Questions about m&s wedding cake...

We had the 'Dotty' M&S Cake - choc top, sponge middle, fruit bottom. It arrived in 3 boxes, we gave it to Lynn and the hotel sorted it for us, so you've got NO worries on that score missus! Just leave it to Lynn! We also massively over bought on cake... we got 2 cutting slabs too which is all that was put out with the buffet so we got the entire cake back as it was on the day (which was great as we got to enjoy it / distribute it as we wanted!!!)

ETA - I'm sure the traditional cakes (ie not something like we had) can be stacked if you by the dowels that sink into the cake to support it a bit - does the M&S website not give a guide to how to deal with displaying your cakes? If not, speak to DHH - they'll know how to deal with it... : )

My friend 'dressed' it with the flowers for me but Lynn did everything else.

and to give you an idea of size....

Also .... forgot to say - we ordered it in the November I think to avoid the christmas chaos, picked it up about 2 days before and took it straight to my mums who looked after it til the Fri night when everything went to the hotel. I'd not have risked having it at home tbh!

Yes, we specified a pick up date....

https://www.marksandspencer.com/How-to-Choose-Your-Wedding-Cake-Help/b/83106031 - lots of info here if you've not seen it already?

Also it says for a 'traditional' cake - "Each tier comes on its own cakeboard and can be stacked using pillars and dowel rods between each layer (pillars and rods sold separately)"

xx

Thanks Leigh,

That's such a relief to hear that DHH organised stacking it for you, that was my main worry! I thought I'd be able to stack them together using the dowel rods, I'll try and find something on their website.

Your cake looks amazing! Really lovely! And it's quite big too, I was thinking i would be a small cake.

Thanks again, that's put my mind at ease on loads of worries I had about them!x

No worries ... haven't seen you on here for ages!

I didn't even buy the dowels so chef might have something in his box of tricks they used .... or maybe they just sit quite happily on the boards as mine wasn't all fruit so not heavy tiers.

It was a very simple cake - came to about £209 with the cutting slabs. It tasted delish tho'. I don't think you can beat them tho' - why pay £400 upwards for cake??! (Passion Wedding Flowers who are a HIB did my flowers .... : )

Wanna know a secret? I might be doing a trial run for a job at DHH next week! Fingers x'd! Might not come to anything but .... if it does I could be in there in 8mths time!

Yeah I know, not been about much.

I'll speak to the hotel about stacking the cake. We went to see a couple of places about cakes today and no joke, we want a really plain three tier cake with a bit of ribbon on it and a couple of icing sugar flowers and we were quoted £375 and £350. It's just swaying me towards the M&S ones when that's all we really want, so why pay double the cost!

Thats soooooo good!! Can you tell me what the job is? Would you be doing any of the wedding stuff? Oh Leigh, that would be brilliant, I'll keep super fingers crossed for you! Will you let me know how you get on? Loads of luck! xx

YHM! x

Hi Denise,

Not sure you saw my cake but it was simple and only cost £200. The shop did have more expensive cakes but we didn't like them. We were orginially going to get an M&S cake but for £200 to not have any worry about having to put it together changed my mind totally (although sounds like you wouldn't need to worry about that). We wouldn't have had any time to go collecting cakes a few days beforehand as it went manic.

Anyway just a thought for you.

Lx

p.s. how good is Meggy looking with a little bump? I'm desperate to see her and bump and I bet she is blooming.

I know someone who works in M&S and who does the food ordering. You can specify a day, but she recommends getting a couple of days before you need it (use by dates are quite long) in case of any mishaps and then they can order in a new one.

One of my friends stacked them on top of each other - it just makes cake look a bit smaller. You can also buy pillars and dowells in store, or if you are worried about them toppling (as I am) you can hire cake stands for about £10 (norm with £50 deposit until you return stand)

Don't stick fruit on top of sponge though. It can save alot of money getting cake from M&S especially with the 3 for 2 and none of your guests will be able to taste the difference! My Mum has ordered mine and it was less than £100 - although she gets staff discount!

Hello Mrs!

I did see your cake, it was lovely, honestly L, I think the shops beside us are quite expensive, we were only looking for a smallish plain cake and that seems to be the average price, compared to your cake and the price of it, Im getting robbed!!

Meggy's good, she looks lovely, getting a right wee bump now. I know it's the usual pants they say about pregnant women but she does look fab, she has the blooming expectant mother look! x

Thanks for that, I think Im really starting to sway towards the m&s ones now! We're planning on having the bottom layer fruit and the top two sponge so it will be fine for stacking.

Are you having a three tier stand then? x

Yep, I'm having a 'step' stand which I'm borrowing from one of my Mum's friends and getting florist to put some flowers on to decorate. I heard that the wedding co-ordinator at Blenheim Palace picked a M&S cake for her wedding, so can't be bad and if it's anything like their birthday cakes will be lovely.

Hey there

right, my cake was the traditional stacked job. I had the bottom teir as fruit and the other two as sponge. With pillars. on each cake board. The lady on M&S refused to believe that the sponge could stay on top a sponge and not sink in but I had a friend who built it up for me and she assured me she would build it using the dowling rods and the pillars.....

