Custom or Store Bought Cake? Here’s What Goes Into Your Custom Designed Wedding Cake.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
We are huge proponents of the mantra “you get what you pay for” especially when it comes to weddings. Whether it’s photography, décor or food, you have your priorities and you will do all the research needed to figure out how you’re getting the most bang for your buck. For the bride whose priority item is her cake, and even if it’s not, today’s post will give you a better idea of why a custom designed cake is the right choice for you as we go one-on-one with Signature Cakes by Vicki’s own Vicki Nelson who lets us in one what goes into one of her beautiful and delicious cakes.
Signature Cakes by Vicki is a custom wedding cake design company - they don’t work from templates. “We don’t have a point at the book cake” like grocery stores do Vicki tells me. This means when you meet with Vicki, she wants to know everything about you and your wedding to make you a cake that is unique to you and your tastes.
So...What Goes Into a Custom Designed Wedding Cake?
Example - This cake will serve 150 people and starts at $1000 / $850 with your ABG discount! This cake by Signature Cakes by Vicki is made with blue colored fondant and hand-painted, hand-molded gold embellishments. Photo by Alex Bee Photography
Per my conversation with Vicki, “The average cake has about 135 - 150 servings. That could be a four-tiered round cake or a three-tiered square cake.” Signature Cakes by Vicki starts at a minimum of $400 and increases depending on the number of servings, customization and embellishments. Basically, the more ornate the cake, the more work is involved and the more it will cost. Here is what drives the costs:
Local and Limited Baking – Signature Cakes dedicates each week to their cakes and this includes the baking, frosting and decorating. Many store bought cakes are shipped in frozen.
Vicki did inform me that if a baker says they bake your cake that day, to take it with a huge grain of salt: “Bakeries aren’t just baking your wedding cake. They may have up to 25 brides that week. It’s a process that professional bakers are not rushing through.”
She added, “It’s not impossible to make 20 cakes in one day, it would require a huge staff and it’s not a good idea. After all, once in a while everyone makes a mistake and extra time should be built into the schedule to allow for that.” For the bride who cares about her cake and wedding, a professional baker who puts the effort and care into her cake is worth every penny.
Quality Frosting - Signature Cakes by Vicki uses a buttercream made using the Italian Meringue method which uses egg whites, butter, boiling syrup and Madagascar vanilla. They have one person dedicated to making this buttercream fresh every week and the process lasts two days to make enough for all their cakes. Cakes are then stacked and frosted and ready to be decorated.
Exquisite Decorating - Before you say “ew” at the mention of fondant, note that with custom cake bakers like Signature Cakes and similar bakers, the fondant used is a quality fondant, not one that you get from a craft store, so it will taste better and is rolled and made fresh with everything else that goes into a cake. All the cakes are completed on Friday in time for Saturday deliveries.
Gold/silver/pearl paint is all hand-painted on the decorations. “We use an edible powder that we paint on with a paintbrush. Metallics cost more – park place: completely decorated, put together and the whole thing is painted with a paintbrush, mix powdered edible paint. Melissa’s cost more than superpearl.
This cake looks simple but took a long time to make because of the lavender fondant, extremely detailed piping and the gold colored ribbon.
Left – the cake was hand-painted with Superpearl edible coloring. Right, the gold paint costs a little more more than superpearl.
Signature Cakes by Vicki is best known for their sugar flowers which look almost real. Each flower is painstakingly shaped and crafted by hand. “We work in the off-season to do the more popular colors like pinks, reds, greens that normally go onto cakes.”
Left: How many varieties of very life-like sugar flowers can you find? Right: More sashes formed and painted by hand. So regal! (Photos by Ace Photography)
The flowers need to be cured and allowed to solidify for several days so if you want sugar flowers, know that you cannot make any design changes within 60 days of your wedding – “this is to keep price affordable and you can’t make them the week of the wedding. “
The fruit on the cake is made by hand and this labor-intensive cake costs more than $1000. The bride and groom kept the fruit to use as centerpieces at their holiday parties.
Larger than the picture shows, this cake clearly took a lot of time and handywork. Everything, including the gumpaste birds, are handmade. In this case, the tiny pink flowers were done fresh and laid soft onto the larger, cured flowers.
Signature Cakes places quality above all else. “I am first and foremost a baker and a wedding cake should taste amazing” said Vicki. “Remember, cake is food and there’s nothing worse than a beautiful cake that tastes horrible.”
Delivery costs in the greater Nashville area also included in the pricing of Vicki’s cake but it can vary depending on the baker so definitely ask up front what all the costs are. As for Signature Cakes, when you make your appointment with Vicki, she sends you a preliminary email with a list of what to bring with you and things to keep in mind. “Bring in anything that will help you design your cake – swatches, pictures, pictures of your flower, event space, gown, anything that has to do with the wedding that is important to you to give a good feel for the theme and design and colors.”
Photo by Ashley's Bride Guide
Some last words of advice from Vicki: “Go with a vision, don’t be afraid to state your budget and ask your baker if they have any specials.” For more information on flavors, pricing and how to better prep for your meeting with your baker, visit Signature Cakes by Vicki online where you'll see many more samples of cakes they have done from weddings and other special events. Big thanks to Vicki for taking the time to share this all with us, we really appreciate it!
Be sure to mention that you're an ABG Bride to receive 20% off your custom wedding cake order!
Cake images by Signature Cakes by Vicki unless otherwise stated.
About the Author:
Tabitha
Blogging is something I’ve enjoyed doing for years. My interests lie mostly in lifestyle related topics like fashion, style, design, food and weddings. When I heard Ashley was looking to bring on new members to the ABG team, I jumped at the opportunity - I can’t think of a better way to stay involved in weddings than to write about them and to stay in touch with the trends and new ideas. Lucky for me, Ashley likes my blog and trusts my experience to bring me on and so far, it’s been a blast.
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Posted on April 27, 2011 |
Filed under: Advice & Planning, Cakes & Catering, Luxury Nashville Wedding Finds
1 Response to This Post
Posted on July 11, 2011 @ 4:49am