Wedding Cake - Bakery vs Supermarket Bakery

I've heard some supermarket cakes are surprisingly really good for such a low price. I'm still kind of on the fence about what I'm going to do about a cake, I'm even thinking I might make one myself. I tried this recipe last night http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Classic-White-Cake I halfed the recipe just to see if I liked it, it was moist and fairly good last night, really easy to make and when FH and I tried it this morning, it was fantastic, it tasted like something out of a bakery. I put a strawberry filling in it that was only so-so and I made my own icing (my icing was too sweet for our tastes) but the cake itself was very moist and yummy.

My friend who got married last year had her plans for a cake fall thru at the last minute so we went to one of the local grocery store bakeries and we also thought the cakes were very nice looking. But when we inquired about the wedding cakes we were told that they needed 2 weeks notice for those because the cake part is actually baked elsewhere and then shipped frozen to the grocery store. All the grocery store does is fill and decorate the cake. Since my friends wedding was in a few days she obviously had to make other arrangements. But I think it's a great way to cut your budget if you don't have the funds for a specialty cake from a bakery. Another way I've heard brides save money is to order just a very small wedding cake from a bakery for the pictures and bridal party and then order sheet cakes from the grocery store to feed the majority of the guests.

Where are you located? Ukrop's Grocery in SoVA is pretty well known for good cakes - even recommended by venus.... check them out (no idea for price).

@Far too excited~if you do opt to make your own cake, try making the whole recipe and stacking it. Wedding cakes that are stacked have to be much denser to stand up to being stacked. Just an FYI so you don't have a super yummy cake that falls apart when you try to stack it!

I know that from experience. I bake cakes for all the holidays, birthdays, other little events and I donate a couple cakes to our local elementary school's bake sale every year. A few years ago I made a Dr. Suess style christmas cake with five tiers, picked a cake recipe that wasn't dense enough and it fell apart.

I've never tried to make anything other than a box cake but I read a blog from a lady who never liked wedding cakes so she made her own red velvet cake and tried 6 different recipes, then when she found the perfect one she made it and it fell apart when she tried to stack them! How frustrating that would have been! Glad you already knew about the dense cake thing! Just wanted to warn you just in case!

One of my cousins used a supermarket cake and i wouldnt have been able to tell if i didnt know. Also far to excited my aunt made a cake for a different cousin and it turned out very well... but i am unsure of your level of baking skill so i will hold off on saying go for it

I have this cake designer that works from home do my cake but he also works at a supermarket during the week days and he came to my house with the 4 choices that i had picked and with the diffrent kind of whipe topping they were all great that i could not decide on one and since my cake is a five tear he told me i can pick as many flavors with filling at no extra cost and its a cake for 300 people and price for it is $423.00 I think its a realy good price.

I think there is no problem with a supermarket cake. We were going to get ours from Walmart but we decided to go with this other lady only because she will deliver and set it up (with our luck, we'd drop it, LOL) I look at it this way, we get our birthday cakes and other event cakes from there and we like them so why not!

Oh yeah, I forgot about that, Traci brings up a good point. I think Celtic Chick got her cake from a grocery store and was told they don't deliver or set up. So she had the choice of getting the layers already set up and trying to drive it to the venue all set up or to have it all apart in separate boxes and setting it up herself. Something you need to decide. I think she decided to have it separate (so she wouldn't need to worry about it tipping over en route) and then set each tier up on it's own stand (so that she wouldn't have to worry about trying to center each tier).

Thanks everyone! These are great points - especially the decision about picking it up all set up or separately and putting it together myself. @Traci_Bob: very good point - why not the wedding cake too!!

Exactly P.C! Yayyy

I would recommend setting up a cake testing with one of the bakeries and then one with the supermarket. There are ways to cut down the price of your cake and most bakeries will be more than happy to help you with that during your tasting!

Good Luck!

Hi, If you are in Tampa, or Brandon I know someone who works out of the home but makes amazing cakes. let me know and i can send you a link to her cake album on facebook!

I am in Houston, Tx. But thanks!

There are pluses and minuses with grocery store cakes. One plus price, minus you have to transport normally. The higher per person price should cover delivery, set up and the cake itself. Minus little choice besides color of frosting on your cake, not made to order also I know Walmart does prebake all the cakes they make in the bakery. The time people have decorated also can be a plus or minus. Some larger chains might have a person with little decorating skills decorating wedding cakes where a small bakerey might be ran by the cake maker and decorator with 15 years experience. I personally like the look of fondant and you can't get that in grocery store cakes. sugar flowers and gum paste work also is a bakery item not found in places like Wal-mart.

Walmart doesn't bake anything in house as far as cakes go (and I'm pretty sure as far as the entire bakery case goes). They come in frozen (and sometimes already base iced) from a factory. Just for information's sake. As far as I know, they don't offer tastings, but you can buy one of the cakes from the case. The do offer a great price for budget conscious couples though and the cakes aren't horrible in any way. Not everyone can afford (or even wants to buy) a cake from a custom shop and that is a personal decision.

I say if you like the cake from the grocery store... and they offer a design that you are happy with go for it. No one will know, and if they judge you for it... who needs friends like that anyway? LOL

Hearing that come from a cake vendor is a bit surprising. I thought you'd be like "Eww, all their cake is yucky! Get fancyer cake! bwaaa!"

Do you know any ladies that do wedding cakes out of their home? In my area it is pretty common and they do a wonderful job. The lady that we choose to do our cake has been doing wedding cakes for 30 yrs! She just doesn't have a bakery or anything and her advertisement is all word of mouth. I found out about her from my sister who had a coworker that used her. We also looked at a bakery and was way more expensive.

Well I'm not here bash anyone's choices. =] Even I have eaten grocery store cake on occasion and it doesn't send me running to the nearest trashcan...

In my opinion, there are different cakes for different needs. Grocery stores (or Walmart or what have you) fill a need in the market just as I do. Some people do it out of need to fit their budget and others don't care much about the cake (say it ain't so!! LOL) and others just plain like the cakes. If someone loves a cake from the grocery store and it fits their budget and theme... why not right?

Of course I prefer the look of the more custom cakes and feel a bakery could provide you with more choices in flavors, but if the couple doesn't mind the limitations I don't see why anyone would bash.

I bake out of my (licensed) home kitchen... homebakers do great work, but we can't compete with Walmart prices. Their factories bake at such a quanitity that their costs are next to nothing. Many homebakers charge just as much