10 Tips to DIY Your Wedding Cake + Inspiration
You’re very brave and ambitious if you are considering a DIY wedding cake. Kidding! It’s possible. You need to be a very special person to bake your own wedding cake. An experienced baker is the right candidate. They are passionate about baking sweet treats for their loved ones. This is the ideal way to personalize your wedding day celebrations by making your own wedding cake.
Even if you are your KitchenAid stand mixer friend, baking at such a large scale is not for the faint-hearted. It takes a lot of planning and consideration before you attempt to make a DIY wedding cake. Are you unsure if DIY wedding cakes are right for your needs? To find out if DIY wedding cakes are possible, read our 10 tips below. If the answer is yes then get inspired by these beautiful, but easy-to-make wedding cakes taken from Zola’s real weddings.
10 Tips to Make Your Wedding Cake Perfect
Take a look at your motivation
You make your wedding cake because it is something you love to do, that you enjoy baking and are comfortable with different outcomes. You don’t need to DIY your wedding cake in order to save money. Do not think that you are cutting corners on your budget. Add up the cost of bulk ingredients, decorations, and display tools and consider how much a DIY wedding cake would cost. Your time is money in the lead-up to your big day.
Stay in your Comfort Zone
It’s too late to try a new recipe with passion fruit gelee or to experiment with a difficult technique. Keep it simple with the cake recipes that you are familiar with and can guarantee to taste good. Do not feel restricted by the traditional white-on-white, multitiered design. If your specialty is grandma’s chocolate babka then go ahead and babka away. If you make it and can cut it and serve it, your guests will love it.
Do it!
Trial runs are key to DIY weddings. Do not wait until your wedding day to discover that the YouTube tutorial you thought was easy turns out to be more complicated or time-consuming than it is. “Weddings” and “guesswork” are not the same thing. Make sure to practice decorating and baking your wedding cake well in advance. You can make mistakes and learn from them. You might find that you are not ready to bake a wedding cake yourself. If so, there is still time to hire a professional baker.
Prepare (Like, Really).
Do your research. You should be able to determine how long each stage should take, and what tools you need. You can plan your cake-making process in advance so that you have a clear game plan for your wedding week. Make sure you have all the supplies at hand, organize them as you go, and allow for mistakes and do-overs. If possible, avoid putting off any cake-related tasks until your wedding day.
Use Your Freezer
Make the cake portions ahead of time so that you aren’t covered in flour days before the wedding. Also, this will help improve the quality and process of the final product. The cake freezes well and defrosts quickly. A slightly frozen cake will be easier to work with, and there will be fewer crumbs for the final icing. You can wrap your layers in plastic wrap and then foil. Store in the freezer for up to one month.
Accept imperfection
This tip goes for any DIY wedding project: when you take on a wedding task that’s generally reserved for professionals, you’re going to have to accept less-than-professional-looking results. Handmade goods are unique and beautiful because of their imperfect appearance. Do not be embarrassed if your homemade cake is slightly left-leaning. If you are up all night trying to replicate the Pinterest tutorial for perfect fondant ribbons, you should do another project.
Keep it simple
This is a great way to forget about the fact that your wedding cake may be plain. It doesn’t matter if you have to make a complicated tiered wedding cake, or create sugar paste art to personalize your cake. All that is required is a delicious and simple recipe. Lastly, rely on fresh flowers and smart presentation for that extra WOW factor (see #10).
Take a little time to relax
Step 1 Create a small, beautiful piece of cake art and proudly display it.
Step 2 guests will be oohing and ahhing!
Step 3 Ask your caterer staff to cut and serve store-bought sheets cake behind the scenes. Even if the majority of your guests don’t end up eating it, you’ll technically have made your wedding cake.
Transport
It’s one thing making a beautiful centerpiece in your own home, but it’s quite another to transport that tower of sugary goodness to your wedding venue intact. Don’t forget to budget for the time and money it will take to transport your cake. Ask your venue if they have a fridge that you can store the cake in until your reception. If the cake will be transported on the day of the event, it is a good idea to ask a friend or family member for assistance.
Decorate!
It’s worth repeating that a few fresh flowers can transform a cake from a boring one into something extraordinary. You can elevate your homemade creation by adding the finishing touches: place it on a beautiful cake stand, add some flower heads (roses and dahlias as well as ranunculus and sunflowers), and then decorate it with a sign or topper.
Additional Resource:
https://www.pinterest.com/stylemepretty/wedding-cakes/
https://unsplash.com/s/photos/wedding-cake
https://ouac.pk/all-wedding-cakes/
