Wedding cakes!

My brother had ice cream cake for his wedding. They still had a small regular cake to do the cake cutting and guests could've had it if they wanted, but most guests wanted ice cream cake. They had two different flavors - Reese's Pieces and Oreo. My husband's brother had a large donut for cake cutting and then regular size donuts in a variety flavor. One of my friend's had a cake for cutting, but they also had a dessert table with cookies, cupcakes, brownies, cake pops, etc. All of these weddings took place prior to Covid so the hard part of an alternative dessert during Covid is that you'd have to figure out a safe way to serve the dessert. Cake is normally served individually, but for the three weddings I described guests got their desserts on their own which wouldn't really be a safe option right now. Unfortunately, I don't know what pricing was for any of these other than to tell you my sister-in-law said the donuts were roughly the same cost you'd spend on a wedding cake. They just liked the idea of something unique rather than a traditional wedding cake.

You can go to your Walmart or local grocery store - it might be cheaper there.
Or a lot of people will just buy store cupcakes or cookies to make their own dessert table

Cupcakes, donuts, pancakes, cookies, cake pops, ice pops... so many possibilities

One option is to have a small 6" cake on display for "cutting" purposes (if that's a tradition you want to include), and then serve your guests sheet cake. Most bakeries will have this option, it's the same exact cake as your display cake, and your guests won't care either way. It's a much more affordable option than a fully decorated multi-tiered cake.

Grocery store wedding cakes are the cheapest of the cakes. Most people prefer them taste wise over gourmet bakeries.


Cupcakes are actually more expensive because of the labor involved.
Have your caterer fix a non cake dessert: cobbler, pies, blintzes, fruit cups, chocolate mousse, dessert waffles, crepes, etc. You're only limited by your imagination and budget.

View Quoted Comment They have the option but they are doing twice the labor, which in any other industry means a higher price. I would be very skeptical of how they pass this off as a discount when someone is being paid pennies to make this work. Also most supplemental sheet cakes for these purposes do not have the same ratio of cake/filling that the "cutting" cake does.

Definitely a grocery store cake. Our shoprite red velvet cake was $30. You can get other desserts in bulk from Costco or BJs or Sam's club.

You could order cupcakes from a grocery store. Their more COVID friendly compared to cutting a cake.

We’re using Costco and plan on getting 3-4 cakes for $90. We also plan on getting a small cake for our cutting from somewhere. So much cheaper than a bakery!

We’re doing a dessert table and skipping cake completely! You can definitely find other options.

View Quoted Comment As someone who decorates wedding cakes for a living, I can agree that is a cheaper way to go. Tiered cakes require more structural work, such as plates, dowels, etc... And much more decorating and time than a sheet cake. And it is the exact same cake, typically baked and built at the same time. Even weddings with 4-tier cakes will also want sheet cake backups sometimes.