How to Make a Wedding Cake Under $75

Create a elegant and simple wedding cake for under $75. All you need is some frosting ,some cake mix, and a little creativity.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 3-4 batches of standard buttercream
• atleast 7 boxes of cake mix, along with ingredients to prepare
• 4 yards of ribbon, perhaps the wedding color
• freezer bags
• if desired, various decorator tips
• 6-10 flowers from wedding theme
• desired sized cake pans
• cake dowels, and one long dowel
• cake boards of desired cake sizes
• display cake board (store bought or prepared)

1. Figure out how many tiers will be needed for the wedding cake based on the amount of servings needed using charts on Wilton's website Or if you are dead set on having a certain amount of tiers start there and figure out what size cake each tier will need to be, using the chart. I recommend using 2inch deep pans to keep the baking process simple.
   *Common sizes include 6inch, 10inch, and 14inch, stacked tiers that serves 116 people or 6inch, 8inch, 10inch, and 12inch stacked tiers that serves 130 people
   * to save more money, there are pan sets that can be purchased that use common sizes
   * Its a common practice to save the very top tier to be eaten on the couple's first anniversary but its something that's completely optional.

2. Bake cakes according to directions on box. You need two baked cakes in each size pan. The pans should be 2/3 full to get the right height. I recommend using placing parchment paper around the edges of the cake pan before placing batter in the pan, this will ensure the cake will not stick to the sides of the pan. When working with large cakes it's important to check the cake after 20mins of cooking to make sure that the outside is not cooking too fast for the inside. Some bakers recommend not opening the oven until the cake is done , so that no heat will exit, but with the larger pans close attention has to be paid for optimal cooking. When you check the cake it is not necessary to open the oven all the way. After 20 minutes of cooking with pans larger than 9inches, the cake should not appear to be done. So if there is some browning turn the oven down about 75-100 degrees and let it cook slow. This can be done up to 5 days before the date.
   If the wedding is within the next day , let cakes cool on the counter and wrap them but leave them at room temp until needed for decoration. If the wedding is within the next 5 days wrap them in a few layers of plastic wrap and place them in the refrigerator. I know that everyone wants super fresh cake for their wedding but the truth is, no matter where you get your cake from the chances are that it was baked at least 5 days before it was actually used. If its wrapped properly and stored properly there should be no problem with the flavor. If you are really busy you may also choose to bake weeks in advance and store the cakes in the freezer. Just remember to take cakes out to defrost 24 hours before decorating.

3. To decorate, first level off each cake using a serrated knife or a cake leveler. You don't want to take too much cake off, just enough off of the top to make it nice an even, use ruler if necessary. Now each of cake is ready to be layered. To layer cakes, place a smear of buttercream on cake rounds and place cake layer on board, with the crummy side facing up, and place a blob of icing on top and gently spread to just before edges. Now place the other cake on top with the crummy sided down. Gently push down, to adhere. MAKE SURE THE CAKE IS LEVEL.

4. Place a crumb coat( thin layer of icing applied, to trap loose crumbs) on the whole layered cake. Make sure the put enough frosting on the cake, not using enough frosting will dislodge even more crumbs. Once there is a even thin layer of frosting ,let sit for 20mins. Complete for each tier. While waiting trace, circles the size of each tier ( except the largest) onto parchment paper and cut out. Write the size on each circle. ex. write 8 on the 8 inch circle. Now, each tier is layered and ready to be iced and decorated.

5. Take each tier and place a large blob of frosting on top and gently frost it using soft touches and long strokes. Don't worry if some falls from the side of the cake, in fact push some to the sides, to make icing the sides easier. Its important not get any crumbs into this coat. If you see a crumb or two grab it with a gentle finger. If too many crumbs are being dislodged then the cake is not ready yet, let crust for another 20 minutes. You want to ice the cake even but its not important that the cake in smooth right now. Complete for each tier.

