Money Saving Cake Tips
Written by Beverly Clark
Find a non-commercial baker who works out of his or her home, and whole overhead is lower.
Keep decorations simple. Don't select a cake with extremely elaborate decorations, such as hand-made sugar lilies that looks as if they've just been picked.
Add height by using Styrofoam tiers. If you love the look of a tall cake, but don't need to feed a lot of people, cut your cost by decorating Styrofoam shapes and using them for two of the tiers.
Order an elaborate, smaller cake for the ceremonial cake cutting. Then have sheet cakes of the same recipe made to serve the guests.
Don't save the top tier. Many couples save the top of their cake to eat on their first anniversary, and then take one look at the cake a year later and, sad to say, toss it into the garbage. Time doesn't do much to improve the quality or appearance of wedding cake.
If, for reasons of tradition, you want to save something, consider keeping just one or two pieces of the top tier. Or, for your anniversary, have a duplicate of the top tier made.
Order less cake. If you're serving another dessert in addition to the wedding cake, or having a sweets table, plan on fewer servings of your cake and having smaller portions serves.
Skip the groom's cake. If you're working on a tight budget, eliminate the groom's cake. It's an old tradition, but probably won't be missed.