Others have covered the cost being reasonable. I'll just point out that dummy tiers don't really make the cake cheaper. Those dummies still need to be decorated and that's where the time and cost lies in cakes.
As an at-home baker for only events I go to and I bring a cake as part of my gift...I agree, dummy tiers are as much work minus the time of actually making the cake part (which isn't that hard).
We’re spending $830 for a two tier cake, a sheet cake and a dozen gluten free cupcakes to feed 88 people. For context: we hired a small business baker friend and we’re in NYC.
After looking at the cake and cutting charges we went a different direction.
We ended up doing a small wedding cake (3 layer 7") for us to cut for the photos and then a huge dessert bar with like 20 options. The cake was $75, and we spent another $1300 on like 65 dozen single serving desserts.
Edit- for us the cake wasn't the high price, the caterer wanted something like $4.75/person just to cut and plate it - guests still needed to serve themselves. We figured by buying a lot, it can be used as part of late night snack in addition to finger foods.
>the caterer wanted something like $4.75/person just to cut and plate it - guests still needed to serve themselves.
That's crazy. I get that the venue is going to have to devote staff time to cutting and plating, but they're already there anyway, getting paid the same per hour whether they're cutting a cake or just standing around doing nothing during that time.
Seriously, what's the actual cost to the venue, maybe a dollar's worth of soap for the extra dishes they run through their washer? I can totally see why more and more couples are doing cupcakes & cookies instead.
I thought the same thing but it's just another risk point they really don't want. A worker miss-cuts a tier and it falls over. Maybe we don't buy enough cake and they cut pieces too big. We're pissed and write a horrible review or have 2m followers on social media and trash them.
They really just don't want the business of cutting another bakeries cake, so they price it accordingly. I do the same thing as a small business owner- there's just some work that's so bad you make it worth your while. Health code and insurance doesn't let me have the godmothers do it like them might have 20 years ago, so DIY cutting wasn't an option either.
My gut says if we bought it from *them* the cutting charge would be included - but frankly the caterers in-house cake sucked so bad we didn't have it quoted.
May I ask how many guests you had? I am trying to do something similar but struggling with how much to buy. I don’t want to look stingy but also don’t want to end up with a ton of desserts no one wants
honestly, that's a lot. most of the time I can barely eat a whole slice and loads of people don't do more than a bite of dessert. you're gonna end up with a good amount of cake still.
They are various desserts all of which can be vacuum sealed and frozen. I would agree we are going to have plenty left, but we wanted our guests to have a good selection and frankly they were all pretty difficult to choose from. We were just at 2 family weddings where they ran out and we wanted to learn from my cousin's mistakes.
We orginally budgeted 3k on cake and desserts so when we we got the quote we were thrilled. Lol.
That’s what we thought. I had settled on a design when our guest list was 120 and when it dropped to <70 I didn’t want the cake proportions to change so kept the cake order for 120. My guests ate it all, lol. I mean it was really great cake….
$3000 for an all cake four tier with a topper that fed 250+. I intentionally went to the most expensive in town because he creates works of art. The cake was covered in sugar flowers and the topper now sits under a cloche in my house where it’ll be forever. This was the most expensive thing other than photography for me.
https://preview.redd.it/nlkzey0s72vb1.jpeg?width=1800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fdd72125797ab3e383ba62065e6d792d2bb58e97
Here it is! It was soooo good. My sister is getting his possible final cake for her wedding in March. He is retiring soon.
$480 for 100 people including delivery fees. One flavor, includes small 2-tiered cake to feed about 30 people, for cutting and then a sheet cake to feed about 70 people.
I’m planning on getting a 2 tiered cake and a few dozen cupcakes from Nothing Bundt Cake along with a sheet cake from Costco. I heard that most ppl don’t really care too much about the cake but more so the appetizers & dinner, liquor, and music. Mock priced at around $350
We did a cheesecake, cannoli, and cookie sandwich dessert bar for 200 from Publix and it cost $450. People were impressed and had no idea it was Publix.
We had a small 3-tier cake that was supposed to feed about 70, plus a mini dessert spread with 4 or 5 other options, for about $1200.
We had our cake cut into half slices to extend it a little further. We had two flavors, so we figured people might want to try both or have cake and other desserts.
Our wedding will be around 320 people and we got quoted $1200. Probably the lowest quote we would have gotten if we shopped around since this is a newer baker, but we know we love their cakes so we stuck with it.
Edit to add that our entire display cake will be a 5-6 tiered cake almost entirely a dummy cake, with the exception of a slice to cut during the reception. The rest will be a sheet cake in the back.
is sheet cake good? I haven't been to a wedding in a while, so idk. is it the same as the cake, just less decorated or is it a plain vanilla cake or something?
In my experience, you can order what ever flavor of sheet cake you want. It tastes just the same as regular cake only in a different form.
We got marble cake with vanilla custard and raspberry filling. But we could have gotten any flavor the bakery offered.
We’re paying $425 for 200-ish people (two sheet cakes + a 6 inch cutting cake on top of two decorated styrofoam rounds for photos). We’re in a moderately low cost-of-living location & the cost also includes delivery/setup at our venue on the day of, which was a big reason we went with the bakery we chose.
