Wedding Blog

Wow! I am truly flattered by all of your wonderful comments about the DIY cake trial results! Thanks! So many of you had questions, so I thought I would write up a separate post to answer as many as I could, as best as I could.

Here goes:

How much did it cost?

Adding it all up, here is what I have paid and what I’m expecting to pay for the wedding cake.

Total for Styrofoam tiers: $27.55

• 6″ - $3.25
• 8″ - $3.60 (I bought this one, but it was swapped out for the real cake. I wasn’t sure which layer to swap at the time of ordering, so I just got all of them.)
• 10″- $4.55
• 12″- $5.20
• Shipping - $10.95

Total for Fondant (estimated 10 lbs.): $10.34

• Marshmallows - ($1.00 per bag) $3.00
• Powdered sugar - ($1.12 per bag) $3.36
• Crisco - $3.98

Real cake layers -$5.24

• Cake mixes - ($0.98 per box) $1.96
• Eggs - (half dozen) $1.00
• Oil - $1.98
• Cake board - $0.30

Frosting for Real Layers - $2.12

• Crisco - Used same can as fondant
• Powdered sugar - $1.12
• Small amounts of various cooking and baking supplies we already had on hand (vanilla, milk, evaporated milk, etc.) - estimated ~ $2.00

Decorations: $7.28

• Ribbon - $1.79
• Silk flowers - $1.50
• Pearl dragees - $3.99 (for what seems like a lifetime supply)

Total so far: $52.54

When we make the cake for the wedding, the only supplies we’ll need to buy again are some of the perishable ones and a new cake board. There is plenty of Crisco and Oil for next time and all of the decorations are reusable, so we’ll only need to get powdered sugar, marshmallows, eggs and two boxes of cake mixes. Here’s how that breaks down:

Total for items needed for Wedding cake: $12.74

• Marshmallows - ($1.00 per bag) $3.00
• Powdered Sugar - ($1.12 per bag) $4.48 (3 bags for the fondant and one for the frosting)
• Cake Mixes - ($0.98 per box) $1.96
• Eggs - (half dozen) $1.00
• Cake board - $0.30
• Small amounts of various cooking and baking supplies - estimated ~ $2.00

That brings the total for the cake trial and wedding cake to $65.28

The sheet cakes will cost $16 each and we will probably need 3 to have enough servings for everyone

Total for sheet cakes: $48

Total for trial cake, fake wedding cake and sheet cakes: $113.28

I guess you have to take into consideration that, between my sister and I, we already own a lot of the cake decorating supplies and cake pans. We’ve been decorating cakes since we took a class together over 4 years ago. I guess if you were starting this from scratch, you’d have additional money wrapped up in supplies.

How much are you saving?

This is a more of a guesstimate than anything, since I didn’t shop around and find the best price. I did a Google search for cake decorators in the Pittsburgh area and found that the going rate for a fondant cake is about $3.75 per slice. We are inviting 220 people, so a cake big enough to accommodate that number would run us about $825. (Even if we found someone to do if for $2.50 a slice, the cost would still be $550.) In addition, we won’t have to pay for a delivery fee, which can cost between $50 and $75.

Total Savings: over $700

Here’s the thing about saving money with a fake cake: it’s really only saves you money if you DIY. Having your cake vendor decorate a fake cake will cost you about the same amount as a real cake. Sure, there are expenses with the ingredients and supplies, but ultimately, you are paying for their time and talent. Since decorating a fake cake takes the same time as a real one, don’t be surprised when a professional charges you a premium.

How did you do the “quilting”?

The quilting was a complete trial and error process. I did a little research and found that some people use a diamond quilting marker to make the pattern even. It’s basically three diamond cookie cutters that are attached to each other so you can press three shapes and once, then line up the next row and continue around the cake. I opted not to pay $20 plus shipping for one and figured I’d try using a butter knife to make the lines.

When we moved on to cleaning the counters, we used a dough scraper to remove some of the mess. When it came time to try the quilting marks, the scraper was still on the counter. I grabbed it and pressed a line into a layer at an angle, then tried to eyeball the rest of the lines to make them as parallel as possible. Then, I just switched the angle to make the diamond shape. My sister seemed to do a better job with the lines, so I let her do most of them.

(This picture was taken after the fact, just to give you an idea of how it looked while we were doing it. We did the quilt pattern before the ribbon was put on the cake.)

While she was making the marks, I was following behind her with the pearl dragees. To attach them, I put a dab of frosting where the lines crossed and used that as a glue to hold the pearl. Inspiration for the pearls on the cake and the alternating tiers of the quilting pattern mostly came from Mrs. Cupcakes’ gorgeous cake:

Did you try cutting the real layer? Was the fondant hard?

The fondant stiffened some, but the knife went through it easily. We cut the cake about 48 hours after completing it. It tasted pretty good, too!

Will the fondant last for your wedding in May or do you have to re-ice it?

Honestly, I’m not sure. I’m guessing it won’t last, so we aren’t taking any chances. After we cut into the layer, I took the whole thing apart. I didn’t want the grease to penetrate the foam or start to form mold. We’ll be doing the whole thing all over again come May.

Can you add color to the fondant?

Yes! All you need is a little food coloring. You have to work it in by kneading, so it can get a little tiring. I opted not to color the fondant because I was worried it would take too long if we colored all of the fondant at once, or that we wouldn’t get the colors to match right if we colored one batch at a time. We’ve colored fondant for other cakes we’ve made and it turned out great.

You say this is your first time covering a square cake. Have you done others? If so, was covering a round cake easier?

This was not the first time we decorated with fondant, just the first time decorating square cakes with fondant. We’ve baked and decorated lots of other cakes, as there are quite a few youngsters in my family. (I may be biased, but I think they get some of the most fun cakes for their birthdays.) Of all the weird shapes we’ve covered with fondant (including round layers, Thomas the Train cars, topsy-turvy round layers, and a cake that doubled as a Barbie skirt), square has never been one of them. I don’t know if covering a round cake is easier; we just had more experience with covering them. The corners on the square cake were a little tricky at first, but once we did the top tier, the other tiers ended up much smoother.

To be honest, the main reason I picked a square cake for the wedding cake was because I don’t want the guests to know it’s not all real and that they are being served from sheet cakes. I’m sure most wouldn’t put two and two together, but my paranoid self thought that if they saw a round cake and then got a square slice, they’d get suspicious. Oh, how wedding planning makes you think and do the craziest things!

I think that about covers all of the questions.

Working on this cake was a lot of fun and, just like every other cake we’ve made, we’ve learned some new tricks during the process. The time we spent may seem daunting to some, but we get a lot of satisfaction out of making things ourselves. Plus, I think the added benefit is gaining more experience and having another opportunity to practice a skill. Oh, and saving a few hundred dollars will help me to feel less guilty about other wedding splurges, like professional hair and makeup, and chair covers.

Hopefully, when we make the cake again, I’ll be able to get some pictures of the part where the cakes are covered with the fondant and where we’re making the quilt pattern marks.