Yes, You Can DIY Your Own Wedding Cake Slideshow
Yes, You Can DIY Your Own Wedding Cake
Though a lot of people will warn you to never DIY your wedding cake, if you can bake a birthday cake or successful cupcakes, making this dessert for your wedding really isn't that much more difficult. The biggest challenge in DIY-ing your wedding cake is figuring out the design and size, but as long as you keep those elements simple and close to your heart, there's no reason you can't pull this off flawlessly.
Pick Your Favorite Flavor(s)
The best thing about baking your own wedding cake is that you aren't limited by the offerings of a bakery. Whether you're crazy for chocolate fudge, want to keep it light with a lemon cake, or you want to go crazy with a matcha and black sesame cake, the choice is yours and yours alone.
Find an Easy, Delicious Recipe
If you're a relatively novice baker, don't try to get too experimental with your cake recipes. Keep your flavors and recipes simple and executable, such as this simple yellow cake, this beautifully rich blackout cake, or this playful strawberry coconut cake.
Figure Out the Size You Need
You don't need an extra-large, celebrity-sized wedding cake. Before you buy your cake pans, dowels, cake box, and ingredients, know what size wedding cake you will need. A typical, round cake with a 12-inch, 9-inch, and 6-inch layer will feed 100 wedding guests. For a further explainer on wedding cake size, check out this handy guide.
Design Something Simple and Rustic
Leave fondant flowers, lacy piping work, and elaborate motifs to professional bakers. Luckily for couples who want to DIY a cake, rustic weddings and naked cakes are still in style, with limited decoration and buttercream needed. You can also go for simple decorations, such as edible flowers, cake crumbs, sprinkles, and edible glitter.
Practice, Practice, Practice
Yes, of course you'll be busy in the months leading up to your wedding, but take some time out to practice baking and building your wedding cake. Getting the recipe down exactly and practicing stacking your cakes can be the difference between a beautiful homemade cake and a wedding day disaster.
Bake in Advance
You both don't want to and won't be able to bake your cake in the days leading up to your wedding — it's simply too big of a task during a time when you'll be occupied with out-of-town guests and last-minute details. Instead, in the month leading up to your wedding, bake one layer of your cake per weekend. And though it may seem like you'll be serving your guests stale cake, a lot of cakes actually get better with time, especially because...
The Freezer is Your Friend
Keep your cakes fresh and delicious by freezing them as soon as they're baked, removed from their pans, and cooled. To freeze your cakes without making them taste like freezer, wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and store them in an otherwise empty freezer. Then, when it's time to decorate, remove them from the freezer and defrost them at room temperature.
Keep Structure, Assembly, and Transportation in Mind
When designing and decorating your cake, know that transporting a wedding cake is the most dangerous step. Instead of stacking the cakes together ahead of time, store them in individual cake boxes and drive (carefully!) to your wedding reception venue, where the cakes will then be stacked. If you'll be busy with other tasks (like getting married), assign a trusted family member or friend to stack the cakes with dowels. Ideally, this will be someone who has practiced with you.
Know It Won’t Be Perfect
Everyone is their own biggest critic, so try to be relaxed when it comes to your wedding cake. There's a misconception that this dessert is the highlight of your buffet table, but at the end of the day, most guests will really only care that it tastes good. Concentrate on flavors and baking your cake with love rather than making sure every little detail is flawless.