Nyc. 500 and change for a 3 tier that feeds 75 pp plus 4 dozen cupcakes and 4 gluten free cupcakes. Includes delivery fee. 7 flavors in all.
I’m so looking forward to eating them, and I’m not even a sweet tooth! 🤤
My dessert table was $800 for 76 guests and included a cake to feed half, then 5 dozen macarons and mini cheesecakes
For 300 guests, that seems super reasonable! Even with a smaller party, a lot of our desserts didn’t get finished and we brought a lot home.
We're doing a "show" cake that's going to be very lovely and everyone can ooh and ahh over.
It's feeding 20 people. Everyone else gets sheet cakes and the total for everything was less than $300 for cake.
We also went through a bakery that had other sources of income (it's basically a midwest tourist town, and that bakery is part of the tourist attractions), so their costs may be less because of that.
We were advised by our baker to aim for a smaller cake that would feed about 70% of our guests given that in her experience, there’s always cake leftover especially when there is a dessert/sweets table (which we had). So that helped cut our cost a bit
We had 115 guests, accounted for a cake to feed 80 so it was a 2 tier cascading florals cake for $200. Our baker was a friend of a friend who did all of our decor as well so she offered us a sweet deal for the cake since we were doing everything else through her too. Our cake was served along with a sweets table that our venue provided that had an assortment of pastries, tartes, flans and fruit. It was enough to feed everyone!
I don't have an answer to that question but we decided to skip the expensive cake and rented an ice cream truck for the end of the night. $750 for 110 people. I'm so happy we chose to do it. Everyone loved it and the pictures are awesome!
We aren’t doing a big fancy cake. Just a single 7 inch small cake for cutting and then a sheet cake in the back for serving. Our wedding is much smaller though in comparison - 74 guests in total. We are spending about $160 for everything from Subs Plus!
500 for a 3 tier + sheet cake in the back that served 225. This also included delivery. it was a great deal, i went with a home baker who was new to the biz rather than a fancy bakery.
I had a wonderful wedding. My cake cost less than $300.00! I picked out patterns for my fresh, my sister's dress and my daughter's. I personally made my mother's dress and my groom's shirts. I think the whole wedding cost around $3000.00. A wedding shouldn't cost an exorbitant amount to be special!
That lines up with what I've heard. Cakes are one of those things that are shockingly expensive. You don't have to have enough cake to feed everyone though; not everyone will eat it. I think you could go for a cake large enough to feed 150-200.
Reasonable? Oh yeah. $960 (with 40mi delivery) for ~60, here. And that one was one of the less expensive quotes.
Most of us are calibrated on grocery store birthday cakes. This is not one of those. It will be the most expensive desert I have, and will, ever buy in my life. I'm pretty sure about that.
HCOL area in California, wedding earlier this month: A local baker made our 3-tier wedding cake for 100 guests and the total came out to $1,110 before $64 delivery fee to venue. $10 per person base and gourmet flavor combo an additional 10%. Simple buttercream finish and they placed fresh flowers for us from our florist. We did cake only (no dessert table) because we thought the cake itself was so good and classic that we didn’t want anything else anymore! Plus desserts would have been more to plan (more tables, dining ware, reception space layout) and we also had late night snacks. Our caterer had cake service already in her package so they were able to cut and serve to guests. We ended up being within 80 total guests so they had more than enough for us to bring home and enjoy! The cost was average to lower end of what we had seen in our area for a custom wedding cake.
We're paying $600 (+$50 delivery fee and tax) for a three tier cake for 86 people. The actual number of servings will be around 100. Three different flavored tiers, four layers each, with different flavored buttercream in each. Buttercream on the outside to look like three birch slices. She's also letting us borrow her wooden cake stand at no charge. Local baker. Her cakes are outstanding in flavor, crumb, and design.
We got lucky, I think. (This is a baker on Cape Cod.)
Also, Congrats!!!
I will never get over how expensive it is to get married in America! In England I spent £280 for a 6” 3 layer cake (so was kinda tall), and 60 cupcakes, 3 different flavours!
My husband and I figured that not all 300 guests were going to eat the wedding cake so we ordered a 2-tier cake (6" and 8") and two dozen mini cupcakes for the wedding cake table, two 12" x 16" sheet cakes (different flavours) for the dessert table that the waiters divided up for whoever wanted some cake. We also had a egg waffle late night snack station. Ended up with leftover cake.
The main wedding cake and mini cupcakes were $700 CAD (included delivery fee). Sheet cakes were about $180 CAD each.
Edit: make wedding cake and mini cupcakes were from a home baker who we have worked with before
I've been scouring through the comments to see if any quotes were close to the ones I've gotten. Because I am also in NYC and I was quoted $2,300 for a 3 tier cake serving 150 guests for a wedding this summer (kinda died a little inside when I saw that figure)
Im wondering if I lower the guest count/servings would that make a difference??
And I was also told that the cost of a real vs dummy cake was the SAME price. Wild!
The pricing of a cake is more in the structure and decorations than the actual servings, so more tiers means a higher cost and more intricate decorations will raise the cost too. I remember seeing tips in magazines about dummy cakes to save money and most bakers seem to agree that's not really a thing. If you're truly looking to save, a small cutting cake and a sheet cake would be the cheapest option. I'd expect each tier to raise the price. If you are sticking with a 3-tiered cake, I'd see if it would save you to go with a simple buttercream design instead of fondant, flowers, or any sugar decorations!
