Fancy Cake on a Budget!
How do you get a fancy birthday cake on a budget and time crunch? Semi-home made is my answer.
For a working mommy juggling many things including handmaking the decorations and making other desserts for the cake table, taking on the task of baking a cake would have been overkill. My husband recommended a sheet cake from a grocery store. Really, dude? That’s not DrCardaMoms style. Grocery store sheet cake is a secret pleasure, especially when the icing is just right but it doesn’t go with “You Are My Sunshine” theme with home made clouds and sun. If the décor wasn’t home made, perhaps I would opt for a sheet cake. However, baby girl and I worked hard on the décor. We were determined to get a fancy cake!
Now, about this budget business. Children’s birthdays cost a pretty penny even when doing them on a budget. We went all out for her first birthday with a pink and gold princess themed three tiered wedding-esque cake with fondant, gold crown and all for $250. For her second birthday we had a home based baker make a delicious teapot themed cake for $130. This time hubby felt we shouldn’t spend as much money and also discouraged me from baking on such a time constraint. I wasn’t about to succumb to sheet cake, so this mama got creative and made a 7 inch wide, 12 inch tall birthday cake within minutes, for approximately $40. Money really isn’t a factor. If I decided on a professionally baked cake, he wouldn’t have had an issue; but, the inner creative, DIY mama in me was screaming for a project and I was down to less than 24 hours before her party. No one would have taken such a short notice order!
1st Birthday Cake
2nd Birthday Cake
I found my favorite grocery store cake from Wegman’s with French buttercream icing, bought it in two flavors; chocolate and vanilla. If you know Wegman’s, you know this is delicious. An hour before Maya’s party, I trimmed the top off one cake to flatten it, used chopsticks to reinforce, stuck the second cake on top of the first and then iced the entire cake with my own homemade buttercream icing. Icing the cake literally took five minutes! After this I put it on the serving dish and decorated it with fresh yellow flowers. If I had a little more time and patience, I’m sure I could have made it smoother but to be honest, the rustic appearance looked perfect to me and the party was about to start!
The cake literally flew and no one could tell it was from a grocery store. People either assumed I had professionally made or I made it myself. I’ll take it!
Two 7 inch cakes from Wegmans. One chocolate, one vanilla with French icing.
I trimmed the top off the chocolate cake and vertically inserted chop sticks (not shown) to reinforce it.
I then mounted the vanilla cake on top of the chocolate
…and started icing!
I mixed Wilton Golden Yellow food color into my icing to give it a sunshine look.
Almost done!
The jug contains hot water. I dipped the icing spatula into it periodically to help smooth out the icing while spreading.
What do you think? Easy enough?
Which ways have you created something fancy while saving money?