Wedding Cake Top Tips

Choosing your wedding cake (and the right cake maker!) is a big decision. It isn’t something that you do everyday! To help you choose wisely, Amber, from Amber’s Sugar Models and Cakes, has put together some top tips for you!

1 Have an idea of your budget

You may have a crystal clear vision of your wedding cake in all its glory. You may not have the foggiest idea of what you want! Either way, a great couple (that’s you!) deserve a fabulous wedding cake, so do opt for the best that you can afford. Your cake designer will tell you what’s achievable for your budget.

When it comes to price, size matters! The bigger your cake the more ingredients (and internal support) are needed and the longer it takes to make. However, the most significant impact on price is the complexity of the design. Adding intricate details, sugar flowers, models, and hand-crafted elements increase the price due to the time they take and the level of skill required.

Share your budget with your cake designer! Not so you can instantly be charged that amount but so your cake designer can create something which aligns with your requirements! Very few wedding cake designers will operate a fixed price list because each cake is slightly different so necessitates pricing on an individual, cake by cake basis.

There are cakes available in the marketplace to suit all budgets, from mass-produced off the shelf store brought cakes, to high end custom creations. Please don’t compare the prices though as they’re not like-for-like products! For a truly bespoke wedding cake designed and baked to your exact requirements, you should expect to pay for the time invested into making it perfect for you.

2 Pick wisely – match your cake design and its designer

Once you’ve booked your venue then you can start thinking about your suppliers. Initially you’ll most likely suffer from visual overload as there is so much inspiration out there! This will settle down though and you will start to notice a theme running through the things that you like most e.g. whimsical, modern, geometric, rustic, romantic, glamourous, quirky, vintage etc.

It is usual to tie your cake design in with your theme and your venue (an ultra-modern cake doesn’t work all that well in a barn!). Once you have a style in mind, have a look at the work produced by the cake designers you meet on your planning journey. One cake maker cannot necessarily excel at all types of cake designs. If you want a romantic fondant cake finished with the most realistic, elegant sugarflowers, don’t pick a cake designer whose webpage and socials shows lots of photos of semi naked cakes dressed with fresh flowers!

I know this might sound like common sense, but you’d be amazed at how many times I get asked for a buttercream finished cake even when I have explained that I only work with sugarpaste!

3 Don’t put your cake in the corner

Elevate your cake with a fantastic display, don’t just bung it on a table in the corner of the room! Think about how to display your cake so that it becomes a focal centrepiece that gets your guests talking and looks magnificent in your photographs!
There are some fantastic stands and props available to buy and hire which you can match to your venue style and decor! Just a simple cake-stand or a piece of draped fabric can really make all the difference! Your cake designer, your venue and/or venue stylists should be able to help you with ideas if you’re not sure what is feasible.

4 Your day, your way

Your wedding is a celebration of the love shared between your partner and yourself so the day is about the two of you. It’s very easy to lose sight of this as you try and plan to please everybody and not cause any upset. Ultimately though, the day should be what you want it to be and that includes your cake. Choose the flavours that you like and if you don’t want your new MIL to make the cake then diplomatically say no, perhaps asking her to do something else special instead. You might think she’ll be offended if you say no, but she might think you’d be upset if she didn’t offer!

5 Don’t wait!

Whilst you don’t necessarily want to finalise your cake design until after you have sorted lots of other details, it is important to get your cake booked into your cake designer’s diary as soon as possible. Good cake designers do get booked up very quickly – many up to 2 years in advance. Lots of cake designers do offer a save the date system where you essentially pay to reserve your slot in their diary but you leave the design until a few months before your wedding day. This means you can relax, knowing that you will have your dream cake made by your first-choice designer which will be conceived once all those little details are finalised, giving you a fabulously consistent vibe!

6 Ask Questions

Not sure about something? Ask away! Most cake designers love to talk to you about cake so will happily answer any questions that you might have. Do you deliver? Are you insured? What style would you suggest? Will silk flowers work? Can I have cream cheese frosting? Will you decorate a cake I make? Can I have my cat/dog/horse on the cake? None of these questions are new, daft or difficult for a
good, reputable cake designer to answer.

Finally, and most importantly…. chose a cake designer who you connect with, whose strengths reflect your preferred design choices, and preferably choose one who lets you try their cake!!

Delivering to venues across Norfolk and Suffolk, Amber specialises in sugarpaste finished wedding cakes which are pretty, quirky, fun, personal, and unique! For further information do get in touch by emailing info@cakesbyamber.co.uk, or head over to her website to request a copy of her wedding cake brochure www.cakesbyamber.co.uk/services (about half-way down the page).
Socials – www.instagram.com/ambersugarmodelsandcakes
www.facebook.com/lowestoftcakemaker