Wedding cake vs. traditional cake - difference?

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WhoAmI

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I've moved my query into it's own thread so as not to cause confusion. My question is simple, and because I know nothing of these matters, it's asked seriously...

Is there any physical difference between a 'normal' cake with, say, white icing, and a 'traditional' wedding cake? If so, what? If not, why am I going to be paying several times the price to get a wedding cake? I've no example prices to put here, but the impression I'm getting is that it's normal and accepted.

If it's just a case of galloping paranoia, please feel free to point that out also!
 
lots of couples I know don't even bother with cakes at weddings any more, due to the expense and the fact no one eats them as dessert is usually included in the meal. A few I know bought them in M&S for little or nothing. There was a post elsewhere a day or so ago about it costing a lot less to do as you suggest and say nothing about the big "W" word
 
My wife and I bought three sizes of iced cake from M&S for our wedding and put them on tiers with flowers, ribbons and other decorations. It was so much cheaper and really looked the part. My mum said it was almost cheaper to buy them from M&S than make them herself. This was in England, by the by, so I'm not sure what the cost would be here.
 
pc7 said:
There was a post elsewhere a day or so ago about it costing a lot less to do as you suggest and say nothing about the big "W" word
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Yes, that's the one that I originally posted in, but the flow of the conversation was more towards wedding bands and venues. We've already bitten the bullet and committed ourselves to both of these, but it would be nice not to be (IMO) taken for a ride on everything.
 
lots of couples I know don't even bother with cakes at weddings any more, due to the expense and the fact no one eats them as dessert is usually included in the meal.
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i would say nearly all weddings have cakes, theres usually 2 types, the tiffin type or the traditional currant. Nearly all that I see are home made. Hardly anyone eats them for a couple of reasons, 1, theres desert always given out with the meal and 2, theyre not sliced and served until the finger food when most people are eating cocktail sausages anyway.
Unless going for something extravagant which you may want, the cheaper option is to make it yourself or buy through MS and do up as per above posts.
Either way, keep it small for the above reasons.
 
Was at a wedding recently where the bride hated traditional wedding cake so she had a guy come in a build a profiterole pyramid which was then doused in some kind of syrupy stuff. The whole operation of building it was fascinating and indeed entertained many of us guests!! It was used in addition to dessert - the cutting of the cake was a procedure fraught with giggles in case the whole pryamid collapsed - it didnt :)

Anyway the point being - have whatever cake you like! Its up to you.
I personally do not like the dark curranty traditional style cake so wouldnt go for it myself anyway regardless of cost.
 
For my wedding my mother made 2 traditional fruit cakes and a friend iced them and very simply decorated them. They were perfect. We just cut the cake for photos and then kept it as I believe friuit cake is not v popular. My mother gave slices to neighbours etc. some who had not been asked to the wedding but still sent a pressie. We were all delighted with it.
Equally I would recommend buying a cake in M&S. I don't subscribe to the rip off wedding bull. My own wedding was done on a reasonable budget. I haggled everything as much as possible but nothing was comromised on the day.
I bought my dress in Boston (unintentionally planned) while visiting a relative. For the dress, veil, shoes and 3 bridesmaids dresses it cost €1k. I may be biased but they were all fabulous. I had looked at dresses here that cost well in excess of €2k. Yikes!!!
 
truthseeker said:
Was at a wedding recently where the bride hated traditional wedding cake so she had a guy come in a build a profiterole pyramid which was then doused in some kind of syrupy stuff. The whole operation of building it was fascinating and indeed entertained many of us guests!! It was used in addition to dessert - the cutting of the cake was a procedure fraught with giggles in case the whole pryamid collapsed - it didnt :) .
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That's a croquembouche - my mother made one years ago and it was fabulous. Just thought I'd supply the name in case anyone wants one! :)

My friend had a wedding cake that had three different layers - one was carrot cake, another traditional fruit cake and the third was chocolate scrumminess. The whole thing was covered in rolls of white chocolate. It was devoured in about ten minutes! Have no idea how much it cost though she was very canny about her budgeting so probably not wickedly expensive.

