Is there such a thing as a reasonably priced wedding cake? i grudge paying £300 plus for a wedding cake. we want to have a chocolate cake, 3 tiers but not separates, but don't want to pay a fortune for it. does anyone know of anywhere in scotland that we could try?
CommentAuthorginge23
Hi Yvonne Marks and Spencer do a nice one for 200.00 think its only two teir tho u should have look at their website. xx
CommentAuthorMiss Nikki
My friend runs her own cake company in Edinburgh and she's quite reasonable, her website is www.liggyscakes.co.uk
CommentAuthormitch2509
my friend got the one from m&S and it was lush
CommentAuthorginge23
Hi Mitch yes its defo the most reasonable priced I have seen. A friend of a friend may be making ours will find out next week but if not that will be the one we are going for. xx
another friend just bought the seperate tiers and hired a cake stand, and got her florest to decorate it, i think that only cost £80
CommentAuthorginge23
Hi Yvonne I just checked M&S website there they have a lovely chocolate 4 teir one for £199 which serves up to 150 people. x
CommentAuthorMrs Daltry
hi there,i had the exact same problem,the cake i want would of cost us £400 + at a bakery,but a close friend told meabout a lady in my village who makes amazing wedding cakes,so im now having the cake i wanted ,3 tier topsy turvy,2 tiers in lemon sponge and on tier in chocolate,and 50 cupcakes around it all for £200!!!!,,ask around were you live there could well be a person in your area making them
CommentAuthoryvonne
thanks very much everyone, Ginge23 i will look on the m&s site thanks yvonne xx
CommentAuthor
I'm planning to go with M&S as well as you have a choice of colours and flavours - they also look lovely although I've not seen one in the flesh!
CommentAuthorsarah
the only thing with the M&S cakes is u have to buy the decorations for it ur self so be prepared to look around for cake decorations and thing of how u want it decorated :) xx
CommentAuthorGoff
Do yu know anyone who could make it for you??
A relative perhaps??
Im making mine as i know exactly what i want and i know it will be so much cheaper than the shops!
UKB Mad Scientist
Ride it like ya stole it.....
I'm a flippin ORTHOTIST
CommentAuthoryvonne
i kmow what you mean goff, i'm a chef, but not a pastry chef! baking is not my forte, my head chef said he'll ask someone for me, but the guy hates doing them so i won't hold my breath. xx
CommentAuthorGoff
Have a practice yvonne! You might surprise yourself! Theres loads of books and info out there to help you. You could always have a crack at it and if its rubbish then least you had a go hun x
UKB Mad Scientist
Ride it like ya stole it.....
I'm a flippin ORTHOTIST
CommentAuthoryvonne
this is very true, i suppose i've got 18 months to get it right.... probably costing as much as if i just bought an expensive one in the first place lol xx
CommentAuthorMrs Daltry
i know someone who bought the asda extra special iced cakes £12 each and just decorated them with flowers,it looked so pretty
CommentAuthorMrs Daltry
forgot to put ,i think the whole cake cost under £40
CommentAuthorelmcmillan
Thank you for the Asda idea! Just had a look a their website and think we're going to buy the small one to try it out! We've been thinking about buying something like that for ages, but had never thought of Asda. If anyone is thinking of doing a similar thing if you go on to ebay you can buy sugar decorations too quite cheaply to decorate it. I spoke to one lady who sold them and she advised you can purchase the sugar decorations up to 6 months in advance, so you don't have to leave it til the last minute, which was worrying me!
CommentAuthorlisamann2b
Hi, my friend got married and she got 3 cakes from asda with plain white icen on and she teired them her self and bought ribbon from a wool shop and added her cake topper, i helped and total cost including me2you bear topper £50. bargin and it was lovely. try it. do it ya self, its fun 2 x
CommentAuthorEmmielene
Lisa thats what I'm going to do! Just get 3 differing sized tesco fruit cakes, add my own ribbon and topper and TA Daaaaaa
no one in my family eats it anyways
CommentAuthoralibum
how big should the cake be? shoul it be large enough for the main guests or should it be big enough to feed some of the evening guests..when should the cake be cut anyway???
