The Wedding Cake Prices Guide
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Fortunately, it isn't impossible to get an estimate. I've done some research on wedding cake costs to give the discerning bride an idea of what to expect.
Here are different sized tiers of wedding cakes to cater anything from a very small wedding, to larger affairs up to 350 people. Bear in mind, these costs are approximates. They are centred on a basic wedding fruit cake or mud cake covered with a buttercream frosting. Serving sizes are approximately finger-sized portions, served with coffee. Have a look through our gallery of wedding cake pictures, it will help you to decide on your wedding cake shape and introduce some new ideas you didn't think were possible.
How Much Do Wedding Cakes Cost?
Wedding cakes are a work of art and many man hours can go into creating the masterpiece. It's important to know though, that most of a your wedding cakes cost will be in your choice of icing, the cake decorating, the size of the cake tiers and how many servings you'll need.
1. The wedding cake icing or frosting: as a bride-to-be you have the choice of rolled fondant icing, marzipan, real white or chocolate icing, royal icing, chocolate ganache and flavoured buttercream. Rolled fondant and marzipan are the most expensive, as a fair bit of labour goes into rolling a perfectly smooth and even canvas for limitless cake decorating options. (Very easy to tear during the process if not applied properly).
2. The wedding cake decorating: cake decorations will vary according to which icing you pick. If it's rolled fondant, the decorating ideas are limitless. When the fondant is completely dry, it is firm and perfectly smooth. However, if you prefer buttercream, your best choice for decorations are fresh or silk flowers, buttercream or ganach based decorative patterns or swirls and/or decorative satin ribbons around each tier. Fairy Godmother tip; even though buttercream is a delicious choice, for melting reasons, do not choose buttercream for a summer wedding. The buttercream will not stand the test of time.
3. Wedding cake tiers and layer structure: the more cake layers or tiers your choose, the more costly you cake becomes. The size of the tier also need to be taken into considerations. Here's and example:
type of icing your choose, example: rolled fondant icing, royal icing or buttercream icing. The intricate cake decorating example: creating the edible flowers, motifs and decorations. And last but not least the structure of the cake. Whether it be layered or tiered, the actual size. The larger the wedding cake, or more complex in design, the greater the chance of the cake collapsing. So extra measures and time goes into sucuring the structure.
is in the icing, decorating and assembling of a layered or tiered cake. And the least amount of cost will go into the cakes in ingredients.
The larger the wedding cake, or more complex in design, the greater the chance of the cake collapsing. So extra measures and time goes into sucuring the structure.
The precautions the cake designer makes, the greater the wedding cake cost.
Huge wedding cakes can easily collapse and some cakes can only be assembled at the wedding reception. These are just some of the hidden costs.
Below you will find approximate serving sizes and approximate wedding cake prices for:
1. A tiered wedding cake.
2. A choice of wedding fruit cake or mud cake.
3. Finger size portions, served with coffee.
4. Vanilla buttercream frosting.
5. Minimal cake decorating.
6. A choice of local in season fresh flowers.
The prices below start from a simple two tiered fruit or mudcake with vanilla buttercream icing, at $5.50 per finger size slice. As we're going up another tier, we've added $0.50 to each slice.
| Servings | Round Tier Cake | Approx Prices AU$ |
| up to 30 people | 5 and 8" (2 tier) | $165 |
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| up to 50 people | 6 and 10" (2 tier) | $275 |
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| up to 75 people | 5, 8 and 10" (3 tier) | $450 |
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| up to 100 people | 6, 9 and 12" (3 tier) | $600 |
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| up to 125 people | 6, 9 and 14" (3 tier) | $750 |
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| up to 150 people | 6, 10 and 16" (3 tier) | $900 |
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| up to 175 people | 7, 12 and 16" (3 tier) | $1050 |
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| up to 200 people | 5, 8, 12 and 16" (4 tier) | $1300 |
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| up to 225 people | 5, 9, 12 and 18" (4 tier) | $1,450 |
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| up to 250 people | 6, 10, 14 and 18" (4 tier) | $1,625 |
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| up to 300 people | 5, 9, 12, 14 and 18" (5 tier) | $2,100 |
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| up to 350 people | 6, 9, 12, 16 and 20" (5 tier) | $2,450 |
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Approximate Wedding Cake serving for finger size portions for a Square tiered Wedding Cake
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| Servings | Square Tier Cake | Approx Prices AU$ |
| up to 25 people | 5 and 8" (2 tier) | $165 |
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| up to 50 people | 6 and 10" (2 tier) | $275 |
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| up to 75 people | 8 and 12" (2 tier) | $450 |
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| up to 125 people | 6, 9 and 12" (3 tier) | $750 |
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| up to 250 people | 6, 8, 12 and 16" (4 tier) | $1,625 |
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*All prices quoted based on research done in 2007.