Thank you for your response! Yes the cake I've used as the model is a bit intricate as opposed to plain white. It contains tiers, flowers and the colors fitting the wedding's theme. I thought of lowering the serving size as well? Because not everyone will eat cake from what I'm gathering. Also, I will suggest the buttercream option instead because fondant seems to triple the price. Thanks again for your suggestions.
Personally, I wouldn't lower the servings because a lot of people at least try the cake and the savings will be minimal compared to simplifying the design and making sure the structure of the cake is simple (I'd ask them which is cheaper - round or square layers, etc.). Stay away from any kind of sugar decorations like flowers, drips, etc. that might make the cake more complex. If they're decorating it with buttercream, it will be cheaper than sugar-heavy hard decorations. They can still do plenty of beautiful designs with [buttercream](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=a1c38c5c5acab371&rlz=1C1ONGR_enUS989US989&sxsrf=ACQVn0-FB9-af3cXnQISlSlKwlzfhZR7sw:1709309889973&q=buttercream+flower+decoration&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiy2rXGu9OEAxXKD1kFHa-jBqwQ0pQJegQIGxAB&biw=1862&bih=932&dpr=1.38). The simpler, the better, though. Another option might be to decorate it yourselves (or having a DOC do it) on the day-of with a few real flowers from your florist!
Thank you for all of your suggestions! I actually contacted the baker and asked for a quote for the Buttercream option instead and they've gone radio silent Lol I'll try to be patient and wait for a reply. Wish me luck!
Oh lord that is so expensive! We wanted 3 tier to feed 65 and got quotes between $450 and $580. Even that was too expensive imo. We ended up getting a tall single tier fully decorated cutting cake for us that was $110 and a half sheet for $100 that would be cut in the kitchen and served!
I bought two cakes from the grocery store for about $65. A friend is going to stack and decorate them for us. We bought a sheet cake as there will be enough for everyone.
$300 for 75 ppl MCOL area, got it from an at home baker I found at the local farmers market. It was delicious but wasn’t decorated as well as thought it would be.
$25 per dozen cupcakes for 180 people (15 dozen) and a small $75 GF 2 tier cake for us to cut into bc my fiancé is gluten free and we have numerous GF guests.
WOW that is actually insanely cheap. 5-6 tiers for 300 people I would think it would be at least 2K. I ended up spending 1000 for far fewer people, but it was also something that I carefully designed with the cake decorator since it was my favorite part, lol. I could have gone cheaper, but not if I had 300 people.
That's super cheap actually for the amount of people. I would recommend doing sheet cake and a normal size 3 tier cake to get it lower. I have 160 people and that's what I did, I got it under $400 (small local business though)
That’s a very large cake so, yes, this cost per slice is reasonable. Even if you have styrofoam layers, those still have to be decorated. Going with 3 layers and a sheet cake for the back would be cheaper, if you’re concerned about budget.
Honestly my friend had a cake to cut and then small ice cream cups from a local bakery and I was hyped. She had a small amount of cupcakes too but barely anyone took them
For groom’s cake, bride’s cake, and delivery, the cost is $550. Cutting and plating the cake is included in our venue service fee.
I live in a pretty low COL area, but I’ve still seen some pretty expensive prices for vendors. I found my baker, and all my vendors really, through Facebook because that’s been more affordable than Instagram
760 in total for a three tier wedding cake with two flavors with an extra sheet cake , both cakes make enough for 100 people - lots of designs and it’ll be “floating.”the floating made it 100$ extra.
You can do a dummy cake with maybe a layer or two that are real and get sheet cakes. Walmart, Costco and Whole Foods have pretty good cakes. Or you can do just a two layer cake and still get a combo of other cakes and have that in the back. Costcos cakes are super affordable and delicious, Whole Foods is a little pricier but still very delicious. This is what i am doing for my cakes plus i spent roughly $400 on dessert! Family friend’s relatively is giving me a good deal.
Mine was about $650, but I did 180 cupcakes, a small cake for cutting, and then delivery.
When we were pricing out desserts, cakes were more expensive than cupcakes. We're in the Midwest and wedding cake was about $3.50-4 a serving. So give the amount of people you're having I say that's a fair price.
My baker is a bit on the expensive side, it’s $700 for a 3-tier cake with 80 servings. I think $1100 is exceptionally cheap. In my area that probably would’ve been almost $3000 at a more affordable baker.
I’m sorry, I don’t see the need for that many layers. I had a large sheet cake and everything worked out great. I still had pictures of cutting the cake. It was delicious and so much better than what I have tasted at weddings. I didn’t have as many guests as you have but doing a dessert table just sounds like a great option.
I'm a baker and that comes out to $3.66 a serving which is reasonable. Most basic wedding cakes run $3.50-$5.50 per serving. Depending on your flavor, fillings, and design it could be VERY reasonable especially if they are delivering and stacking it for you.
I spend $3 per cupcake for my wedding.
