Recipe or idea for wedding cake?

Question

I am in need of some advice. I am having a wedding next weekend. We are trying to save money so I think I might make the cake. Does anyone have any ideas? Please don't just go online and pick something. I am really asking for personal experience. Some creative idea for a cake to be served at the reception. Some hit desert you make every now and then. Something you have actually MADE before and it turned out fabulous. What did you do? How can I make it?

Answer 1

I don't have a recipe for you, but I do have an idea from my cousin's wedding that worked for her.

My cousin wanted a simple, informal wedding reception. She and my aunt made cupcakes for the wedding reception. It turned out really well and was a great mother/daughter thing for them to do before the wedding. The bride also let her young daughter help so she felt like she had a bigger part in the wedding.

It made my cousin happy and my aunt cried more during the cupcake story than she did at the wedding. It was really touching how much having that one last mother/daughter moment before the wedding meant to my aunt.

Answer 2

I made my aunt's wedding cake. I used a box white cake mix and white frosting. I had two nine inch cake pans and a five inch cake pan. I make four layers of each size. I got a cake seperator thingy (availabe in most craft stores, including, I think, some WalMart craft departments) and put the smaller layers on that and frosted them. I frosted the bigger ones on a cake board. Then I centered the little part on the big part and decorated the cake with red and green flowerd and leaves (it was a Christmas wedding).

Good stuff to get:
Wilton Cake tips (I used leaf tip number 352 for the leaves and flowers)
Wilton's Buttercream Frosting Recipie:
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup butter (real butter)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cups sifted confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons milk
Cream butter and shortening. Add vanilla. Gradually beat in confectioners sugar. Add milk and beat until fluffy. The frosting is an antique-y lookinf off-white. Very pretty, and very yummy.

Good luck, and hopefully no dogs will get into it (mine got into my cake when we left for an hour to go to Christmas Eve service. They stayed away from me for a bit since I did yell at nothing for a good ten minutes. Just keep stuff high if you go out). Good luck, and congratulations!

Answer 3

Buy Duncan Hines Yellow cake mixes..the number of them that you think you'll need. Bake them in a large shallow pan like a lasagne pan, the entire mix, starting with 15 minutes and then checking, Mine usually come out at about 18 minutes. DON'T wait till it's done-done. You want it 'just barely' done. The pan is NOT a 9x13..it's bigger. Okay, so after you have all the layers done, decide on a shape and cut the cakes that shape. You can even place different sized bowls over for a tiered cake. Set aside.

Buy several containers of heavy whipping cream. Whip it and stir in some sugar to taste. take enough to 'fill' the cakes and add a couple of tablespoons of jam, marmalade, or whatever. I prefer orange marmalade or red rasberry jam. Put the layers together with this. Fill the corners of a couple of ziplocks with some of the whipped cream and color them with the wedding colors (pastel versions) and set aside. Take most of the reserved whipped cream and frost the cake richly with it. Refrigerate all. When ready to decorate, take all out of the fridge and snip off a tiny corner of each ziplock. Practice and then 'decorate' your cake very simply any way you like....you'll be surprised at how great it looks. Set a few fresh flowers on the top and you're done. Good job! Refrigerate.

Now get out some strawberries and slice them and sweeten them...not too sweet. Refrigerate. When time to serve, have the berries in a pretty bowl with a pretty ladle and put a delicate ladleful over each slice of cake. Delicious!

Answer 4

I know cupcakes are the new fad. I have a cupcake book with several ideas for wedding cupcake displays. The recipe below is from a book with really good recipes. I'm sorry, I have not tried this one but all the others in the book are really good. This is espesially for weddings.

Lemon Citrus Cupcakes

2 1/2 cups cake flower
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp.baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
8 oz (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs (room temp.)
3 large egg yolks (room temp.)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 tsp. orenge zest
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup whole milk

1. Heat oven to 350 F
2. In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. Beat butter in an electric mixer on a medium speed until creamy.
4. Gradually add the sugar and increasing the speed slightly and beating until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl several times during the process.
5. Add the eggs and egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition.
6. Beat in the vanilla and orenge zest.
7. Reduce speed to low and beat in the lemon juice. The batter may appear curdled at this point but it is ok and will sommth out when you add the dry ingreadients.
8. Add the dry ingreadients in three additions alternately with the milk in teo additions.
9. Scrape down sides of the bowl and beat for another ten seconds.
10. Fill cupcake pans (with cupcake holders inserted) and bake for 18 to 20 and cool on a wire rack. Yeilds 24 cupcakes

You can ice them using the recipe below (make a design of little dots on the cupcakes using a pastry bag. The pastry bag is a must for this topping)

Lusicous Buttercream Frosting

1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cups water
6 egg yolks
4 sticks unsalted butter (softened)

1. Combine the sugar and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. The mixture should be 240 F (you can use a candy thermometer
2. With and electric mixer whip egg yolks until lught and fluffy
3. Pour sugar mixture in with yolks while mixer is on a moderate speed. Continue whipping until cool.
4. Add butter in small batches stopping after each additon. End product should be rich and creamy.
5. Ice cupcakes with pastry bag using any kind of tip.

*** you can find a cupcake diaplay at most baking shops

I hope this was helpful and I haop you have a great marrage to the love of your life!

Answer 5

if you're trying to save money by making it yourself, and you still want it to look nice, you might try two different options, one is making pretty cupcakes. they're really in right now and at a craft store you can find tiers or stands to set them on and make them look really pretty or you can buy tiers and try making two or three different kinds of cakes and separating them with the tiers. of course, you would frost them with the same frosting and you can decorate with fresh flowers, like lillies or orchids, but on the inside you can do something different, like one chocolate, and one carrot and one lemon. if you're worried about the cost or worried about them not turning out right, dr. up some boxed mixes.

Answer 6

You can do a plain chocolate or vanilla cake with pumpkin buttercream frosting.