6. Once each tier has crusted its now time to smooth out. Using the Viva paper towels and a gentle hand, rub the cake to get out lines and wrinkles. Gently and slowly rub the whole cake until smooth. If the frosting is sticking to the paper towel then it needs to dry some more. Never touch with you bare hands, the heat from you hands melts the frosting and makes it tacky again. It's never going to be perfect, so don't go overboard

7. Its time to place dowels. Now get your parchment circles and dowels out. Take each tier and place the next smallest parchment circle on cake. Ex. the 10 inch tier will have the 8inch circle on it .Make sure the that circle is centered, using a ruler. Gently use a skewer or pointy knife to trace circle onto cake. Remove circle and place four dowels into cake, making sure to arrange them equal distance from each other and that they are all within the traced circle. Using a pencil ,mark each dowel just at the cakes surface. Doing one dowel at a time, remove dowel and cut just below marking, making sure that it will level with the cakes surface. Once cut ,place the dowel back into cake and move on to the next dowel. Complete for each tier.

8. Now that each tier is frosted its time for decorating. I advise beginning decorators to keep it simple, using themes like dots or filigree to decorate. Less is more sometimes and the ribbon will help tie in a sophisticated look. First place largest cake on display cake board, adhere it using frosting. To decorate using dots, simply place frosting in freezer bag and cut off a small piece from the corner of the bag. Make sure its the right size by placing a test dot on a plate before starting on cake. In a very random way, place the desired sized dot over the whole cake. If using a filigree pattern, place frosting in freezer bag and cut a small hole or use a number 3 decorating tip in the bag. First practice on a piece of parchment paper making random (curved ,not pointy) W' s and M's. Make them as close together or loose as you would like them. Once you feel confident enough to work on cake, pick a starting point and mark it and begin working from top to bottom and over, until you reach where you started. For added interest try leaving the top of the cakes undecorated. Complete step for each cake. You can complete up to this step the day before the wedding. Just remember to let cake crust before loosely draping each tier cake with plastic wrap.

9. The cakes are now frosted and decorated all that's left is stacking them and placing ribbon an flowers. This process is easier if the cakes have been transported separately and stacked on site. If stacking on site skip this step until on site. If done at home gently take the second tier and stack directly over dowels on top of the 1st tier. No dowels should be showing at this point, measure to make sure the cake is centered. Complete for each additional tier until all tiers are stacked and centered. If there are large gaps between the tiers, the problem is that the dowels need to be cut some more, to bring the top tier right to the bottom tier's surface. Simply remove the top tier and remark the dowels, cut them again, and place them back into the cake.Next, take a dowel rod that is at least a few inches higher than the whole cake, and sharpen one end with a pencil sharpener. Gently insert the to cake with pointed end in first and push down slowly through each tier, until you reach the very bottom. Now just as you did with each tier, mark off where the cakes surface is and gently remove dowel from cake one tier at a time. Cut the dowel to just below the marking and place back into cake. Now the cake is officially stacked.
   If assembling on site it is not necessary to insert the large dowel through the whole cake, this is just a transporting precaution

10. Now its time to place the ribbons and flowers. To place the ribbon gently go around the tier with the ribbon and loosely measuring to just a few inches larger than the tier. Cut the ribbon and using double sided tape, place ribbon around bottom edge of tier. Be careful not to place the ribbon too tight, you don't want to crush and smear the decorations. Complete for each tier. Cakes that are being transported separately should be placed in boxes that are the right size. Use frosting to adhere cake to box bottom. Once the cake is assembled on site and touched up it is now time for flower placement. Common flower placements include a "Z" pattern or some used as a topper and some on the very bottom tier. Or you could omit flowers all together and go for a clean sophisticated look. Either way the cake you look great. Good Luck!

Tips & Warnings

• Take a cold batch of frosting already prepared in a freezer bag to the site for last minute fixes
• make sure the site where the cake will be displayed is well cooled, this cake will melt if sat in heat
• If the bride is preparing the cake I advise that everything is done the day before and the cake is transported early that morning or perhaps even the night before the wedding if possible ( it can be draped with lots of plastic wrap)
• Be creative with the frosting colors, and ribbon combination
• Don't be afraid to make adjustments to the cake and frosting flavors, or sizes, or even the shape of the cakes.
• A heavy hand will definitely ruin most steps in this process, remember to handle the cakes with light and semi-fast movements
• In an effort to keep it simple, if a different shape cake is desired, I advise using nothing more complicated than an oval, things tend to get slightly more tedious and complicated with other shaped cakes.
• avoid thinking about the decoration part too much, I find that if you just go with the flow and just take a step back every so often to look at the big picture it works out the best.