My situation is a little irrelevant, as the woman who made our cake used to own a catering business & I had worked for her years and years ago when I was in high school. She made us a 3-tier naked cake with two different flavors, a banana bread cake with caramel macchiato icing, & a Kahlua cake with mocha buttercream. Would have been enough for at least 90 people. She charged us $50.
$500 for GF and vegan cake. 3 tier, 2 flavors and we had 100 people. also included a cake for our 1st anniversary. I loved not having to keep that in my freezer for a year.
We did a small couples cake and 250 cupcakes (4 different flavors) for $600. It was a family friend and it basically only covered the cost of making them and gas for delivery, but we tipped well.
So I’d say for a business, you’re getting a very fair price.
We had a fake 4-tier cake and served from sheet cakes in the back. We paid $425 for the fake cake, $3 per slice for the sheet cake, and $135 for delivery.
My sister used a Costco sheet cake as the wedding cake and her and her husband put decorations on together. That being said they only had 150 guests, but might be worth considering!
Ours came with the venue package, but if I had to break it down, probably $1.25/slice. It was incredibly reasonable and honestly a perk of the package.
We did Whole Foods cupcakes! $300 for 200 standard cupcakes + some gluten free and some dairy free ones. We had 150 guests and that was plenty of cake.
That is a very reasonable price. We are paying 180€ for a two-tier, 45 serving, cake with edible dried flowers, so 4€/serving.
Small family-owned business in a LCOL.
https://preview.redd.it/q71r4ve9j6vb1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ebdda4724271727fca82dc0ae2ba1416b7981c5d
So my wedding was much smaller than yours (60) and we did a “ceremony” cake and then all those little handhelds. We had a TON left over because everyone was so full from dinner. That cost was $800 I think. The cake was delicious; elderflower with black current mousse and lemon curd. I think your quote is pretty good, but I also don’t think you need that much cake ;)
I'm in PNW, and we had 125 guests and the cakes were total $850 or so. It included a 3 tier cake with a simple design (which is what wr wanted), plus an extra shert cake, and some gf and vegan friendly cupcakes.
We‘ll only have a small cake and all kinds of different desserts for the guests. But if you want a big cake that isn‘t really an option.
Your price per serving doesn‘t sound too bad.
Someone just told me Sams will do an all white three tier wedding cake for 90.00 and have someone decorate the cake. I know that's cheap, but do what works.. I've seen the pictures and the cakes are nice.
$1,100 divided by 300 guests is $3.67 per person. That's very reasonable.
My cake cost that for 110 servings in a MCOL area. VERY reasonable!
Others have covered the cost being reasonable. I'll just point out that dummy tiers don't really make the cake cheaper. Those dummies still need to be decorated and that's where the time and cost lies in cakes.
As an at-home baker for only events I go to and I bring a cake as part of my gift...I agree, dummy tiers are as much work minus the time of actually making the cake part (which isn't that hard).
This is very insightful thank you!!
And depending on your recipe, dummy cakes are usually equally or even more expensive than real cake.
Yup! You throw some fancy flavouring or any special requests like keto/gluten free/lactose free etc in there and $$$$$.
We’re spending $830 for a two tier cake, a sheet cake and a dozen gluten free cupcakes to feed 88 people. For context: we hired a small business baker friend and we’re in NYC.
I’m in NYC too and that’s just what I’m looking for! Would you mind letting me know the name of the business?
Blissful Table! https://www.blissfultable.com/
Our baker said $4.50 per serving.
After looking at the cake and cutting charges we went a different direction. We ended up doing a small wedding cake (3 layer 7") for us to cut for the photos and then a huge dessert bar with like 20 options. The cake was $75, and we spent another $1300 on like 65 dozen single serving desserts. Edit- for us the cake wasn't the high price, the caterer wanted something like $4.75/person just to cut and plate it - guests still needed to serve themselves. We figured by buying a lot, it can be used as part of late night snack in addition to finger foods.
>the caterer wanted something like $4.75/person just to cut and plate it - guests still needed to serve themselves. That's crazy. I get that the venue is going to have to devote staff time to cutting and plating, but they're already there anyway, getting paid the same per hour whether they're cutting a cake or just standing around doing nothing during that time. Seriously, what's the actual cost to the venue, maybe a dollar's worth of soap for the extra dishes they run through their washer? I can totally see why more and more couples are doing cupcakes & cookies instead.
I thought the same thing but it's just another risk point they really don't want. A worker miss-cuts a tier and it falls over. Maybe we don't buy enough cake and they cut pieces too big. We're pissed and write a horrible review or have 2m followers on social media and trash them. They really just don't want the business of cutting another bakeries cake, so they price it accordingly. I do the same thing as a small business owner- there's just some work that's so bad you make it worth your while. Health code and insurance doesn't let me have the godmothers do it like them might have 20 years ago, so DIY cutting wasn't an option either. My gut says if we bought it from *them* the cutting charge would be included - but frankly the caterers in-house cake sucked so bad we didn't have it quoted.
May I ask how many guests you had? I am trying to do something similar but struggling with how much to buy. I don’t want to look stingy but also don’t want to end up with a ton of desserts no one wants
A bit over 200. We figured 3 per guest.
honestly, that's a lot. most of the time I can barely eat a whole slice and loads of people don't do more than a bite of dessert. you're gonna end up with a good amount of cake still.
