Average cost of a wedding cake

Kate!!!

What is the a average cost of a wedding cake ? What fillings are most popular ? Does a wedding cake get eaten at a wedding or is it a waste to get a big cake (more than 3 tiers) ?

amdublin

You can get plain white wedding cakes in Marks and Spencers for very reasonable.


How many guests are you having? Do you need more than three tiers?


Some people like traditional fruit cake. Some people like more modern cakes like chocolate biscuit cake.


You could look up some local bakers on the internet and ring them and get a quote from them for what you are looking for.

Pang

When I was researching some of the popular wedding cake suppliers, the average was around 400 for a simple 3 tier. Chocolate biscuit cake was very popular and I remember red velvet was mentioned quite regularly.

In the end I went for macarons, because they are easy to eat and you can get them in so many different colours and flavours. I was able to have four different flavours and they matched into my colour scheme perfectly.

I find cake can be quite messy and often isn't eaten.

michellie

I'm just looking for something simple covered in buttercream icing and I've been quoted between 100-200. For 2/3 tiers with flowers on top from my florist.

jlm29

The cost will vary greatly depending on what you want. I've made wedding cakes, and people don't realise how much work is involved. If you're looking for something simple, like the last poster,€100-€200 sounds reasonable- buttercream is very quick, and so easy to work with that a cake like that would not be labour intensive. The same covered in sugarpaste or royal icing would take a while, and I would expect to pay around €300. If you're looking for lots of sugar flowers, lace work, or piping, you could get into big money quite quickly. Plain icing with Fresh flowers looks lovely and is straightforward, so shouldn't cost too much.
It will probably vary too depending on where you are, and on how well Established the cake maker is. I've known people to spend €750 on a wedding cake, from a very reputable local cake maker,

ABajaninCork

Check Healy's in Blackpool. They did one of my side cakes in chocolate, and did the cake for my friend's wedding a couple of years ago. They're excellent and very reasonable. PM me if you need the number.

pwurple

Try Bitesize in midleton as well. http://www.bitesize.ie/patisserie they did chocolate cakes for my friends wedding which were very tasty. They served them as dessert, rather than keeping the cake for years.

lazygal

We skipped the cake entirely. I've never eaten a cake at a wedding I thought was memorable and I hate the cheesy cutting the cake photos. No one even noticed.

Jerrica

lazygal wrote: »

We skipped the cake entirely. I've never eaten a cake at a wedding I thought was memorable and I hate the cheesy cutting the cake photos. No one even noticed.

Same here, it was top of the list of "things to easily cut out to save money to spend elsewhere". If your heart is set on a cake then go for it OP, but it's definitely not a necessity.

amdublin

Cupcakes seem good to me...cheaper...can do big tower...no cutting....can bring unbeaten ones home and freeze...

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

What about different types of chocolate biscuit cake slices or chunks? Milk, dark, white and/or a mixture arranged on a cake stand of some sort. Cheap and cheerful to make and most people only want a taste of a wedding cake anyway. Arrange on a 3 tier cake stand. Mix in some cupcakes on the stand? You can make the slices of chunks bite size so to speak (to minimise waste). I think it can look great.

IMHO I think a huge amount of a wedding cake goes in the bin, it's such a waste.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

Gatica

agreed, wish we didn't bother with the cake. Was at a wedding recently that didn't have a cake either. I kinda noticed there was no cake cutting, but honestly couldn't have cared if there was no cake later on in the night as I prefer the savoury sandwiches to do the soakage.
Neither I nor my OH like fruit or chocolate biscuit cake. I find the chocolate in the biscuit cake is usually not very good quality and it feels like you're eating chunks of cheap soy chocolate with a bit of crunch.
Less than half of our 3 tier cake was cut and served. I gave out chunks of the rest of the cake the next day. It was really lovely tasty cake, but not the kind you could keep very long.
If you want the cake for photos, I think some places hire out dummy cakes and then you can serve something else.

ABajaninCork

I think my friend paid Healy's about E300 for her cake. It was a chocolate biscuit cake which was lovely, but very rich...I can't remember the price for my side cake. I had a traditional Barbadian 3-tier fruit cake with two side cakes - one was Bajan fruit again in the shape of the island of Barbados, the other was a chocolate cake in the shape of a shamrock which was done by Healy's

If you're looking for different other than the usual tiered wedding cake or cupcake towers, then you could try a croquembouche like this:

Faith

I'd happily leave out the cake actually, but I'm known by most of my guests as an avid baker and I've already had people asking me about it. I feel like it would be pretty noticeable if we left it out but I'm definitely going to think about that further.

pwurple

Is that croquembouche in a dog kennel? Weirdest backdrop for a wedding cake ever!

michellie

This is the kind I am going for, quoted €120 from one girl, I will probably go with her and my florist will make flowers for the top for €10. I don't care about cakes so I'm not spending much on them.

