Cupcakes: Cheaper? Maybe ... Maybe Not

Cupcakes are all the rage .... well, if you listen to wedding magazines and websites, they are. These same magazine and websites usually imply how much cheaper cupcakes are.

Not always.

I want brides to go through the wedding planning process with their eyes wide open. I want them to be aware of all of their options. I want them to take nothing at face value and to do some in-depth research.

So with that thought, allow me to share what I've encountered with cupcake requests.

Bride hears that cupcakes are cheaper. Bride pops into the local grocery store bakery and sees that cupcakes are sold 12 to a pack for about $6 (50 cents each). The cupcakes are your basic grocery store cupcake ... standard size with a swirl of icing, maybe some sprinkles or candy stars on top.

Bride quickly calculates 100 cupcakes for her wedding will run her about fifty bucks. Great! What a boost to her budget!

Here's where the problem starts.

Bride doesn't WANT a grocery store cupcake with a swirl of icing on top. She wants the cupcakes the magazines are showing her, with the fondant icing, topped with a rose that has been hand made from gumpaste, with gumpaste leaves swirling out from under the rose and perhaps a small edible star on a wire rising from behind the rose. Oh, and how about those cute special cupcakes wrappers with hearts cut out in the design (available here: http://www.fancyflours.com/site/xdpy/sf/Paper%20Goods/Baking%20Cups/index.html )

Those special cupcakes wrappers themselves start at $1.25 EACH. The baker has to make 100 gumpaste roses (instead of just 15 or 20 buttercream roses to cascade down a small 3-tiered wedding cake). Gumpaste roses can range from $1 to $2.50 EACH. Plus the time/materials for the gumpaste leaves....let's add 25 cents for those. The fondant stars that need to be hand cut out and applied to the food safe wire can add 50 cents to $1 to each cupcake.

What are we up to .... $5 per cupcake and we haven't even added in the cost of the cupcake yet! I know lots of custom design bakeries that will make a full size regular wedding cake for that price or less.

And the bride's mouth drops open as she says, "But it's just a 50 cent cupcake!"

No, darlin', it's not.

The plain, mass produced, made God-Knows-When cupcake at the local grocery store is a 50 cent cupcake. But that's not what you ordered from the custom cake designer.

You wanted a cupcake with bells and whistles. Bells and whistles cost extra.

If you are happy with a simple grocery store cupcake, then it's a smart purchase. But go into this decision with eyes wide open. I find it a conflicting message when the "experts" at the wedding magazines try to tell you cupcakes are cheaper and then show photos of nothing but custom designed "designer" cupcakes. It's confusing to brides and leads them to believe they can get a $7 cupcake for 50 cents.

Cupcakes usually require special stands that must be rented or purchased.

By the way, if you choose cupcakes for your wedding, I recommend you order extra (here you go, having to spend more money to have "cheaper" cupcakes!).
- When cupcakes are the wedding cake, guests are more likely to have more than one.
- If you have multiple flavors, guests are more comfortable having 2 cupcakes than they are having 2 pieces of cake. (After all, it's "just" a cupcake!)
- It's easier to grab a cupcake to take home than it is to grab a plate of sliced cake.

I've seen many incredible towering displays of cupcakes that were wonderous works of art. They can be as grand as any traditional wedding cake and can look truly regal at a reception. My intent, here, is to educate brides on what the cost can be ..... a custom designed wedding cupcake is not the same price as what you see in the grocery store.

So plan accordingly, price shop a few places, and go into this process with a taste of reality.

As a friend said to me once, "Cupcakes can be cheaper but only if you use cheap cupcakes."

What's the latest cake trend?

I'm frequently asked, "How long does a cake stay "in style" and how do you keep up with the current cake trends?" I don't keep up with current trends. I actually detest the word “Trend”. Why? Because they are merely promotional tactics by the wedding industry to try to sell a bride whatever gizmo they are promoting at that time by calling it a trend and hoping the bride wants to be just like everyone else and have the very same thing that everyone else is having.

I had a cake decorator tell me that I should remove my square cakes from the website because "....square cakes are not "in", especially the baskeweave design, and brides are not ordering those." I didn't have the heart to tell her that I counted up and out of 19 consecutive wedding cakes, 15 were square and about half of those were basketweaves! These are REAL cakes ordered by my brides.So much for "expert" opinions!

Don’t be fooled by the claim of “everyone is doing THIS kind of cake”. Here’s why. A bride, who had been doing some good comparison shopping, came to me and was asking about cakes with ribbon wrapped around the bottom and scrolls/dots on the side of the cake. When she found out that I don’t charge extra for practically any design she wanted, she got excited and began looking at other designs. Her sister asked, “So you’ DON’T want the ribbon thing? I thought that’s what you wanted?”

Bride said, “I was looking at that because that’s all I could afford at that other bakery!” Turns out the other bakery was charging her $65 just to wrap ribbon around the base of the cake and was charging for every little thing the bride inquired about. The bride selected the super simple design for budget reason …. not because it’s what she wanted.

So my question to you: The cakes you see at weddings …. Are they really what the “current trend” is, or is it what the bride settled for because it’s all she could afford?

Don’t settle based on current “trend”. Shop around and get the cake you want.

What's "in style"? Whatever kind of cake the bride wants to have! Don't listen to so-called industry experts who are trying to tell you what you SHOULD want ... go with your own preferences and get what you DO want.

I had another bride, referred to me by a photographer friend, who did not want a wedding cake. She wanted just a big dessert bar. She went to all the bridal shows, talked to all the cake people there and told me that all of them told her, “Oh yes you DO want a cake!” She tried to convince them, “No….we really don’t want a cake” just to be told how sorry she’d be and she HAD to have a cake. No one was willing to do what she wanted.

So we did a fabulous dessert stand for her, made of glass and mirrors and small lights, covered with mini cheesecakes, chocolate covered strawberries, cookies, brownies and other fabulous desserts. We made a small 8” cake to sit on top for their cake cutting photo.

She and her guests just loved it! And it’s been a big hit with clients ever since. (See photo at top of this article. See series of photos at this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/55969028@N00/2930064470/in/photostream/ )

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Debi can be reached at info@cateritsimple.com
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