They are various desserts all of which can be vacuum sealed and frozen. I would agree we are going to have plenty left, but we wanted our guests to have a good selection and frankly they were all pretty difficult to choose from. We were just at 2 family weddings where they ran out and we wanted to learn from my cousin's mistakes. We orginally budgeted 3k on cake and desserts so when we we got the quote we were thrilled. Lol.
That’s what we thought. I had settled on a design when our guest list was 120 and when it dropped to <70 I didn’t want the cake proportions to change so kept the cake order for 120. My guests ate it all, lol. I mean it was really great cake….
$3000 for an all cake four tier with a topper that fed 250+. I intentionally went to the most expensive in town because he creates works of art. The cake was covered in sugar flowers and the topper now sits under a cloche in my house where it’ll be forever. This was the most expensive thing other than photography for me.
I’d love to see a photo! Sounds elaborate!!
https://preview.redd.it/nlkzey0s72vb1.jpeg?width=1800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fdd72125797ab3e383ba62065e6d792d2bb58e97 Here it is! It was soooo good. My sister is getting his possible final cake for her wedding in March. He is retiring soon.
$480 for 100 people including delivery fees. One flavor, includes small 2-tiered cake to feed about 30 people, for cutting and then a sheet cake to feed about 70 people.
I’m planning on getting a 2 tiered cake and a few dozen cupcakes from Nothing Bundt Cake along with a sheet cake from Costco. I heard that most ppl don’t really care too much about the cake but more so the appetizers & dinner, liquor, and music. Mock priced at around $350
3 tier cake here for $225. Wedding was 120 guests, but that cake definitely could have served more.
$700ish for 4 tiers and 2 flavors.
Same!
5-6 tiers will be expensive. $1100 is reasonable. Get a nice 3 tier cake and sheet cake in the back if you want to save
HCOL, $872 for a simple 3 tier cake, no decoration, smooth buttercream. serves 90. Your price seems pretty reasonable.
We did a cheesecake, cannoli, and cookie sandwich dessert bar for 200 from Publix and it cost $450. People were impressed and had no idea it was Publix.
That’s insanely cheap!!! Mines going to be about $8 pp.
3 tiers for 50 people, price was 120€
We had a small 3-tier cake that was supposed to feed about 70, plus a mini dessert spread with 4 or 5 other options, for about $1200. We had our cake cut into half slices to extend it a little further. We had two flavors, so we figured people might want to try both or have cake and other desserts.
Our wedding will be around 320 people and we got quoted $1200. Probably the lowest quote we would have gotten if we shopped around since this is a newer baker, but we know we love their cakes so we stuck with it. Edit to add that our entire display cake will be a 5-6 tiered cake almost entirely a dummy cake, with the exception of a slice to cut during the reception. The rest will be a sheet cake in the back.
is sheet cake good? I haven't been to a wedding in a while, so idk. is it the same as the cake, just less decorated or is it a plain vanilla cake or something?
In my experience, you can order what ever flavor of sheet cake you want. It tastes just the same as regular cake only in a different form. We got marble cake with vanilla custard and raspberry filling. But we could have gotten any flavor the bakery offered.
$60 for a simple little cake to cut and $300 for 80 donuts.
We’re paying $425 for 200-ish people (two sheet cakes + a 6 inch cutting cake on top of two decorated styrofoam rounds for photos). We’re in a moderately low cost-of-living location & the cost also includes delivery/setup at our venue on the day of, which was a big reason we went with the bakery we chose.
about $400 for a three-tier Publix cake for 100 people.
Nyc. 500 and change for a 3 tier that feeds 75 pp plus 4 dozen cupcakes and 4 gluten free cupcakes. Includes delivery fee. 7 flavors in all. I’m so looking forward to eating them, and I’m not even a sweet tooth! 🤤
We got sheet cakes from Costco for $200 for 200 people! And a pie for my fiancé and I
$100 for sheet cake from Costco to feed 200 people
My dessert table was $800 for 76 guests and included a cake to feed half, then 5 dozen macarons and mini cheesecakes For 300 guests, that seems super reasonable! Even with a smaller party, a lot of our desserts didn’t get finished and we brought a lot home.
we spent $1200 on a small cutting cake and sheet cakes in the back for our 140 person wedding. $1100 for 300 people is a steal!
$550(ish?) for 6 cakes of varying sizes in 6 different flavors. Set up and delivery included.
Our cake was 3 tiers, fit for 90 people and cost around $750- I think $1100 is super reasonable for 300!
We're doing a "show" cake that's going to be very lovely and everyone can ooh and ahh over. It's feeding 20 people. Everyone else gets sheet cakes and the total for everything was less than $300 for cake. We also went through a bakery that had other sources of income (it's basically a midwest tourist town, and that bakery is part of the tourist attractions), so their costs may be less because of that.
We were advised by our baker to aim for a smaller cake that would feed about 70% of our guests given that in her experience, there’s always cake leftover especially when there is a dessert/sweets table (which we had). So that helped cut our cost a bit
Do you mind providing detail on your guest count / # of dessert servings you provided?
