diy Wedding Cake

My mom is baking our cake and I'm decorating it.

First find out if your venue has restrictions on outside food brought in. Many venues won't allow anyone who isn't a licensed vendor for food safety and liability reasons.


You can get recipe/flavor ideas on Pinterest. Do test runs beforehand.

Allllll of the test runs. I wouldn’t want to tackle a cake like the one in the pic without a turntable; make sure you hold the layers in each tier together with either dowels or big chunky straws; and I’d transport it with each tier in its own box, then assemble at the venue. Structural soundness is going to be super important in a cake of any more than a single tier!

I baked my moms two tier wedding cake several years ago, and I get a lot of practice now with extravagant birthday cakes.
Definitely do test runs before the day! And, give yourself extra time! Lots of extra time! The more stressed I am to make something perfect the more trouble I seem to have, and it’s always good to have time to walk away and be able to refocus before going back to it.My FH hates fondant, but if you like that look I’d make marshmallow fondant rather than buying fondant. It tastes MUCH better. Naked cakes are trendy, but keep in mind that the layer of frosting covering a cake keeps it from drying out so you may want to add moisture with either simple syrup or flavored syrup soaked into the layers.
My must haves tools are a bench scraper and lazy Susan. I have bought cheap piping bags and now will only buy wiltons because I never have them bust open on me. I also only use gel food coloring because you get a brighter color without changing the liquid to dry ingredient ratio. For tiers, dowels are also important to support the weight.Since we are having a morning wedding and breakfast reception, I was planning to make a crepe cake for our reception. With Covid, I’m weary about how comfortable guests will feel with a homemade cake, even though I’ve gone through food safety certification. FH wants to just order treats from a local bakery to be individually packaged and distributed. I still want to do a crepe cake even if it’s just for us to cut and feed each other. I did a trial run on my birthday back in April and it turned out amazing! How far do you have to transport the cake? With my moms cake I had to drive about 45 minutes, and I transported each tier individually in cake boxes. I stacked them when we got to the venue, and had icing in piping bags with me to do final touches. You can find SO many tutorials on every aspect of baking and decorating, just be realistic about what you can accomplish in the time you have given all the other things you need to do in the days before the wedding too. I typically bake, wrap the cooled layers and refrigerate over night, then fill and decorate the next day.

I'm not a professional baker, but I've made several two layer cakes with dowels. Ours will be three layers and I'll probably make it the day before. Yes, I'm going to do a trial run before hand. What's everyone's favorite flavors? I'm thinking earl grey, peaches and cream, and fresh strawberries for our spring wedding, but kind of want chocolate maybe? My fiance doesn't eat cake so it's up to me.

I'm not making ours, but I used to be a pastry chef, so I've made a lot of them. I'm happy to answer questions if anyone needs advice!

I manage a bakery and work as a pastry chef assistant. We make and transport tiered cakes all the time. So I'm happy to answer questions.


Definitely put in dowels, and I'd suggest a cake plate between layers.
It can be transported all put together, or be put together at the venue. You need a FLAT space in the car. So many people make the mistake of thinking someone should hold the cake. First pot hole, it's a goner.
If possible, a thick wood board underneath for transport is also helpful.
And always being backup buttercream and piping bags for touchups.
I'm having a destination wedding so I'm not doing my own cake. If it were closer to home I probably would.

View Quoted Comment This is great information thank you! We are renting an estate for 4 nights. We're kind of having a domestic designation wedding since it's in New Orleans, we currently live in WY, and our families live in CO and SC.
I am planning to make the cake the first night then the wedding is the third day. Do you think this is too much time between?

View Quoted Comment Not at all. As long as are using some kind of syrup or something to keep the cakes from drying out (unless it is a pound cake, disregard the syrup statement). Are you just using a buttercream icing? That would last for 2 days. Something like a whipped cream icing would not. Anything fondant or painted on the cake is be iffy on refrigerating for a couple days as well.

View Quoted Comment So helpful! It'll be buttercream. Maybe I'll make the trial cake then wait 2 days and see what happens.