top of page

5 reasons to work with a custom wedding cake designer

Writer's picture: Charlotte ParkinsonCharlotte Parkinson

Updated: Dec 9, 2022



For many people, there are certain elements of their wedding that they would only consider using a professional for. Whether it's your photographer, or your caterers, or the string quartet, there are some areas of the planning process where calling on the professionals will be a non-negotiable.


But for many engaged couples there can be areas of the wedding where they feel they might be able to get away with calling on friends or family to help instead, and the cake is often on that list. While it can be a wonderful gesture for a family member to offer to make your cake, it can also be a high risk strategy, which is always why I'd recommend working with a custom wedding cake designer if you can. Here are a few reasons why:


1. A custom wedding cake designer will work with you to match your wedding style


You're wedding is going to be BEAUTIFUL!!! You have spent hours (years?!) on Pinterest and Instagram and as a result every element of your wedding day, from your flowers to your invitations ties together perfectly. But things are adding up, and now your cousin Alice has offered to make your wedding cake for free. Alice is a great baker (her lemon drizzle cake is to die for!) and she's even offered to do all the design work for you because she has some great ideas and wants to surprise you on the big day! The thing is, Alice's style is, how do I put this, a bit eclectic, and her love of bold colour combos (her purple and orange kitchen is definitely a statement) doesn't exactly tie in with the muted sage green and cream colour palette you've gone for for the wedding.


When you've spent so much time getting every other element of the wedding to work together so beautifully, maybe this one time its best to call on a professional to design you a perfect custom wedding cake. As a custom wedding cake designer, I take all the inspiration you have gathered and craft it into an exquisite wedding cake design that will match your style perfectly. I work closely with you from consultation onwards to ensure that the design we eventually settle on is exactly the right one for your day. You can find out more about my design process here.


Textured sage green buttercream wedding cake
Maggie and Ben's sage buttercream wedding cake in Surrey. Photograph - Lisa Peel Photography

2. A custom wedding cake designer will give you a perfect finish


Great Aunt Judith is a wiz in the kitchen. Her roast potatoes are life. But her cake decorating skills leave a little to be desired (remember that time the icing sort of slid off cousin Alice's birthday cake?). Your wedding day should be perfect. You are hiring someone specifically to make sure that you don't have a hair out of place. Your wedding cake should be flawless too. A custom wedding cake maker will not only design you a beautiful cake, they will also execute it perfectly. Whether you are after a crisp fondant finish, or something a bit more rustic with buttercream, I will ensure that the vision we both have for your cake is exactly what arrives on the day. No sliding buttercream here!


Pink spring floral wedding cake decorated with sugar flowers
Sacha and Mike's spring floral wedding cake in Chiswick. Photograph - Sharron Gibson

3. A custom wedding cake will stay perfect all day


Uncle Jeff's cakes are amazing. They actually look good too, who knew he was going to retire and discover he had such a knack for buttercream piping? The thing is, Jeff's cakes are so delicious they never sit around for more than an hour before being devoured, so what no one has realised, including Jeff, is that he misses quite a few important steps when he makes his cakes and that if he were to let it sit out in a warm room full of people for 6 hours, it would be a puddle on the floor before you know it.


Cakes can be a bit tricksy. There are lots of factors, particularly the weather, that can impact how a cake holds up over time. Multi-tiered cakes are even more complex, and when you consider that a wedding cake is usually very large and needs to remain standing all day in some cases, there are several important steps that a custom wedding cake designer will take to ensure your cake remains perfect from delivery to consumption. You're not trusting your brother and his new iPhone to take the most important photographs of your life. Maybe it's not quite time to trust Jeff with the most important cake of your life either.


Wedding cake decorated with white sugar roses and bride and from topper
White rose wedding cake at Gunnersbury House

4. Your custom wedding cake maker has got this


You are a pretty good baker. You make lots of birthday cakes for friends and family. You are hoping to save a bit of money and decide to make your wedding cake and at first you are really excited. How hard can this be? Sure you've never made a wedding cake before, but you have a whole year to practise! You start watching loads of YouTube tutorials, buy all the right kit, and have grand plans to do a trial run 6 months before the wedding so you have time to fix any mistakes. But then life happened. Work got busy and along with all the other wedding planning jobs, you didn't get around to practising. The week of the wedding rolls around, and it starts to feel like too much. It's the day before the wedding now, and your kitchen looks like a bomb has hit it. You've already burnt one round of cakes because of the stress and have had to do an emergency run to the shops for more ingredients. All you want to do is have a bath, relax and drink a glass of champagne, but you can't because of this cake!!! You're fiancé calls it. They're going to the supermarket and buying a cake. And just like that, the dream is over.


So here's the really important point: as a custom wedding cake designer, I literally have one job. I don't take on multiple wedding cakes for the same date, I don't have staff that I farm things out to. On the week of your wedding I am thinking about your cake and your cake alone. I have years of experience and know exactly what I'm doing. No buckling under pressure here, in fact it's the complete opposite. I'm pouring all my experience and passion into your cake and I'm loving it. You don't have to think about it, because your cake is completely safe in my hands. I bet a custom wedding cake designer is sounding pretty good right about now?


Two tier white rose and eucalyptus sugar flower wedding cake
Ben and Lucy's white rose wedding cake in Cornwall. Photograph - Geraint Roberts

5. A custom wedding cake designer will deliver and set up your cake safely


Picture the scene, it's the morning of the wedding and you're upstairs at the venue getting ready with your mum and your best friends, not a care in the world, when your mum's phone rings. You can only hear your mum's side of the call and let's just say, I'm not going to repeat it here.


"Mum, what's happened?!"

"You know how dad was picking up Uncle Jeff and the cake because Jeff doesn't drive?"

"Yes..." "Well they were running a bit late, and sounds like your dad took a turning a bit quick. The cake was on Jeff's lap and has completely smashed into the side of the box...'

"What does it look like?!"

"Wait, you're dad's sent me a picture...oooooohhhhhh noooooo"


This is the nightmare wedding cake scenario, and one that is easily avoided if you put your trust in a custom wedding cake designer. Not only will I structure your cake expertly so that it is incredibly stable and secure, it will also be packaged, transported and set up completely professionally. No sharp turns, no dropped boxes, no cakes that could give the Leaning Tower of Pisa a run for its money. I deliver and set up all my wedding cakes and do not leave until I am certain they are as safe and secure as possible.


Three tier buttercream wedding cake decorated with edible flowers
Katie and Elliot's edible flower buttercream wedding cake at Chalky Water Meadows

As a custom wedding cake designer, it is my job to ensure that every step of your wedding cake journey from design, to creation, to delivery and of course to eating, goes completely smoothly. Your wedding cake should be the best cake you have ever had and I am here to ensure that it is!


If you are looking for a custom wedding cake in London or Surrey, I'd absolutely love to hear from you. Please get in touch for a chat!


I can't wait to hear from you,


Charlotte x






33 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page