If I had a pound for every time I've heard this, well, you know the rest…

It’s one of those common misconceptions that get circulated among the newly engaged and passed on from well-meaning friends and relatives as a nugget of wedding planning wisdom. It’s so disappointing to hear because in my experience, I’ve had so many of my couples tell me that there was no cake left on the night and guests were searching for more! If the cake tastes great then it really doesn’t have to be the case.

I can, however, totally understand why and how it happens and there are some things you can do to make sure that you’re not left with a mountain of cake after your wedding day (unless you want it that is). You just need to give your wedding cake a fighting chance!

Couple cutting a floral wedding cake — Image by Harry Michael Photography

You don’t need to cater for every single guest

For someone who’s in the business of selling cake, it may seem counter-intuitive for me to tell you to order less but I value good cake and I hate to see it go to waste. With that in mind, I would always advise that you cater for less than your expected numbers (around 70-80%) to allow for those who don’t like cake (not sure how they got on the guest list though). There will of course also be guests who love cake and will go back for seconds or thirds and that will strike the balance between the two.

Alternatively, you could serve your cake for your wedding breakfast dessert, in which case you need to ensure that you do have enough portions. I’ve had several couples use their wedding cake as dessert alongside some fresh berries and cream and it has always been such a success. Just bear in mind that you’ll need to think about when to cut it so that you can get the all-important cake cutting photos and the caterers have enough time to portion and serve it.

Do you really need a sweet cart, dessert table AND a cake?

I know you want to be the hosts with most but it’s all too easy to be over-generous with the food. Consider that in most cases, you will have eaten canapés and a three-course wedding breakfast alongside a generous amount of drink during the afternoon and only a few hours later, there will be evening food on offer.

Despite this, I’ve often gone in to set up a cake to discover that there’s also a sweet cart, dessert table and/or extra treats such as brownie stacks and donuts. Whilst it’s lovely to provide a choice to your guests, the likelihood is that by the time your cake is cut and served, your guests will have been dipping in to the other treats on offer and will have had their fill of sugar. It’s little wonder that the cake doesn’t even get a look in.

Now if you still decide that you don’t want to give up the sweet cart etc. then perhaps think about serving less cake and ask your cake supplier to use some dummy tiers instead…no one will ever know the difference!

English Country Garden pastel floral wedding cake — Image by Camilla Arnhold Photography

Keep your caterers in the loop

After I’ve safely delivered and set up your wedding cake, it will be in the hands of your venue coordinator/planner/caterers for them to cut and portion up so it’s important that you instruct them how you would like it to be served.

Do you want to keep the top tier to enjoy after the wedding day with a glass of fizz? Do you want all of it served until it’s gone? Or maybe you want to offer cake portions to your guests to take away with them at the end of the night.

Whichever you decide, bear in mind that portioning up the cake is one of the last tasks of the day for the kitchen so keeping everyone in the loop will help to ensure that your cake isn’t left forgotten.

Good news travels fast

This may sound obvious but, aside from a wedding cake that looks incredible, a cake that tastes exceptional will most definitely go down well with your guests (and you will already be confident that it does, as you’ll have taste-tested it beforehand during your consultation). Good news travels fast and as soon as one guest exclaims how wonderful the cake tastes then more will seek it out!

I always suggest that you offer more than one flavour too and if you can display a flavour menu alongside the wedding cake then it will tantalise the tastebuds for later. I often find that couples choose more traditional flavours to try to cater to the majority but offering something a bit more unusual alongside the favourites will be sure to pique interest.

Your cake is most often served whilst your guests are at the bar or on the dance floor so how about asking someone to announce it (your coordinator, planner or even the DJ) or getting it circulated on trays among the guests rather than leave it languishing on a table somewhere (it does happen, and sometimes out of obvious sight!). You could even dedicate a part of your evening to a cocktail and cake hour and make it a really special part of the day.

Bride feeding wedding cake to her groom — Image by Harry Michael Photography

The last crumb…

Hopefully the above advice will go some way to help and ensure that all the time, skill (and your investment) that goes in to making your wedding cake doesn’t go to waste and when it’s your turn to pass on wedding planning advice, you can put that rumour to rest!