Do it yourself wedding cake ideas

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"It was a stipulation for the wedding that the groomsmen weren't allowed to look better than the Best Man today and I'm pleased to say they have accomplished ..."

Some couples love the idea of serving up a home-cooked dessert to their friends and loved ones at their wedding. However, figuring out create that perfect cake without succumbing to stress on your wedding day can be tricky. Try to do as much work in advance as you can and enlist the help of a few experienced friends. While a homemade cake won't look like a bakery confection swathed in fondant, it will come straight from the heart.

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1. Familiar Recipes

   • Don't attempt anything new or untested on your wedding cake. Use this as an opportunity to make your favorite cakes and enjoy them with your friends and family. If you have a recipe that you love but have only made once or twice, practice baking it once a week until you've got it down. Since it's easier to make several smaller cakes, choose two complementary flavors. White cake is the standard for weddings, but flavors like coconut, lemon or even a fudgy dark chocolate work well for wedding cakes. Keep the season in mind. Though red velvet might be your all-time favorite, the rich frosting and deep flavors are best suited for a winter wedding. If you are baking your cake to save money, remember that baking for hundreds of people isn't exactly cheap. Calculate the cost of ingredients for various recipes before you proceed if your budget is tight.

   Freeze It

   • Your freezer will become your best friend if you're making your own wedding cake, as it allows you to spread out the work over the course of several days or weeks. Once you've settled on recipes, bake, freeze and defrost cakes to see how they fare. Some flavors develop more once they've aged a bit. Wrap your cakes in several layers of plastic wrap and aluminum foil. Freeze them for a few weeks or as long as you think you'll need in between baking and the wedding day. Defrost cakes at room temperature, and pay attention to the clock so you know exactly how long it takes. Taste the cakes to ensure that the texture is right and that the cakes haven't developed any unpleasant flavors.

   Frosting-Free

   • Frosting and fondant are hard to work with unless you're a master decorator. You are better off sticking with simple toppings that taste great and drive home the relaxed theme of home-baked cakes. Top your cakes with whipped cream, sugar glaze or powdered sugar or cocoa instead. They'll look beautiful in an undone, rustic way. You can keep your whipped cream from melting and sliding around if you stabilize it with a bit of gelatin or cornstarch. Make the whipped cream the night before and store in the fridge. Have your friends mix the sugar glaze right before applying it to your cake for best results. If you're worried about how glazes and whipped cream will hold up during the day, do a trial run with a few test cakes under the same weather and setting conditions a few weeks beforehand.

   Simple Styling

   • Keep your presentation simple for best results. If you're not skilled at assembling large layer cakes, your wedding isn't the time to try it. Instead, purchase a few lovely cake stands and create a table-scape of individual or two-layer cakes. If you have your heart set on towering layers, simple is best. Fill the layers with just a bit of whipped cream and dust with powdered sugar. Any irregularities will be a natural part of the decoration instead of an unsightly distraction. To avoid stress on your big day, have the cake layers transported to the venue and get a few experienced friends and relatives to assemble them for you. Tell them beforehand exactly what you're looking for so there are no surprises.

   Fresh Fruit and Flowers

   • A sprinkling of fresh ingredients can turn your cake from a ho-hum dessert into an eye-catching masterpiece. Lay pieces of fresh sliced fruit around the edges and on top of your cake. Or, incorporate a few colorful flower buds into your cake design. If you are serving several different cakes, use the same fruits and flowers as a unifying element. Choose fruits and flowers that match your color scheme for the biggest impact. Apply the fruits and flowers right before guests arrive so they look fresh without wilting or drying out. Check with your florist before adding flowers to your cake to ensure they're not toxic and won't affect the taste of your cake.

Source: www.ehow.com

Tags: your cake, whipped cream, wedding cake, your wedding, fruits flowers, yourself wedding cake