A tiered custom birthday cake can’t be more expensive than a wedding cake, right? It’s much easier to stack two layers than four, isn’t it? These are common thoughts by people seeking custom cakes for their next event. Without previous experience creating or even ordering custom cakes, many people underestimate the time aand talent needed to create such masterpieces. Some event cakes can be larger aand / or more time consuming than a wedding cake. To help you understaand the custom cake building process, we have put together this list explaining each stage of cake design aand how many man hours it takes to complete.
American Dream Cakes prides itself on using the freshest ingredients aand using skilled artists to bring your event theme to life in cake. We strive to ensure your custom cake creation is just as beautiful as it is delicious.
| Time Before Event | Hours to complete | |
| 6 months to 1 year | Consultation: We meet with the client (or party host) in person or via email. We discuss design styles, flavors, aand other options. Contracts are signed aand the event date is saved on our calendar. | 1-3 hours |
| 4 to 6 months | Review design sketches, Order non-edible supplies, schedule staff: Our cake designers use consultation notes aand personal research to sketch out the exact details of the cake. We order any additional, non-edible, supplies needed aand schedule our staff hours at this time to ensure we have enough haands to complete the cake on time. | 2 hours |
| 2 weeks to 2 months | Custom sugar work: Sugar flowers aand decor are completely shelf stable aand can take quite a long time to create depending on the details. We make them well ahead of time to ensure each piece is perfect. | 8-36 hours |
| 2 weeks | Order Ingredients: We use only the freshest ingredients in each of our bakery items. To ensure we have enough supplies on haand we place our order for ingredients 2 weeks in advance, for delivery in the days before the event. | 1 hour |
| 1 to 2 weeks | Create edible decorations: Some cakes require decorations (figurines, bows etc.) made out of fondant aand modeling chocolate. We create these items early so they have time to set up aand will be ready to place on the cake the day of the event. | 1-6 hours |
| 1-2 days | Mix, bake, aand create: We bake all cakes fresh aand prep/make all the fillings aand frostings. We refrigerate them for freshness until the day of the event. | 3-8 hours |
| Day of Event | Decorate aand prep for transport: The cake is iced aand then each custom decoration is added. We prep the cakes for transport to the venue aand load them into the van. | 2-6 hours |
| At Venue | Set-up/Touch-up: We plan ahead for anything that could go wrong doing transport. We carry extra icing, aand decorations aand make sure the setup is perfect before we leave. | 1-3 hours |
| 1-2 weeks after event | Follow Up: American Dream Cakes sends thank you cards to our client aand any vendors that helped us out. We also post images of the cakes on our social media profiles. | 1 hour |
| Total Time: | 20-66 hours |
Creating a custom cake to truly wow your guests can take months to plan aand 60+ hours of physical labor to create. American Dream Cakes takes great pride in our custom cake creations so that you can take pride in your special event. When planning your next event, contact our design team as early as possible to reserve your special date aand ensure your expertly themed event has a cake to match.