Toronto Wedding Cake on a budget

February 17, 2008 11:40 AM

Where can I find a cheap (but not cheap looking) wedding cake in the Toronto area?

Looking to spend no more than $400 for a 100 serving wedding cake in the GTA. Suggestions greatly appreciated!

posted by 20something to food & drink (8 comments total)

Consider getting a small wedding cake, then serving plain sheet cake for the rest of the guests. It can be cut up behind the scenes, and most people won't know or care.
posted by chrisamiller at 11:41 AM on February 17

I'm not sure if there is anything like this in Toronto, but when my wife and I got married last year, when went to a culinary school and had a cake made for ~100 people which cost ~$400.

The students at the school made the cake and applied the first layer of butter cream, then the head of the pastry department decorated it. It was a wonderful tasting cake that meshed with our wedding prefectly.
posted by vansly at 11:48 AM on February 17

I would suggest something similar to chrisamiller. I had some friends who had on display what looked like a big, multi-layered cake, but only the top small layer was actually cake. They cut into that for the first slice, then the cake was wheeled away to be cut, so no one knew the difference. Apparently, it's a lot more expensive to make the cake in layers because it's hard to get the cake to support itself. So you just make big layers of cake that you don't bother to stack, they hide in the back, and no one knows the difference. I don't have any place-specific suggestions, unfortunately.
posted by Dasein at 11:48 AM on February 17 [1 favorite]

I had a stellar, mind-blowing, once-in-a-life time cake made by students from George Brown. I am sure that student has graduated, but it's a good place to start. You could also try advertising for an experienced baker on craig's list. My sister used to make wedding cakes for friends and when she needed money.

Sheet cakes are the norm for good bakers. The bottom layers of a big cake are often just for show, because the you really can't cut tiers neatly, and the bottom layer is sure to be compressed and soggy.

I don't know their prices, but but I've had a few really good cakes from Dufflet.

Congratulations.
posted by gesamtkunstwerk at 1:07 PM on February 17

I would also recommend George Brown.
posted by dobbs at 1:11 PM on February 17

Thank you for the great suggestions! I have contacted a few places, including George Brown. :)
posted by 20something at 1:42 PM on February 17

I love the cupcake tower wedding cakes that seem to have been in style lately. It looks like you can get 120 custom cupcakes (don't know what the difference is between "custom" and regular special orders) for $400 at The Cupcake Shopp in TO. You could probably mix in "custom" with non-custom to shave off costs.... and then pay a little more for extra decorating on some.
posted by lalalana at 1:52 PM on February 17 [1 favorite]

My friend Sam taught me the following trick:

On the week before his wedding date, he shopped for an "Anniversary Cake" that was allegedly going to be given to his parents and their anniversary party. He described the cake (flavoring, coloring, etc.) and found that it cost about 60% less than an identical "Wedding" cake. His theory is that bakers (caterers and bands as well) tend to gouge people if they know its for a wedding.

YMMV as well as YEMV.
posted by crazyray at 11:23 PM on February 17