CommentAuthorNikkiB
My H2B's cousin had a gorgeous 3tiered cake so we asked her where she got it from. She told us she bought 3 plain iced cakes from tesco and bought the ribbon and decorations herself all at a reasonable price of £30! Think I'm going to do the same! x
CommentAuthorKaya
Oooh m+s do a cheap one. very helpful.. thanks :-)
Now Mrs Cobb!!!!!! :-D
CommentAuthorJennyBean
damn, just found a lovely chocolate cake on the M&S website but they're not suitable for nut allergy sufferers! guess it's back to baking my own. Goff are you going to make it a tiered cake?
CommentAuthorRoseyB
Like Goff i'm making ours. I LOVE baking and especially cakes, i did a course on cake decorating at a local cake shop, just the basics and its amazing fun. I now understand why some cakes are so expensive because the hours and the work that goes into them ( a spray of sugar flowers can take a week to make) but the simple designs are nice a straight forward. Look around for courses I love the idea of the wedding cake being homemade by me, especially as i'm well known for my baking.
Also, i made a tower of cupcakes for my best friends wedding cake and that is soooooo easy. you can have so much fun doing it too, with glitter and sugar hearts and things xx I soooo wanna be like nigella lol
CommentAuthorJennyBean
so if you make it tiered, do you ice all over and then set the next cake on top? Do you pin it? I want mine to have butter icing and I'm worried the cakes will just slide off and fall over unless I pin it
CommentAuthorRoseyB
If you are decorating a cake yourself, find a cake decorating shop and make friends, their advice can be amazing, and if anything like the one near me, prices are really reasonable (cheaper than alot of the ebay shops)
CommentAuthorMrs Q - Weegie
try cakeinabox.com they are based in glasgow x
25 days Until i marry my price charming!!
Cant belive its sooo sooon!!!!!
'this is our time, and our lives and nothings ever going to
break us' :D:D:D
CommentAuthorJay
hey weve looked at loads of cakes, were either going to get the three seperate white ices extra special ones from asda and decorate it ourselves or buy the chocolate one on the m+s website with the roses going down the side. i too totally grudge paying so much for a cake that hardly anyones going to eat!! x
CommentAuthorGemstar
We're going to try and make our own - however as a back up we will probably get the white iced tiered chocolate cake from M&S with flowers down side and then get colouring / shimmer stuff to match it to our colour theme! x
CommentAuthorhay
i have got a friend who makes wedding cakes and she is making mine as a wedding pressent for us so i fell quite lucky there! x
CommentAuthorP3nelope
I am making my own and a 4 tier cake is probably going to cost me less than £50, anyone who likes baking I would reccomend having a go. You can look online for loads of step by step instructions, I have a group on facebook if anyone lives in the middlesbrough area, wedding cakes by kate levett (its only a hobby though im not a proffessional)
CommentAuthorJessica
I also know someone who had the asda cakes decorated aswell, the look really good, you would never be a able to tell they were so cheap x
CommentAuthorl.k.swallow
I'm making my own too. Love baking and cake decorating, plus homemade fruit cake is gorgeous!
CommentAuthorCeCe
We are having ours made by a family friend.
My pal had M&S Fruit cakes and decorated them herself with ribbon etc..was lovely..but I am a fruit cake fan!
CommentAuthorjellytot
contact your local college that does catering courses and ask if a student would be interested in doing you one. thats what i did. has quoted me £120 for a three teired white sponge and fruit cake, with sparkly icing and diamante trim round each tier. better than the £300+ ive been quoted before! x
CommentAuthor
Do M&S sell the cake pillars as well?
CommentAuthorkittykat1986
just checked out m&s omg so yummy
CommentAuthorAmanda
There are wedding cakes at asda and tesco but M&S have been voted best in alot of polls, they have sponge, chocolate and fruit, the web is deceiving, i looked on it then rang the shop and its alot cheaper than i worked it out, we are having a two tier, one sponge and one fruit cake and its costing £47 and about a fiver for my florist to do a cascade of silk flowers to match my bouguet and rose petals i bought from the net
CommentAuthorCeCe
Manxb - I bet my big fat botttttttttttttttttttttomio you will find all manner of cake stands/pillars etc etc on good ol ebay!