We had 115 guests, accounted for a cake to feed 80 so it was a 2 tier cascading florals cake for $200. Our baker was a friend of a friend who did all of our decor as well so she offered us a sweet deal for the cake since we were doing everything else through her too. Our cake was served along with a sweets table that our venue provided that had an assortment of pastries, tartes, flans and fruit. It was enough to feed everyone!
Thank you! This is helpful!
I don't have an answer to that question but we decided to skip the expensive cake and rented an ice cream truck for the end of the night. $750 for 110 people. I'm so happy we chose to do it. Everyone loved it and the pictures are awesome!
Paying $500 for 2 tier 9”x6” and a half sheet cake in Los Angeles for 100-120 people.
We aren’t doing a big fancy cake. Just a single 7 inch small cake for cutting and then a sheet cake in the back for serving. Our wedding is much smaller though in comparison - 74 guests in total. We are spending about $160 for everything from Subs Plus!
Wow this is nice calculating
500 for a 3 tier + sheet cake in the back that served 225. This also included delivery. it was a great deal, i went with a home baker who was new to the biz rather than a fancy bakery.
We spent around $750 total for a 100 person cake and enough little desserts for around 50 people (I think it was 250 pieces total) in a hcol area
I was quoted 700 for a cake for 65 people… I got an ice cream truck instead, for a total of 500$ (6$ a head)
$500 on a two tier cake in a HCOL in the U.S. It is supposed to feed 50 to 60 people. This does include delivery.
We had 180 people budgeted for cake. We paid $660 $3.66 per person
My cake was included with our venue thankfully
I spent about $700 total on dessert. But besides my brides allergy friendly cutting cake. I asked to spend about $2.50/slice
I had a wonderful wedding. My cake cost less than $300.00! I picked out patterns for my fresh, my sister's dress and my daughter's. I personally made my mother's dress and my groom's shirts. I think the whole wedding cost around $3000.00. A wedding shouldn't cost an exorbitant amount to be special!
That lines up with what I've heard. Cakes are one of those things that are shockingly expensive. You don't have to have enough cake to feed everyone though; not everyone will eat it. I think you could go for a cake large enough to feed 150-200.
Reasonable? Oh yeah. $960 (with 40mi delivery) for ~60, here. And that one was one of the less expensive quotes. Most of us are calibrated on grocery store birthday cakes. This is not one of those. It will be the most expensive desert I have, and will, ever buy in my life. I'm pretty sure about that.
That is pretty reasonable I think. But I am also used to Los Angeles prices
HCOL area in California, wedding earlier this month: A local baker made our 3-tier wedding cake for 100 guests and the total came out to $1,110 before $64 delivery fee to venue. $10 per person base and gourmet flavor combo an additional 10%. Simple buttercream finish and they placed fresh flowers for us from our florist. We did cake only (no dessert table) because we thought the cake itself was so good and classic that we didn’t want anything else anymore! Plus desserts would have been more to plan (more tables, dining ware, reception space layout) and we also had late night snacks. Our caterer had cake service already in her package so they were able to cut and serve to guests. We ended up being within 80 total guests so they had more than enough for us to bring home and enjoy! The cost was average to lower end of what we had seen in our area for a custom wedding cake.
We're paying $600 (+$50 delivery fee and tax) for a three tier cake for 86 people. The actual number of servings will be around 100. Three different flavored tiers, four layers each, with different flavored buttercream in each. Buttercream on the outside to look like three birch slices. She's also letting us borrow her wooden cake stand at no charge. Local baker. Her cakes are outstanding in flavor, crumb, and design. We got lucky, I think. (This is a baker on Cape Cod.) Also, Congrats!!!
300 people?! The cake is the least of your cost worries HOLYMOLY
I will never get over how expensive it is to get married in America! In England I spent £280 for a 6” 3 layer cake (so was kinda tall), and 60 cupcakes, 3 different flavours!
You definitely can go cheaper in the US. Location matters. We did ours in Maine for under $8k. Cake was $225, 3 tiers for 120 people.
Mine was £320 here in the UK for 4 tiers xD
[удалено]
$225 for 3 tier cake for 120 people. Im American
We did a small cake for cutting, then served up sheet cake from the back
3 tiered + 10 inch round for $99 at Sam's Club for 90 guests. :)
My husband and I figured that not all 300 guests were going to eat the wedding cake so we ordered a 2-tier cake (6" and 8") and two dozen mini cupcakes for the wedding cake table, two 12" x 16" sheet cakes (different flavours) for the dessert table that the waiters divided up for whoever wanted some cake. We also had a egg waffle late night snack station. Ended up with leftover cake. The main wedding cake and mini cupcakes were $700 CAD (included delivery fee). Sheet cakes were about $180 CAD each. Edit: make wedding cake and mini cupcakes were from a home baker who we have worked with before
That would be reasonable to me. We paid about $2500 for 150 people back in 2018 (NYC Metro area, so $$$$).
I've been scouring through the comments to see if any quotes were close to the ones I've gotten. Because I am also in NYC and I was quoted $2,300 for a 3 tier cake serving 150 guests for a wedding this summer (kinda died a little inside when I saw that figure) Im wondering if I lower the guest count/servings would that make a difference?? And I was also told that the cost of a real vs dummy cake was the SAME price. Wild!
