Flour and water can cost potential wedding cake buyers between $90 to $1,300.

"The basic cake that people buy is a tiered white or chocolate cake with raspberry filling and butter-cream frosting," said Silvia Velasco, a baker at Bianca's La Petite Int. Bakery. "Cakes get more expensive when people add more tiers, fondant frosting or chocolate curls."

The type of frosting can increase the wedding cake price tag dramatically. People usually have the choice between butter-cream, whipped and fondant frosting.

Fondant frosting is the most expensive because it is a special type of frosting that is rolled out and then laid over the cake to give it a clean, elegant look. However, the drawback to fondant is that it is not a sweet frosting.

"Fondant is a great choice of frosting if people are going for a professional look, but not a good choice if they want a sweet taste," said Brian Peterson, the owner of Bryson Bakery.

Frosting the cake is the biggest part to creating a wedding cake. To frost an average three-tiered cake can take three hours. If the cake is five-pillars it can take the decorator from eight to 10 hours to apply the icing.

Peterson makes sugar gum paste flowers by hand for wedding cakes at his bakery. "It is very expensive because of the intricate work that goes into each petal for the flowers to give the flowers a realistic look," Peterson said.

Using fresh flowers on the wedding cake is sometimes cheaper because the customers usually have their florists supply the flowers and have them stick the flowers on the cake. Bryson Bakery gives their customers a 10 percent discount on their wedding cakes if they use fresh flowers.

To keep the cake as fresh as possible, bakeries usually bake the cake in advance and then freeze the cake until it needs to be frosted.

"We bake the cake two to three days before and then frost it the day of the wedding," said Dena, the cake decorator at Harmon's bakery.

Bakeries have charts that indicate sizes of cakes and how many people it will serve. A typical three-tiered wedding cake with butter-cream frosting feeds 130 people and is usually priced at about $150.

Bakers advise people to order their cakes at least a week in advance to make sure the decorators and bakers are available to bake the cake and decorate it on the day of their special occasion.
Copyright Brigham Young University 12 Feb 2003