Help with Wedding cake.

£800 seems very expensive have you tried to source a local cale maker. I found one through a friend of a friend and been quotef £200 for a 3 tier cake for 100 people....making your own sounds like a good idea but very stressful job on top of everything.

Before committing to the idea, do have a look elsewhere. £800 is so expensive!! Especially as you’re only wanting simiple buttercream decoration. We’re paying £255 for our 10, 8, 6” cake, but that’s going to be decorated with fondant icing, sugar flowers and the middle tier will be completely covered in edible glitter (which I’ve been told is very expensive!).

Like I said above, we’re having a 10,8,6” sponge cake which will feed roughly 75 guests if cut into 1”x2” pieces. According to my cake makers website a 14,12,10,8” should feed around 190 guests. I would bear in mind though, that not all of your guests may want cake (they may not like it, might not be hungry, they might mean to get a piece later and forget etc.) so lots of cake makers advise to get a cake to feed less guests unless you want to take lots home.

I agree with the other responses that whilst it would be lovely to make it yourself, it also has the potential to be very stressful!

Have you tried the high street? I've heard rave reviews about M&S wedding cakes - they do different flavours too. I believe Waitrose may do them too. They're plainly iced, but if you are going to use fresh flowers to decorate, it would make a nice backdrop.

Where are you based? If you're anywhere near Bristol, I know a few professional cake bakers who would NOT be charging £800!

I’ve heard mixed reviews about the m&s cakes and do think you can find some professional bakers that could compete with their prices for what you get. But, it could definitely be an option as they are cost effective. Also thought it’s worth mentioning that they don’t just do plain iced cakes, they do lots of designs including naked cakes!

I also wondered if it’d be worth speaking to baker about getting a 10,8,6” cake and then getting a couple of sheet cakes for serving to guests. This would probably be the cheapest option.

Thank you for all the suggestions. I am happy in doing the cake myself, I'm a regular baker and its something I enjoy doing, its just I haven't baked anything that big before. In a way its something that I would really like to do and if I can bake the cakes a few weeks before then just buttercream them the day before the wedding it should be fairly simple. The florist will decorate the cake and I have a friend who is willing to deliver/stack the cakes the morning of the wedding for me.

I did have a look at waitrose and M&S and they don't provide cakes large enough that are sponge cakes either "naked" or buttercream. We really don't want to have fondant and really want a buttercream cake. I have had a few other quotes and they were all very similar unfortunately, i'm based in Devon.

The idea about a sheet cake would be a good one, perhaps that is an easy way to go and not so much stress with the stacking of cakes.

I would suggest that you check with the venue that they are ok with your cake because it has been discussed on here in the past that a venue would not allow cakes other than from a cake company with the relevant food certificates because it would be the venue cutting and serving the cake and therefore liable in some way if there are any issues.

Thanks. We checked when we booked the venue as I Knew I'd want to make the cake. They are happy for me to bring my own cake and they are happy to serve it which is great news. Thanks for the advice though, always worth checking these things because there is so much to consider!

I think, you must have some experience going to make wedding cake to feed 185 people ?