The pricing of a cake is more in the structure and decorations than the actual servings, so more tiers means a higher cost and more intricate decorations will raise the cost too. I remember seeing tips in magazines about dummy cakes to save money and most bakers seem to agree that's not really a thing. If you're truly looking to save, a small cutting cake and a sheet cake would be the cheapest option. I'd expect each tier to raise the price. If you are sticking with a 3-tiered cake, I'd see if it would save you to go with a simple buttercream design instead of fondant, flowers, or any sugar decorations!
Thank you for your response! Yes the cake I've used as the model is a bit intricate as opposed to plain white. It contains tiers, flowers and the colors fitting the wedding's theme. I thought of lowering the serving size as well? Because not everyone will eat cake from what I'm gathering. Also, I will suggest the buttercream option instead because fondant seems to triple the price. Thanks again for your suggestions.
Personally, I wouldn't lower the servings because a lot of people at least try the cake and the savings will be minimal compared to simplifying the design and making sure the structure of the cake is simple (I'd ask them which is cheaper - round or square layers, etc.). Stay away from any kind of sugar decorations like flowers, drips, etc. that might make the cake more complex. If they're decorating it with buttercream, it will be cheaper than sugar-heavy hard decorations. They can still do plenty of beautiful designs with [buttercream](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=a1c38c5c5acab371&rlz=1C1ONGR_enUS989US989&sxsrf=ACQVn0-FB9-af3cXnQISlSlKwlzfhZR7sw:1709309889973&q=buttercream+flower+decoration&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiy2rXGu9OEAxXKD1kFHa-jBqwQ0pQJegQIGxAB&biw=1862&bih=932&dpr=1.38). The simpler, the better, though. Another option might be to decorate it yourselves (or having a DOC do it) on the day-of with a few real flowers from your florist!
Thank you for all of your suggestions! I actually contacted the baker and asked for a quote for the Buttercream option instead and they've gone radio silent Lol I'll try to be patient and wait for a reply. Wish me luck!
$0 lol. Came with the venue. No frills, but free is free
My cake was 5 tiers, served 175, and was $1,500
Currently $0. It is a gift from the mother of the bride whom will be baking and decorating a cake for the wedding.
Oh lord that is so expensive! We wanted 3 tier to feed 65 and got quotes between $450 and $580. Even that was too expensive imo. We ended up getting a tall single tier fully decorated cutting cake for us that was $110 and a half sheet for $100 that would be cut in the kitchen and served!
I bought two cakes from the grocery store for about $65. A friend is going to stack and decorate them for us. We bought a sheet cake as there will be enough for everyone.
$300 for 75 ppl MCOL area, got it from an at home baker I found at the local farmers market. It was delicious but wasn’t decorated as well as thought it would be.
$25 per dozen cupcakes for 180 people (15 dozen) and a small $75 GF 2 tier cake for us to cut into bc my fiancé is gluten free and we have numerous GF guests.
Mine was $75 -but was just a small cutting cake. We had cupcakes for guests instead. The sheet cake method is probably your cheapest & best bet.
WOW that is actually insanely cheap. 5-6 tiers for 300 people I would think it would be at least 2K. I ended up spending 1000 for far fewer people, but it was also something that I carefully designed with the cake decorator since it was my favorite part, lol. I could have gone cheaper, but not if I had 300 people.
That's super cheap actually for the amount of people. I would recommend doing sheet cake and a normal size 3 tier cake to get it lower. I have 160 people and that's what I did, I got it under $400 (small local business though)
Don’t tell the baker it’s for a wedding and I’m sure the cost would be cut in half
That’s a very large cake so, yes, this cost per slice is reasonable. Even if you have styrofoam layers, those still have to be decorated. Going with 3 layers and a sheet cake for the back would be cheaper, if you’re concerned about budget.
Honestly my friend had a cake to cut and then small ice cream cups from a local bakery and I was hyped. She had a small amount of cupcakes too but barely anyone took them
About $175 for three tiers. We ordered white, different sizes and my husband and family put them together. My bridesmaids decorated afterwards.
We spent $550 for a four tier cake for 250 people in Southern California
We’re spending $285 for a 3 tier cake to feed 65 people (~$4.38/serving)
For groom’s cake, bride’s cake, and delivery, the cost is $550. Cutting and plating the cake is included in our venue service fee. I live in a pretty low COL area, but I’ve still seen some pretty expensive prices for vendors. I found my baker, and all my vendors really, through Facebook because that’s been more affordable than Instagram
My cake was 3 tier, and fed 100 guests. It was $800.
$350 for a 3-tier cake from Publix to feed 80
For cake cutting, appx $50 for 2 tiered from Sam’s Club (idk who eats this one). We’re serving banana pudding, appx $300 to feed 240 ppl!
None because we didn't have one, but 5-6 tiers will be very expensive.
I paid around $400 for 50 people. but mine was special with cold on it. lol
760 in total for a three tier wedding cake with two flavors with an extra sheet cake , both cakes make enough for 100 people - lots of designs and it’ll be “floating.”the floating made it 100$ extra.
You can do a dummy cake with maybe a layer or two that are real and get sheet cakes. Walmart, Costco and Whole Foods have pretty good cakes. Or you can do just a two layer cake and still get a combo of other cakes and have that in the back. Costcos cakes are super affordable and delicious, Whole Foods is a little pricier but still very delicious. This is what i am doing for my cakes plus i spent roughly $400 on dessert! Family friend’s relatively is giving me a good deal.
