Weddingbee Blog

…we all scream for ice cream. Duh! Oh, and ice cream cake, too, because that’s what we’ve chosen to have for our wedding cake! It was one of the first and easiest wedding decisions that Mr. B and I made. Of course there are a lot of logistics to solve when it comes to trying to serve ice cream cake, but we didn’t care. We just knew that it’s something we wanted and we’d figure it out one way or another. OK, so let’s talk about said logistics:

Problem 1 - The design options are limited, and I won’t have the option of scouring pretty inspirational pictures to come up with my dream tiered cake like this one:

The first cake inspiration pic that I saved when I first got engaged (Image via Martha Stewart Weddings)

Now, some companies actually do decorate the ice cream cake to your specifications, and they can even be tiered…but the price skyrockets when you start adding customization.

Image via Silbermann’s Ice Cream

Solution 1 - I decided I’m fine with going the plain sheet-cake route since it’s going to be eaten at our at-home reception, which is going to be more of a laid-back party than a normal reception. We are forgoing the traditional cake cutting anyway. It’s just so much cheaper to do the regular, plain sheet cakes. For example, we are leaning toward going through Coldstone Creamery, where you can buy large ice cream cakes by the sheet. The large sheet option feeds 50 people and is about $60. So we’ll probably get about five sheets with a cost of around $300—pretty awesome to be able to feed about 250 people for that price considering the cost of normal wedding cakes!

I think people will appreciate a nice cold treat at our summer celebration bash, even if they don’t see it in a pretty tiered form before they eat it. It’s not like we’ll be able to have it sitting out on display anyway (see problem #3). Oh, and PS for anyone else considering going the ice-cream-cake route: Coldstone also has adorable, yummy ice cream cupcakes that would be awesome in lieu of a wedding cake as well…but again they’re significantly more expensive than the sheet cakes.

Image via Cake Todays

Problem 2 - How in the world are we going to transport frozen ice cream sheet cakes all the way out to our reception location? (The nearest Coldstone to us is over an hour away.)

Solution 2 - Mr. B says we will pick the cakes up in his truck and he’ll bring along a small freezer. I’m leaving this logistical solution up to him…all I know is I’m making him do a trial run beforehand.

Problem 3 - How are we going to keep these ice cream cakes from melting on what will most likely be a hot summer day? The reason this is an issue is because our venue for our at-home reception is not going to be your typical reception banquet hall where there is a full kitchen with lots of cold storage. If you remember, our at-home reception is mainly outdoors, taking place on some land my dad owns out in the country in my hometown. We are in the process of building a building out there, which will be about 30′ x 50′. We do not have the funds to put in a full kitchen or large amounts of cold storage.

Solution 3 - We currently have one refrigerator/freezer duo that we will be placing in the building, as well as at least one decent sized freezer. Mr. B and I are probably going to be investing in a smaller freezer as well that we will be able to take out there. We won’t be displaying the cake, so it will just stay in the freezer until it’s ready to be cut. I know how hard ice cream cake can be to cut when it’s frozen, though, so we’re either going to:

a.) get it out a bit ahead of time to allow it to soften a bit before it needs to be cut, or

b.) slice it into servings ahead of time since it’s not going to be out on display anyway.

We’re going to have to make sure, though, that we have enough room for all of our cold drinks and food as well, as we’re self-catering, too. (I’m sure there will be another post on that soon enough.)

I’m sure more logistical problems will pop up along the way, but these are the ones we’ve worked on combating for the time being. I’ve researched forums, and there are a lot of mixed opinions on how well it will work out, but I’m OK with the naysayers because it’s something we’re really excited about and we’re determined to make it work!

Have any of you been to a wedding where they had ice cream cake? How did it work out?