The important thing was keeping the cake on its boards, I think.

heres mine

Oh yeah, the cake cost 92 bucks and I had to pick it up on the wednesday, for the saturday wedding which was rubbish when the sponge cake is only in date for 5 days after collection....

and i ordered mine a month in advance as it was the summer....but 21 days is the norm i think.

Thanks Nona, your cake looks fab, it's lovely with the ribbon.

I take it the sponge was still ok on the sat though?

Oh yea... delish!

My cake shop would deliver to you if you paid a slightly higher charge I think or you could collect from them as well.

I can imagine Meggy blooming and glowing. I'm so jealous you get to see her every day. I think my work have clocked onto our constant emails all day every day and have blocked her now! lol

I bought four fruit cakes from M&S and stacked them on top of one another sprinkled glittery stuff on them and tied the bibbon on. My Mum, sister and I kept one brooche each. I loved my cake.

Dianne can you let me know what cake you had? becuase the individual1s that you buy to stack they only seem to do in 3 sixes and i see you have 4?

Be warned - i saw y'day what can happen if you don't use the rods under the pillars and if you try to stack too much weight on top of a sponge cake!! Sometimes the bride/mother of groom AREN'T right but you have one heck of a job convincing them otherwise!!

M&S sell XL, L and M via the catalogue and you can buy small in store but ive only seen the white ones in store...whereas we had Ivory...

is that what you did Di?

OMG!! I too was thinking of getting this plain M&S 3 tier and decorating it myself with the flowers, but the comment about it collapsing has made me worry now. The silver cake stand shown above is lovely, but I like the shape of the cakes all stacked on top of each other?

What would I need to create that 'stuck together' look without it collapsing does anyone have any advice?

Thank U

Lia

X

GeminiBebe - don't panic! Thats the exact cake I had (shown in the photos on the first page of this thread) .... it won't collapse! The issue with the cake at the wedding I did y'ay is that they didn't take notice of the fact the M&S said don't use pillars on top of sponge bottom tier without supports (and they also added an extra 'layer' of a glass fishbowl with flowers in it) - the whole thing was just not thought out.

If you go for this cake it'll stack perfectly as it is in both my photos and the photo above that you've put on - and if you wanted to do pillars then that'll be OK too as long as its dowled correctly (which again our bride y'day didn't do ... just shoved 4 tiers on top of a sponge cake, which obv isn't going to work!)

The biggest issue with cakes is when you use the pillars - but if its done right like Teehee's cake then you're fine! But from what you say you want it stacked anyhow so you'll have nooooo problems. Promise!

This cake is LUSH btw!! Tasted fabulous!

Thanks for that I feel better about it now!!

How many days before did you collect the cake, Im getting married on a Saturday, but am staying at the hotel the night before with a friend, I will probably decorate the cake on the Friday night with my friend, taking the cake in the 3 separate boxes, flowers and glittery bits - proper girlie night!!

I managed to get all four sizes in store without ordering. I only seen them in white. I built it in the morning before getting my hair done and it lasted till late after dinner when I remembered we hadn't had any yet. The ribbon was fastened very tight to the cake to give it extra support. It worked for me.

Also its buy 3 for 2

Oooooh, all very exciting - we have decided to to go for mini cube cakes with a small round top tier for our wedding breakfast and then we are just going to buy some of the M&S cutting cakes for the evening buffet but we are also having a cheese wedding cake (have just ordered bride and groom mouse cake topper!) - I think I am more excited about the cheese wedding cake - is it sad to be excited about cheese??

Nessy

Not at all Nessy I love cheese too, would love to see a pic of a cheese wedding cake, the mouse toppers sound cute!

Hi guys
What about stacking 3 sponge cakes on top of each other without dowels and pillars? Would that be ok?

Thanks.

Hi was going to ask the same thing would 4 tiers all sponge be ok stacked on each other??

Thanks

Claire xx

I think you'd be ok ... might be worth putting a shout out for a cake HIB on this one but if they're all sponge and stacked with the boards then I think you'll be fine as the weight is equally distributed across the surface. its just when folk try to put a heavy fruit cake on top of sponge they can get into trouble if they don't reinforce it, or put pillars onto a sponge cake without reinforcements!

Hi there

Cake HIB here, in answer to the last question, I wouldn't stack even a sponge on top of a fruit cake without dowelling it fully. It's not necessarily weight that is the problem but 'pressure' and any pressure on sugarpaste can cause it to crack - I've even seen icing crack either the weight and pressure of a cake topper that's too heavy.

It's not really worth trying to cut corners and ending up with cake that looks like crazy paving.

It's especially necessary to dowel and secure the tiers properly if you intend stacking it at home and then transporting it to your venue ready stacked. We never stack cakes up at the venue as we could hump all our equipment etc around with us and it makes too much mess so all our cakes are transported complete unless it's something unusual such as 6 or 7 tiers that we can't box all in one piece in which case we'd stack and transport in two sections.

Inevitably, you'll probably find people who'll tell you that they managed to stack a cake without dowels and had no problems but as a professional I would never do it even with a cake that's professionally covered and levelled so you take your chances....

Catherine