’ll need decorations.
And that’s not including items to decorate the cake. If you wanted flowers on it, whether sugar or fresh, you’ll drive the price up.
(I used a scratch yellow cake with plain vanilla buttercream as the basis for this exercise…If you wanted something fancier the price of ingredients would probably go up. Even if you used a doctored cake mix, the price will be right up there in that neighborhood.)
This is assuming that you have nothing on hand as far as pans and equipment go, but why would you if you’ve never had to make odd-sized cakes before?
And yes, you could buy everything using coupons and on sale from eBay, but then you have to add in more time for bargain-shopping. It’s a trade-off in terms of whether you’re investing time or money.
So you’ll end up putting close to $400-500 into a cake for 100 people, conservatively. It may not seem to be so much because you’ll be shopping for things bit by bit, but it all adds up. I also didn’t add in your gas to go shopping or any utilities.
Or the shipping fees you’ll pay if you end up having to buy things online.
So based on the national average price of $540 (as of 2023), you haven’t really saved any money. Yes, it’s true that there are WIDE swings in cake prices depending on where you’re located, so shop your area first to see what you’d actually be saving.
How long does it take to make a DIY wedding cake?
In general, it will take 25-30 hours to make your own wedding cake, including any shopping, planning, baking and decorating time. That can increase if you take any cake decorating classes in preparation for making the cake.
So how much time do you have to invest in a DIY wedding cake? I’ve tried to break it down, and once again I’ll try to be conservative.
1 hour-Planning shopping list, figuring how many ingredients to buy to make large cakes.
3 hours-Shopping for ingredients, pans, boards etc, going to multiple stores because you’re not going to be able to find it all on one place.
2 hours- Baking practice cakes.
6 hours- Decorating practice cakes.
6 hours- Prepping and baking wedding cake, making icings.
5 hours- Assembling and decorating wedding cake the day before your wedding when you should be relaxing (I’m basing this on times reported by beginning bakers, but it could be longer.)
1 hour- Cleaning up.
1 hour- Delivering cake the day of your wedding when you should be getting ready for your ceremony.
Optional: 6 hours- Cake decorating classes/practicing.
So as a conservative estimate of how long it will take, plan on 25 hours. That’s without taking a cake decorating class.
You’ll also need to budget time to do it.
The main thing to remember, though, is that a lot of this time will have to be spent in the days immediately before your wedding. That’s not a great thing unless you want to be able to tell people that you need to go work on the cake.
That’s actually a pretty good excuse to get out of a lot of stressful situations, but you might actually want to hang out with visiting friends and family instead of being in the kitchen.
So why are wedding cakes “so expensive?” Well, again, I don’t think that they’re that expensive, but the point is that you’re not just paying for the ingredients.
You’re paying for the experience of the person who takes those ingredients and makes them into something that you want to display at your reception.
If you don’t have the experience, it will take you much longer than necessary, cause you much more stress, and will probably not turn out the way that you want it to look.
Click here for must-know tips for cake bakers.
What is the best style of DIY wedding cake to make for a beginner?
The best type of DIY wedding cake is going to be whatever type of cake you are comfortable doing without making yourself totally stressed out.
If you’re comfortable doing a tiered cake, that’s fine, but you also need to be comfortable moving that tiered cake. Think about everything that you’ll need to do before committing to something that’s outside your comfort zone.
If you’re feeling nervous about stacking a tiered cake and transporting it to the venue, there are alternatives. Single tiers that are different sizes and are displayed on cake stands that are different heights are a good option.
You won’t have to deal with any internal structures, and it will be easier to box the individual cakes up and move them to the reception site.
Cupcakes are another good option for cake decorating beginners, but you have to plan for the storage and transportation of those, and they take longer to set up individually at the reception site.
You might also need more cupcakes than you would cake servings, because people will take a cupcake (or two), but not everyone will take a piece of sliced cake. It’s weird, but it’s true.
Cupcakes can be dressed up by adding flower cupcake toppers or edible butterflies.
Am I crazy for wanting to make my own wedding cake?
Making your own wedding cake is definitely something that can be done, but it takes planning and a realistic approach. Don’t expect to create a ten-tiered masterpiece covered with sugar flowers unless you’re a professional cake designer.
But if you want to make a simple cake that will look beautiful and be a nice focal point at your reception, you can do it with a little preparation and effort.
Making your own wedding cake can create a lot of stress, and keeping your expectations on the realistic side is the key to not driving yourself crazy!
The easiest type of icing surface to do if you’re a beginner is the “rustic” icing that doesn’t require a completely flat finish. This video takes you through a few versions:
You can buy edible flowers on Etsy, where there are a variety of sellers in different locations. It’s best to buy from people who live in your own country so that the flowers don’t have to be shipped through customs, because that’s where they’ll get damaged.
You can also get wafer paper flowers, which are easier to deal with than gumpaste.
I would personally avoid fresh flowers for a variety of reasons, some of them being that they’re usually treated with toxic chemicals, or can cause allergic reactions when they’re used on food.
