DIY Wedding Cake: Hacks and Tips

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Hello, sweet “baker”! DIY Wedding Cake: Hacks and Tips. Planning to make your own wedding cake? A homemade wedding cake maybe? Looking for DIY wedding cake ideas? Simple wedding cake for a small wedding? Is it crazy to make your own wedding cake? Supermarket wedding cakes? Cheap DIY wedding cake? Recipes for wedding cakes? Looking for tips on how to make a wedding cake? In this guide, we are sharing tips on how to pull off making your own wedding cake!

TIPS

Please don’t put anything heavy on top of it to avoid dents and collapsing.
Understand that this won’t be the best tasting cake, but it will look great as a display.
This is best for the cake cutting photos and display only but not to serve to your guests.
You can make this ahead of time and store accordingly – or ask your venue if they can store it in their fridge 2-3 days before your wedding. This will save you the trip and the worry of dropping off the cake.
You can use multiple cakes and put them in cake stands of different heights.
Consider using a high top cocktail table to put your cake on instead of a regular table to add the height and for people to have a better look at it.

HACKS

Start with a plain store-bought cake
Get creative
Avoid fresh flowers and greenery
Cake toppers, icing sugar, nuts, fruits, chocolates, shavings etc.
Cake stand
Storage
Transportation
Display & “Serve”

We are rounding up creative hacks and design details that you can incorporate into your “wedding cake” to elevate its look. Take it from “blah” to “wow!”.

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DIY Make your own Wedding Cake Hacks and Tips

DIY Make your own Wedding Cake TIPS

1. Please don’t put anything heavy on top of it to avoid dents and collapsing.

Avoid putting heavy things like real flowers on top of the cake. This might make it collapse. Remember as well that you are pre-making this cake 2-3 days before your wedding. You won’t want those flowers to wilt and be sloppy and brownish at your wedding.

TIP: Use silk flowers instead. Choosing the right silk flowers to use will make a world of difference! It will look as close to real as possible, but also light, and you will not worry about it wilting!

2 & 3. Understand that this won’t be the best tasting cake, but it will look great as a display. This is best for the cake cutting photos and display only but not to serve to your guests.

Because you are using a non-custom cake and technically adding some design details that are not of the best quality, assume that your cake will be “ok” tasting but not delicious.

Honestly, it might not even taste that great. But remember, this is only for display or cake-cutting photos. This cake will not be advisable to be served to your guests.

4. You can make this ahead of time and store accordingly – or ask your venue if they can store it in their fridge 2-3 days before your wedding. This will save you the trip and the worry of dropping the cake.

Suppose your venue has a fridge (they usually do!) to store the cake 2-3 days before. This will save you the trip and the stress of transporting/delivering the cake on the day of your wedding.

5. You can use multiple cakes and put them in cake stands of different heights.

If you would like to have a fuller cake table, you can make 2 extra cakes and have a group of 3 one-tiered cakes on display on stands of different heights. It will create the illusion that you have a “big” and “full” cake!

6. Consider using a high top cocktail table to put your cake on instead of a regular table to add the height and for people to have a better look at it.

For your guests not to miss your cake (since it is a one-tier cake!), consider using a high-top cocktail table to help with the height.

Here are some of our favorite cocktail table designs that are classic and will go with any cake design you plan to do! (from left to right: Dana Cubbage Wedding , Mustard See Garden , and via Wednova )

DIY Make your own Wedding Cake HACKS

1. Start with a plain store-bought cake

2. Get creative

DIY Make your own Wedding Cake Hacks and Tips - icing decoration — If you opted to get the regular round vanilla grocery cake , here are tips on how to re-decorate that icing to make it look “custom.” Super easy way to “update” the look of the cake. “The Swoop ” is our favorite and is also the easiest! Taste of Home showed more details on how to re-decorate your icing!

Get your spatulas or even just your regular spoon to creative use!

3. Avoid fresh flowers and greenery

As this is a trendy and pretty approach, if you are pre-making the cake 2-3 days in advance, this might not be the best option. The lighter the cake is, the easier it is to transport and manage it.

Remember, the lesser maintenance the cake, the easier it is for somebody else to set it up, which means lesser stress and management for you.

4. Cake toppers, icing sugar, nuts, fruits, chocolates, shavings etc.

DIY Make your own Wedding Cake Hacks and Tips - berry cake — Berries always add that pop of color and the rustic feel! Blueberries are our favorite because they are so light and so cute!

DIY Make your own Wedding Cake Hacks and Tips - chocolate shavings — If you are looking into keeping things all white, clean, and sophisticated, you can use a grater to add chocolate shavings. Make it extra easier by just adding shredded coconut for that beautiful texture. (from left to right: Liv for cake White Chocolate Cake , Liv for cake Raffaello Cake , and Hallstrom Home .)

Want to go nuts? Here are a few nutty one-tiered cake ideas that you can easily add on as details on your cake! Regular peanuts and some pecans are our faves! (from left to right: The Cake Blog Peanut butter and Jelly cake , Cooking Classy , and Life, Love and Sugar Pecan Pie)

Probably the easiest and quickest way to get your grocery cake (after you re-decorate the icing!) from “blah” to “whoa!” is to add classy and gorgeous cake toppers. These are just some of our favorites from Thistle and Lace Designs .

5. Cake Stand

Use gorgeous cake stands to elevate the look of your cake. (from left to right: Rustic stand , Vintage style, and classic varying heights )

6 & 7. Storage & Transportation

Store your cake using our fave and affordable cake boxes from Creative Bag . To make it stable and easier to transport, add an anti-slip underlay between the cake base and the box to ensure that it does not move around. The same process when you put it in the trunk of your car, make sure you lay the anti-slip shelf liner in between the floor and the cake box to avoid any slipping.

8. Display & “Serve”

Add this gorgeous cake-cutting set from Wayfair to your display set-up. When you are done with the “Cake cutting,” you can have the kitchen take your DIY cake and serve the slab cakes you delivered to the venue. Here are a few of our faves from Metro: Strawberries and Cream , Black Forest , and Chocolate Fudge .

Depending on the number of guests you are having, your cake slab should be able to cover it! 1/4 Slab (Serves 15-20), 1/2 Slab (Serves 30-40), and a Full Slab (Serves 70-90).

There you are! DIY Wedding Cake: Hacks and Tips!

**This post has Amazon links and as an Amazon Associate, Wedding Planning Resources earn from qualifying purchases.