How to Make an Emergency Wedding Cake in Case of a Cake Disaster

If by some terrible fluke something goes wrong with the wedding cake, such as the bakery does not deliver the cake or the cake gets dropped, it calls for fast wedding cake action.

Most preferable is to make the responsible party somehow make good, but if they are nowhere to be found, you will have to find the closest supermarket with a bakery department and a floral department, both of which can generally be found at your local Costco and Wal-Mart (do call in advance if possible to avoid a wasted trip). Wal-Mart and Sam's Club have some fairly impressive decorators in the bakery, and some bakeries in supermarkets and wholesalers only need a few hours notice, so you may be able to pick up a pre-done cake that may not be the brides' first choice, but no one will be the wiser. If the caterer or restaurant having the wedding cannot help, then the Costco or Wal-Mart or Supermarket bakery may be able to help you if you explain the emergency, but they might not have the staff to do so and you will have to do it yourself. While you go and get the supplies, have someone else try to find a crafty person among the guests to make the best of the cakes appearance.

Second, assign someone to see if anything can be salvaged from the dropped or broken cake (that is from the side or tiers that did not fall on the floor.) A cake topper hopefully can still be used. Have someone gather all the pieces that can be used and put them on a plate. If something like two layers fell off and one remains, then keep that remaining good layer to serve to guests and at least some of the original cake can be used. Remove frosting decorations with a knife when possible by sliding underneath the decoration and just pulling it straight up.

Now you go and get the items needed for the new cake. First you will want sheet cakes to serve the number of guests at the wedding minus 35, (and how ever many could be severed from the remaining good cake) which will be served from the actual cake you will make. Preferably white frosting that looks sort of wedding like as possible. Get the sheet cakes.

Next you will want to find round cakes preferably 12 inches in size, but they can be 14" and 12". Coconut topping will be the most forgiving to amateur cake decorators. Get three round cakes, the third can be six to eight inches if available. If this is not available or there is no bakery, consider a square iced box cake like Pepperidge Farm Cakes, but try to get one with a forgiving frosted layered coating like coconut or pineapple instead of straight frosting. If you are not so sure of yourself, consider getting a spare of your biggest round cake in case you make a mistake while placing the glass.

You will need a can of whip cream and extra shaved coconut to cover mistakes. Ask the bakery where to find the extra coconut to patch up mistakes. Frosted cakes are good but if you make a mistake or apply too much pressure the frosting sides will crack. If you have enough time you can use frosting that comes in a tube instead of whip cream. In this case, cover over mistakes by just drawing random circles of different sizes or squiggly lines in a complete pattern.

Pick out two dozen roses in a color coordinating to the bridal party theme colors or white if you do not know what color to get or cannot call anyone to find out. You will likely only need two dozen but the more you have, the more you can cover over mistakes and make the wedding cake look more professional. Other flowers like daffodils and some lilies are poisonous and their stems hold pollen, so you do not want to place them on the cake, so roses are your best bet. Many bakeries practically cover the entire cake with roses so the more roses you have, the more likely the cake will look professional from a distance and in pictures. You can also use the individual leaves as long as all thorns and stems stalks are removed. If there are absolutely no roses to be found anywhere, pick up some strawberries or blueberries to decorate. If there are no strawberries or blueberries or roses or daisies, consider finding pretty decorative candies such as silver or gold or pastel Jordan almonds, Godiva chocolates, or marzipan fruits. Costco and Wal-Mart hardly ever run out of roses though, but have a plan B in mind in case this happens.

Get chopsticks or thin wood skewers or if you cannot find anything else, drinking straws. You will have to cut them in half so that they just rise a bit above the cakes height once you stick them in.

Have one person disassemble the roses from the stems and separate the roses and leaves into piles. Roses are an edible flower which is why you will want to get roses instead of another flower. Leave about a 2 to 3 inch stem on each rose. If the roses come with those green water vials, fill them about ¼ full and wrap them in saran wrap or aluminum foil and you can stick them directly into the cake. Patch holes with frosting and coconut.

Take one of the 12" round cakes (or the largest diameter round cake if you have different sizes) and place it on a plate that you can carry the finished cake on. Allow enough room on the bottom for decorations or for sprinkling extra coconut.

Take a water goblet with a stem and a goblet top and a flat glass bottom. Invert the wine glass and drive it glass side down into the center of the bottom cake, so that it is flat glass bottom sticking up. You will then place skewers or chopsticks in equal positions about two inches in from the edge all the way around the cake. Now place the second 12" inch cake on top of the first cake, driving it into the chopsticks. It will leave some room between the two cakes. Stick roses sticking out in the space between the two cakes.

Take the smallest of your three cakes and place that on top of the second layer. Leave the tiny piece of cardboard at the base to keep it even and so it does not sink. Do neat lines of whip cream or squiggly patterns and extra coconut to hide any mistakes you might make. Take the third layer and decorate the sides of that cake with whip cream. Surround this layer or cake around the base with rose heads. Top the cake off with roses and leaves if the cake topper is missing. If there is no cake due to the cake being dropped, incorporating any remaining clean intact pieces of decoration onto this cake such as flowers or frosting onto the sheet cake will keep the wedding cake look to the substitute cakes. Since the sheet cakes will be cut when guest get them, bits and pieces of frosting or flowers will look normal as long as they are from the clean side of the cake that was dropped.

Place leaves and any remaining roses around the base of the cake. Keep refrigerated as long as possible to avoid melting.

Have the bride and groom take pictures with this cake, and serve both this cake and the sheet cakes to the guests. Remind the cake cutter that there is a water glass in it and the wooden sticks and possible rose water vials.

If your bakery did not deliver the cake and you paid via credit card, you will be able to get your money back. The cost of the emergency cake is about $40 plus the cost of the number of sheet cakes you need.

Expect the bride and groom to possibly freak out now and thank you later. But if it was not for you, there would be no wedding cake!