Here’s another side of the story. I’m not a professional cake decorator but have been doing it on the side for about four years including a handful of wedding cakes for friends and family. I’ve never accepted money which takes some of the pressure off in case it doesn’t turn out absolutely perfectly and they’ve all really appreciated my efforts. Therefore I am planning on doing my own wedding cake since I’ve got the materials and know how much time to expect and a backup person to finish it up if it all becomes too much. Doing my own wedding cake seems only natural since I’ve done others and it’s a way to express myself. As an introvert having to go home and decorate the cake will be a great excuse to escape gobs and gobs of family during the holidays (wedding is 12/28). I think the key for DIY cakes is to set realistic expectations and have a back up plan. If it’s a hobby you enjoy then it’s a natural extension of making it your special day.
Thought? Am I still crazy?

Ashley,

Thanks so much for your comment and congratulations on your upcoming wedding!

There are certainly exceptions to the rule! Having already done handful of wedding cakes, you have a huge advantage over most brides that have made a birthday cake or 2 for family. It’s likely that you already have the skills required for properly supporting and stacking cakes as well as a realistic idea of timeframes and expectations of the finished product. Also taking into consideration that you would prefer not to spend too much time with all of the family in town, it sounds like making your own wedding cake might be a good option for you.

Best of luck!

Kevin

It is a longstanding superstition in many cultures, like ancient Rome and much of the mediterranean, that it is very bad luck for the bride to bake her own wedding cake. Most superstitions probably have some element of truth in them. I imagine that for most brides baking a wedding cake during those hectic days leading to the wedding probably does put huge additional stress on the bride and therefore everyone else around her and the cake probably turns out hideous to boot.

I think that if someone is doing a $10,000 or more wedding than they should just kick in for a nice cake. But if someone is doing a dirt cheap wedding then I think they could have a competent family member do the cake. But I agree that the bride really should not make her own cake. I make a lot of cakes, cookies and such and could make my own but there is no way I would. But if I had any family members who could bake, I would let them do it with the caveat that I would be prepared to just accept that it would not look professional.

I can’t imagine a new bride to be trying to figure out how she would support the cake, setting up the cake at the reception hall, trying to find recipes that tasted good and had the right density versus fluffiness, figuring out how to decorate for the first time. Let us put it this way, either she would look good on the wedding day or the cake would–but not both. So she’ll have her hair done and makeup and look peaceful and well-rested and the cake will be a wreck or the cake could (if she does research and works like crazy) look beautiful and she will be a wreck who has had no sleep and no time to make her hair look nice.

And I agree that you need to have a run through once with any recipe before you use it for something important because you find out all kinds of important things. Basically, it would be a stupid waste of time to learn to bake a wedding cake just for your wedding. That is why civilizations have division of labor–remember that from junior high school social science? Every person can’t be a blacksmith and a clothesmaker and a baker and a farmer and a wagon maker and a sheap shearer. It isn’t efficient.

Here is what I think could realistically be done to keep costs down. I still don’t think the bride should be baking before the wedding. But if someone who loves the bride bakes, they could make her some nice sheet cakes or use whatever pans they own to bake a bunch of cakes of any shape. These could be cut for the guests so that the guests get homemade tasting cakes. Then the bride could get a wedding looking cake from Costco or Walmart so that they have the wedding cake look but without anyone having to eat the nasty Walmart cake. And then it won’t matter if the bride’s family or friend makes nonprofessional looking cakes because they won’t be a showpiece. They will sit in the back and be cut for serving without anyone ever seeing them. But I don’t know if all this work for a loved one would be worth saving a couple hundred. The person who bakes all these for you would be busy and miserable for several days. They might not like you so well after having gone through a week of stress and hell for you.

As I said, I bake cakes all the time and experiment constantly with cake and frosting recipes. I would do this for free for my sister but not for anyone else because it is a lot of work.

I love this article. I AM a professional cake designer and I get so tired of blogs that encourage brides to bake and decorate their own cake. It is by far not an easy task to accomplish and so many bloggers make it seem like its a “cake” walk. I really appreciate that you’ve put a light on what it really takes to do this…and you barely scratched the surface. Hand made sugar flowers can take hours to make…the bride would have to know how to properly assemble her cake without it falling over. There is a technique to that, the cakes don’t just sit on top of each other. Smooth buttercream and flawless fondant comes from practice practice and more practice. And you hit it right on the head speaking of the costs of supplies and tools.
I really really appreciate you not downgrading the art of cake decorating. Your article is VERY accurate and well written. Even kinda humorous.

FINALLY! A blogger who understands that an ornately designed and decorated, sugary work of art is not “just flour and eggs” slapped together in a couple of hours! Special pans, special decorating equipment and oh goodness is your home oven even big enough for that bottom tier?

I have shared with friends everything they need to DIY a cake for their child’s birthday party … and I end up with a customer for life as they realize just how much work it is and how easy it ISN’T! And that’s just for a birthday cake … imagine their stress with a wedding cake.

Kudos to you for being one of the few who actually tells it like it is!!

I am a trained pastry chef and professional cake designer who will also be getting married in the near future. Cake and desserts are what I do, and I do them well. When I get married, I am hiring someone else to make my cake. A bride has enough stress and aggravation the week of her wedding (I know firsthand, as I was a bride once before)… and BECAUSE I know exactly how much time and work goes into making a perfect cake, the LAST thing I want to be worrying about is making my own cake!

If you would like to read about the experiences of another professional (and VERY successful) pastry chef and cake desiger who did make her own cake (and had a LOT of stress because of it), then check out this link:

http://blog.pinkcakebox.com/mrs-pink-cake-box-2006-07-16.htm

I completely agree! Without knowing the intricacies involved and having made a few wedding cakes of similar styles a bride has no idea what she is getting into. No one is insulting brides and saying they cannot pull it off. What we are saying is that the amount of time, practice and energy required may not be apparent until it is too late.

When I realized the cake I wanted wasn’t in my budget I did something that very few people seem to be willing to do these days – I didn’t have one. I figure I will have the time to make myself cakes for my anniversaries. There was no way I was worrying about rolling fondant on my wedding day.

From AndSheBakes’s own blog: Chocolate Curls