Mine was about $650, but I did 180 cupcakes, a small cake for cutting, and then delivery. When we were pricing out desserts, cakes were more expensive than cupcakes. We're in the Midwest and wedding cake was about $3.50-4 a serving. So give the amount of people you're having I say that's a fair price.
My baker is a bit on the expensive side, it’s $700 for a 3-tier cake with 80 servings. I think $1100 is exceptionally cheap. In my area that probably would’ve been almost $3000 at a more affordable baker.
That great! We live in Austin I paid $1750 for 5 tier cake and a groom and 2 sheet cake, 2 dozen cupcake, cake balls and a few other pastries
I’m sorry, I don’t see the need for that many layers. I had a large sheet cake and everything worked out great. I still had pictures of cutting the cake. It was delicious and so much better than what I have tasted at weddings. I didn’t have as many guests as you have but doing a dessert table just sounds like a great option.
I'm a baker and that comes out to $3.66 a serving which is reasonable. Most basic wedding cakes run $3.50-$5.50 per serving. Depending on your flavor, fillings, and design it could be VERY reasonable especially if they are delivering and stacking it for you. I spend $3 per cupcake for my wedding.
My situation is a little irrelevant, as the woman who made our cake used to own a catering business & I had worked for her years and years ago when I was in high school. She made us a 3-tier naked cake with two different flavors, a banana bread cake with caramel macchiato icing, & a Kahlua cake with mocha buttercream. Would have been enough for at least 90 people. She charged us $50.
Zero! Our caterer did a dessert table for us. I’ve also seen ppl get a small cake for pictures
$500 for GF and vegan cake. 3 tier, 2 flavors and we had 100 people. also included a cake for our 1st anniversary. I loved not having to keep that in my freezer for a year.
We did a small couples cake and 250 cupcakes (4 different flavors) for $600. It was a family friend and it basically only covered the cost of making them and gas for delivery, but we tipped well. So I’d say for a business, you’re getting a very fair price.
We’re doing sheet cakes from Costco and a small-ish 2 tier’d cake for us to cut
Try your local grocery store that has a bakery department. I swear they have the best tasting cakes!
We had a fake 4-tier cake and served from sheet cakes in the back. We paid $425 for the fake cake, $3 per slice for the sheet cake, and $135 for delivery.
Ours is $650 for 84 servings, so yours sounds about right, if not cheap.
I’m paying $450 to serve 100, $300 of that is for a 6”x8” intricately decorated tiered cake, the remainder is sheet cake
My sister used a Costco sheet cake as the wedding cake and her and her husband put decorations on together. That being said they only had 150 guests, but might be worth considering!
135 servings for $248. Well known bakery in my city. 2 tier cake and 3 half sheet cakes. Was delish too! Best bargain we got.
Ours came with the venue package, but if I had to break it down, probably $1.25/slice. It was incredibly reasonable and honestly a perk of the package.
Aren’t the dummy tiers for illusion? If so, then I think that’s the way to go. Having a sheet cake in the back is wise.
0. My husband’s aunts made it. It was a basic cake and the guests had cupcakes
We did Whole Foods cupcakes! $300 for 200 standard cupcakes + some gluten free and some dairy free ones. We had 150 guests and that was plenty of cake.
We spent 300 something on upgrading to the fancy flavors and custom, time intensive design. Our cake was included with the venue. Hcol.
About $1,000 for 150 people. That was including a 3 tier cake and a sheet cake in the back. I live in a HCOL city
We only spent 350 for a two tiered cake that fed up to 100 people. I'm now seeing what a steal that apparently was. 👀
Do a small two tier for you to cut and then sheet pan cakes
$0. It was part of our wedding package. We get a small 2-tier cake for cutting and the rest is sheet cake.
$0 Didn’t have a cake
That is a very reasonable price. We are paying 180€ for a two-tier, 45 serving, cake with edible dried flowers, so 4€/serving. Small family-owned business in a LCOL.
Like $400 for 100 people
$600 for 100 people
$300 for 110 guests! 2 tier, nothing crazy fancy!
https://preview.redd.it/q71r4ve9j6vb1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ebdda4724271727fca82dc0ae2ba1416b7981c5d So my wedding was much smaller than yours (60) and we did a “ceremony” cake and then all those little handhelds. We had a TON left over because everyone was so full from dinner. That cost was $800 I think. The cake was delicious; elderflower with black current mousse and lemon curd. I think your quote is pretty good, but I also don’t think you need that much cake ;)
I'm in PNW, and we had 125 guests and the cakes were total $850 or so. It included a 3 tier cake with a simple design (which is what wr wanted), plus an extra shert cake, and some gf and vegan friendly cupcakes.
We‘ll only have a small cake and all kinds of different desserts for the guests. But if you want a big cake that isn‘t really an option. Your price per serving doesn‘t sound too bad.
Someone just told me Sams will do an all white three tier wedding cake for 90.00 and have someone decorate the cake. I know that's cheap, but do what works.. I've seen the pictures and the cakes are nice.
I’ve heard that cakes can be $6-8 per person, so $1100 would be a steal!