ABajaninCork

pwurple wrote: »

Is that croquembouche in a dog kennel? Weirdest backdrop for a wedding cake ever!

It is strange. But I wanted to show what one looked like, and didn't really look at the background...

Faith

I think it could be a van that it's being transported in...

jlm29

Faith wrote: »

I'd happily leave out the cake actually, but I'm known by most of my guests as an avid baker and I've already had people asking me about it. I feel like it would be pretty noticeable if we left it out but I'm definitely going to think about that further.

I'm the same. Though the more I think about it, the more I think I might just bake a cake and give it into the hotel to cut up in the evening, and not worry about the cutting of the cake part of things... That way, it wouldn't matter too much what the cake looks like, so it could be done the day before, with no great hassle

Addle

jlm29 wrote: »

I'm the same. Though the more I think about it, the more I think I might just bake a cake and give it into the hotel to cut up in the evening, and not worry about the cutting of the cake part of things... That way, it wouldn't matter too much what the cake looks like, so it could be done the day before, with no great hassle

Check with hotel first. Some won't serve homemade goods.

jlm29

Addle wrote: »

Check with hotel first. Some won't serve homemade goods.

Have done! I've made a wedding cake for a wedding in this hotel before, and they're fine with it. I think most hotels will now take cakes that come from non- haccp certified kitchens. Wedding cakes seem to be an area where a lot of people are making savings and making their own cake

Gatica

I think it's usually to do with cream cakes though, due to H&S rules. Iced cakes have less hassle, but yeah, check with hotel. I've a few friends that made own cake or had a family member or friend make theirs and it was fine with the hotels in question.

I think once the cake is cut-up it could've come from anywhere/any cake, so no one would ever know if it was the wedding cake or some random bit of cake at the back of the hotel.
I think we have 2 nice photos from the cutting of the cake, but I think it was my most awkward bit of the wedding. I didn't mind the walking down the isle or the first dance, but the whole walking up to cut a piece of cake, it just didn't flow and didn't feel all that natural at all.

Roddylarge

My sisters wedding cake was made of polystyrene, then iced over.
After they did the cutting into it bit, the cake was taken into the kitchen.
The cake that everyone ate at the evening food bit was just cheapish cakes from Dunnes or Tesco, cut up into slices.

Saved her a small fortune.

eviltwin

Roddylarge wrote: »

My sisters wedding cake was made of polystyrene, then iced over.
After they did the cutting into it bit, the cake was taken into the kitchen.
The cake that everyone ate at the evening food bit was just cheapish cakes from Dunnes or Tesco, cut up into slices.

Saved her a small fortune.

I know someone who did this, they only had one tier and the rest were fake, I wasn't at the wedding but saw the pictures and it looked amazing.

I didn't have a cake but my brother got married a few years ago and paid 400 for a three tiered chocolate biscuit cake. It looked nice but I don't know if it was value for money. Only about half the bottom tier was used on the night, the rest they gave to various people but with that thick icing on it, it wasn't very easy to eat and I think most of it ended up in the bin.

Markcheese

pwurple wrote: »

Is that croquembouche in a dog kennel? Weirdest backdrop for a wedding cake ever!

In the back of a car ? (was in a bakery in cork and saw a croquembouche going out,looked fantastic but precarious ,nest of spun sugar on the top , didn't envy the family picking it up ... !

Markcheese

My mam did our cake (baileys and white chocolate) in three tiers, and that was the dessert...( Most people came back for seconds). Decorated with fresh flowers in little posies , quick, easy and looked great...

Kate!!!

michellie wrote: »

This is the kind I am going for, quoted €120 from one girl, I will probably go with her and my florist will make flowers for the top for €10. I don't care about cakes so I'm not spending much on them.

Cake looks fab !!! Can I ask who is making that for you ?

Kate!!!

amdublin wrote: »

Cupcakes seem good to me...cheaper...can do big tower...no cutting....can bring unbeaten ones home and freeze...

Cupcakes are a great idea it's probably what I will go with I think . I don't want a cake to go to waste . Was thinking of getting little take away boxea for guests to take some home if they like

Toots

Markcheese wrote: »

In the back of a car ? (was in a bakery in cork and saw a croquembouche going out,looked fantastic but precarious ,nest of spun sugar on the top , didn't envy the family picking it up ... !

Yeah you'd want to make sure you weren't in any way clumsy carrying one of those!

Millem

michellie wrote: »

This is the kind I am going for, quoted €120 from one girl, I will probably go with her and my florist will make flowers for the top for €10. I don't care about cakes so I'm not spending much on them.

That is a great deal. The fake cakes are very easy to ice and decorate as they are perfectly shaped! They look amazing. Some people get them as they like the look of extra tiers without the price tag!

rainbow kirby

We'd love a lemon cake of some sort - it's the preferred type of cake for both of us. Do many bakers actually do them as wedding cake?