Tips for Making a Wedding Cake

My mother was a wedding cake pro, and I’ve made a few myself, so here’s the lowdown on making your own wedding cake:

• Estimate three total days to make a wedding cake - one to bake, fill, and freeze, one to make decorations, and part of the wedding day day to construct and decorate your cake.
• Make sure you have enough freezer and counter space to undertake making a wedding cake.
• Allow an additional day in the schedule for a do-over if something, like the cake baking, goes badly.
• You will need a baking buddy. Making a wedding cake is not like making a birthday cake, the large bottom layers can be unwieldy at times.
• You must purchase or rent some sort of plate and rod structure to put your cake on, especially if it’s over two layers (2-3 layer cakes can be done with wooden dowel rods).



• If you are making a wedding cake with fresh flower decorations, make sure you have purchased or rented the correct support system, or know how you will accomplish this ahead of time.
• If you decide to use fondant on the cake, know that it hides a lot of sins but is tricky to use. Be sure to buy more than you need just in case, or know where you can get it fast.
• If you’re using butter cream frosting on your cake, make small batches of different recipes months ahead to taste and check consistency, and always purchase much more powdered sugar than you think you’ll need.

Learn how bride Lisa Spooner saved $22,000 on her dream wedding

It takes several people to make a wedding cake and move it -- arrange help, and make sure the cake can fit out the door of the kitchen you’ll be working in and that it will fit into the vehicle. Heavy cakes will need to be placed on a ½” to 1” piece of covered or painted plywood for transport.

The cake or layers should always sit flat, not in a seat or on a lap, on a non-slip material.

Cake toppers and layers that are not stacked directly on the layer below (separated by columns or flower ring) will need to be transported flat in boxes and assembled at the reception site. Make sure the reception venue has a cart with wheels available for you to use.

• When making your own wedding cake, you'll want to bake the cake a minimum of a week ahead of time, not days, filled and tightly wrap and freeze each layer. If you wrap the layers well, you can do it as early as two weeks ahead. Fruit cakes preserved with liqueur can be made up to two months in advance [cook’s note: freezing is an old trick for making cakes extra moist].
• Make sure you put structural elements, like wooden dowels, in your cake layers before freezing. Do not frost before freezing.
• Making a wedding cake can be simplified by purchasing your cake decorations ahead of time. Sugar flowers can be ordered a over a month ahead, painted white chocolate molds can be done weeks ahead of time, frosting roses a few days. You may also be able to hire someone to make roses and then put them on the cake for you. If you are using molds for medallions, you can usually make them a day or two ahead (depending on what you’re molding).

• Make buttercream frosting and chill, can also be done the morning of the wedding.
• Make piped roses and flower decorations -- this can be done up to three days before the wedding if you use buttercream frosting.
• Prepare your work area, check your list of necessary tools and ingredients, and confirm your transportation helpers.

• Take the buttercream frosting out of the fridge and let it come to room temp (this may take several hours), or make the frosting.
• If you’re using royal icing, make it the morning of the wedding.
• Assemble the cake on whatever decorative plate or stand you like (on a large board for transport if needed), using frosting like glue (between the cardboard layers and the stand, between each layer).

If you’re using fondant, have your decorating buddy help you. Once you roll out a large piece to place over the cake (make sure you have a space for this), you’ll need at least one other person to help you move the fondant from the rolling table to the cake.

You can completely decorate the wedding cake at home or – recommended – pack a kit and finish the smaller or more delicate details at the location.

• Always pad the time you think you’ll need to decorate the cake by at least 1 hour in case a decorating crisis comes up. I prefer a 2 hour pad.
• Move the cake to the location as soon as you can in order to allow yourself extra time for final decoration. Take an emergency kit of frosting and other decorations with you.
• Always do a test run, don’t let the morning of your wedding be the first time you’ve worked with fondant, made royal icing, or piped shells and roses. Practice making a wedding cake by baking decorating a single layer cake, or a two tier cake. The sooner the better so you have room to change your mind. Do it more than once if you can.

The supplies and decorations (like fondant, cake pans, plates and dividers, etc.) for a DIY wedding cake can get expensive - often just as expensive as ordering the cake from a professional baker.

Making a wedding cake is not always the best option.

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