Eat Cake And Be Merry:

A Brides Guide to Choosing a Wedding Cake

Choosing the perfect wedding cake can be the best part of the entire planning process. But for the sweetest results, it’s important to spend time figuring out what you want aesthetically vs. what you need realistically.

There are 4 major influences behind choosing your wedding cake:

     Budget. First and foremost is your budget. It’s important to be realistic when you set it. Planning a Long Island wedding can be expensive but your cake isn’t the place to cut corners. A good wedding cake is not cheap and a cheap wedding cake is not good. Remember that fondant is more expensive than frosting and all handmade details will increase the price. A rule of thumb: you can average the cake will cost anywhere from $2-$18 dollars per slice.

     Size. The number of guest you plan on having is important. Portions should dictate the cake size, not vice versa.  If you are having a small wedding but want to have a 5-tiered cake consider using fake tiers to save yourself money and achieve the look you desire. On the contrary if you have a huge guest list and want to opt for a smaller, more décor inspired cake, think about hiding a few sheet cakes in the back and serving them to unsuspecting guests in order to provide enough servings.

     Taste.  Let’s not forget the wonderful wedding activity where you get a chance to sample slices of delicious cake. When you are spending hundreds on dollars on a wedding cake- it better taste good. Scratch that- it better taste GREAT! In this day and age, you don’t need to settle for the polished and gum paste texture of fondant or the thickness of buttercream. There are lots of unique flavors to pick from. Just remember if you are serving other desserts along side the cake, you want to pick a flavor that will enhance the entire spread.

     Design. These days it is not enough to blow people away with the taste of your cake- it must wow them with it’s aesthetics too. We recommend having an idea of what you want but try to remain flexible. Looking through Pinterest and Martha Stewart for cake ideas is great but what you may not realize is that those cakes can cost upwards of 1,000. That’s why it is important to know your wedding cake budget and talk to your cake maker about your options. Because cake trends are moving away from the traditional tiered white cake, there are so many ways to customize a cake and get the look you want for less.

The days of sacrificing taste for design are over. Knowing your budget, the number of guest your cake needs to feed and having ideas for flavor and décor will make choosing the perfect cake easy as, well…cake.

     Here’s a sweet tip: It’s worth asking your reception hall if they bake the cake on site. If so, it will save you from worrying about the temperature and transportation on the day of.