CommentAuthorvixen
i think m&s does a cake for £45, 3 teir
georgina x~x
the little gypsy!!
CommentAuthorClaire Sky
make your own! i am! xxxxx
CommentAuthorP3nelope
edited
Just a few tips for anyone who is planning to make their own cake (hope it helps)
To stack a cake directly on top of each other you only need plastic dowels (about 40p each from cake shops) insert 5 dowels under where the board on top is going to go and cut them all to the same height. I find the easiest way is to score it with a knife first and then it just snaps. Make sure each cake is on its own board , if you use thin boards (a few pence each) beteen each layer it supports your cake and then you can just lift off each tier, by the time you have put ribbon around or piped round the edge it hides this anyway.
To stack a cake on columns, do the same as above but dont cut the dowels , they slot inside the columns.
Sorry if that sounds a bit obvious to some people but I didnt know til I read it in a book and I have made loads of cakes now, Goff is right, it's not that hard you may surprise yourself, then you get exactly what you want. The 4 tier cake on my page, the top tier was actually fruit but because it was supported properly it was fine.
Portion sizes
Traditionally you cut fruit cake in 1 inch x 1 inch pieces, sponge cake is 1 inch x 2 inches and a 3 tier cake can serve between 100 and 150 people depending on the size, shape and type of cake used (you get more out of a square cake) a standard 6 inch 8 inch and 10 inch round cake will easily serve 120 people.
Easiest way to cut your cake level is to put it back in the tin and cut accross the top
a 3 egg recipe will be enough for a 6 inch round tin a 6 egg recipe for an 8 inch round tin a 9 egg recipe for a 10 inch tin a 12 egg recipe for a 12 inch tin
Once iced your cake will last about 3 days you get a better finish if you use marzipan first, you also get a better finish and shape to your cake if you line the tin properly with greaseproof paper first, there is nothing worse than having to fill in a lump with your icing.
Oh on the subject of icing, if you roll it around 1.5 cm thick it is really easy to work with and you can pick it up without it breaking, if you get any lumps, bumps or gaps just keep smoothing over it (either with your hand or smoothing tool) the icing will move wherever you want it to until it sets.
CommentAuthormrs linda greer 21/8
dont know if anyone as looked at greggs they do a specail occision cake think its 2 teir it has a star topper on it but that can easly be taken off and put your own on top they only do white pink/white and black/white but its an idea to look into if your only wanting a 2 teir and decorate it yourself (sorry for spell typos bad day) x
CommentAuthorP3nelope
Bumped for the cake decorating instruction post
CommentAuthorcatch
hi yvonne asda do a range of etra specail fruit cakes suitable for weddings you can buy a great three tier standoff e-bay for about 5.00 them buy personlised ribbon in your colours and wrap this round the cakes before adding your topper it looks stunning my sister had low budget wedding as her h2b was made redundant her cakes turned out very beautiful with flowers on top and at side total cost 50.00
CommentAuthorEnny
you girls got so lovely ideas it helped me lots already as I'm on a low budget and the cake maker I spoke to had the cake of my dreams all chocolate cake but as tear drops lovely but 50portions is already £250 so I reckon if i try hard enough with baking myself I think I will be able to do a cupcake sort of wedding cake as I dont really want the traditional cakes... does anyone has nice recipes for chocolate cake which I could do as cupcakes???
thanks for your help
CommentAuthorMel D
I ordered ours from M&S last week - it was 3 for 2 so got one tier free! They also do already made up cakes, mostly around £200
Got married Sat 28/05/2011
Renewing vows Sat 29/05/2021
We're planning WELL in advance!!
CommentAuthorEnny
thanks jennebel :) think i should look into it :D but nt every chocolate cake tastes good...
CommentAuthorCandycane
Yes M&S do pillars etc for cakes, have also got 3 for 2 on wedding cake tiers