I agree that a lot of traditional wedding stuff is waaay overpriced. The cake seems to be a place you can cut corners quite easily though - whether by going the M&S route or making it yourself. Don't think I've ever been to a wedding where guests gave out about bad cake!!
 
Harlequin said:
That's a croquembouche - my mother made one years ago and it was fabulous. Just thought I'd supply the name in case anyone wants one! :)
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Thank you so much! If I were getting one Id make sure and eat a bit from the middle as the syrupy stuff was way too sweet for me!
 
Why not go for a different cake to the traditional one?

For our wedding my SIL made our cake, she did three tiers - one sponge with raspberry, one chocolate, and one carrotcake. The outers were iced to match up lookswise (cream with chocolate flakes for the sponge, chocbuttercream with chocolate flakes for the choc cake, and that cheesebuttercream stuff with chocolate flakes for the carrot) and it looked fine when on the tier thingy with the decorations around it- meant everyone could have a slice of what they fancied as there was one to suit all tastes.
 
personally, i couldn't justify the cost of a wedding cake at €400+, so got a wedding cake in M&S for cutting, & a friend made a chocolate biscuit cake which the hotel served with the tea & coffee. M&S do other types of wedding cakes in the UK but I think you may be able to order them up north.
 
My sister had a small wedding (about 60 people) and she got one of these

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60 individual muffins. It was lovely. She got little baxes to put them in so people could take them home.

Again, she said it was for a christening and not a wedding. Much cheaper!
 
A lot of hotels now won't allow homemade cakes for weddings. Something to do with food safety concerns. I know ours asked for details of the bakery and said this was now policy.
 
My better half makes wedding cakes - variously flavoured sponges are now the most popular, as few people eat the traditional fruit cake. Go for something people will eat and enjoy, not something that will sit there like a guilty secret exposed.
 
Tadhgin said:
My better half makes wedding cakes - variously flavoured sponges are now the most popular, as few people eat the traditional fruit cake. Go for something people will eat and enjoy, not something that will sit there like a guilty secret exposed.
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Just as a matter of interest, roughly what does she charge? (I'm assuming it's a she although I probably shouldn't!)
 
I was having coffee in a bakery which made wedding cakes to order, and I sat beside a cabinet where they has a display of ornaments for the cakes.

I nearly choked on my bun when I saw how expensive it was to get one of those bride&groom ornaments - and it wasn't even tasteful looking. Could this be a major element in the cost?

I'm one of those rare genetic throwbacks who is partial to a good heavy fruitcake. I was at my cousin's wedding and she had a whole-nine-yards, icing-marzipan-four-tiers&decorated wedding cake. I was looking forward to it but it tasted old & stale - a real shame.

My sister had a less traditional two-tier chocolate/victoria sponge affair. It too was stale.

Seems that the only purpose that the cake serves is as the ceremonial 'lets hold the knife together and cut it while being photographed' thing. I don't know that we're going to bother with a cake we get hitched later in the year. If we do, it certainly will not have a bride & groom ornament on it!!
 
Croquembouch!! Super, thats what I want. Don't know about getting someone to assemble it for me though. Profiteroles are surprisingly easy to make so I was thinking of recruiting the mammy and her kitchen (much better equipped than mine!) and give a day making yummy profiteroles. They keep well too and you can freeze them. Have seen some photos and it looks really good.
 
funnymunny - google it and you will get assembly instructions - Ive also sent the link to my other half and told him thats what we're having too :)
 
The traditional wedding cake is just a rich fruit cake. There is no couple (well, very few anyway) getting married today where there isn't someone on one or other side of the family who knows how to make a rich fruit cake. Paying €100+ for a trad. wedding cake is pure indulgence - it is easily made at home. Some people lack the confidence to do elaborate icing, which is fair enough, but decorations can be bought and applied to a plain icing finish very easily.
 
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