Prices may fluctuate due to inflationary pressures or from region to region.* |
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Additional Wedding Cake prices
The prices above were for a simple two tiered fruit or mudcake with vanilla buttercream icing, priced at $5.50 per finger size slice. As we went up another tier, we added $0.50 to each slice.
The price per slice is less if you choose a single tier cake, no assembling needed. The price of a single tier may start as low as $3.50 or $4.50 per finger slice. Depending on the cake flavour.
Wedding Cakes Cost - example;
Let say you want a two tiered fruit or mudcake with vanilla buttercream icing, at $5.50 per finger slice.
If you have 100 guests, the price of this two tiered cake $550. The higher the tiers, the more expensive. For example; a three tiered wedding cake per slice may go up another $0.50 and another $1.00 per slice if you go up to a four tiered cake.
Hidden Wedding Cake Costs
The more tiers you have, the harder it is to control your wedding cake from toppling or collapsing. So much more time is taken to ensure your wedding cake stays secured. For any extra's other than the buttercream frosting, there are additional costs price per slice.
| Examples of additional upcharges per slice: | |
| Fondant covered frosting: |
$1.00
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| Chocolate ganache icing: |
$1.00
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| Marzipan frosting: |
$1.00
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| Cream cheese icing: |
.50
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| Creamy or chocolate ganache fillings: |
.50
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| Liqueurs shots: |
.50
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| Flavour shots: |
.50
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| Fresh flowers: | |
| Fondant or sugar flowers: |
$50 - $125.00
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| Chocolate hand made flowers: |
$50 - $125.00
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| Custom made toppers: |
$50 - $125.00
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| Custom cake plate: |
$25 - $125.00
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| Fondant bow topper: |
$25.00
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| Chocolate bow topper: |
$35.00
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*All prices quoted based on research done in 2007. Prices may fluctuate due to inflationary pressures or from region to region.*
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Cheap Wedding Cake Ideas
The cheapest wedding cake is a single-tiered cake, however they can look more like birthday cakes and that just screams `budget wedding!'. Unless of course it is beautifully decorated.
Fairy Godmother tip; if you have a small wedding cake budget, choose a beautiful but small wedding cake for your reception, use it for the cutting of the cake photo's.
Have a sheet cake made with the same flavour and icing, no need to have it decorated with fresh flowers or elaborate scuptured decorations, as it is just a cake for cutting and serving. The sheet cake is only seen by the reception staff. This saves on wedding cake decorating and wedding cake tier assembly costs. You get to have your dream cake and enough cake to serve all your guests.
Remember, the average wedding cake price for a mediocre cake is not that much less than that of really classy designer wedding cakes. If you do decide on a single tier cake, spend the extra cost to have it beautifully decorated.
Make Your Own Wedding Cake
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Fairy Godmother tip; if you love do it yourself projects, try to make your own wedding cake. Here's a video tutorial with step by step instructions on how to make a two tiered wedding cake, recipe included. It's easier than you think. |
Average Cost of Wedding Cake
Note: Wedding cake prices vary greatly from the ordinary wedding cake bakery to the designer wedding cake bakery. If you already know what you want you could save on the designer costs simply by finding wedding cake pictures and showing them to your wedding cake maker.
Below you'll find different themed wedding cakes to get you started on your dream wedding cake search.
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