Hello darlings!
The baptism is behind us and I will post photos soon I promise. However, in a few days it's Fratzolaki's birthday and I am at a cross roads. What would you do in my case?
So, you’ve got a big event coming up - and you need a special cake that can both serve as a gorgeous centrepiece, and impress your guests with how tasty it is. It’s a big ask, especially if you’ve got a million and one other things to sort out! But before you start thinking about shapes, flavours and decorations, there’s one big decision to make - should you buy a cake, or bake it yourself?
Now, this might be an easy decision if you’re a talented baker, or you know that you haven’t got a chance of making anything edible. But, if you’re like the rest of us and sit somewhere in between, it’s much harder. Here’s a handy way to help you decide what to do.
Bake it
If you’ve dabbled in baking and you’re doing ok (for example, if you’ve tried our gorgeous recipes), then you might consider baking a cake yourself. You’ll have complete freedom over how it looks and tastes, and you’ll be able to take all the praise for yourself! Plus, if you’re organising this event for someone, they’ll appreciate the hand-made touch.
Why not look through these elegant but easy cake recipes, and see if any look doable? If you reckon you can give it a go, what’s the worst that can happen? If it all goes to pieces, you can hopefully nip to the shops and buy one instead. The other thing you should consider about baking, is the time it takes and the stress it causes. How many other things do you have on your plate right now? Baking a spectacular cake - and doing it well - isn’t a ten minute job. You’ll have to do trial runs, especially with the decorations. And the costs can mount up too with all the practice you’ll need! With a self-made cake you also don’t know how it’ll turn out - if you’re not a seasoned baker, you might not be able to control how dry or wet it comes out.
Buying
If you have any doubts about baking, the best option is to buy a fancy celebration cake. With most bakeries, you can either choose from set cakes or ask them to make a custom one. Of course the price will be more if you choose a custom one, but it gives you freedom to make it as special as your event will be. Before you buy, look at customer reviews, to check that you’ll get a professional-looking, delicious cake. But be careful - sometimes you have to pry a bit. One bakery was too busy to accommodate an order, and got a bad review, which another customer said “everything I thought I knew about Vons Bakery cakes was wrong” about after ordering her own cake.
Buying is often the easiest, least stressful route. You can let someone else handle the baking and decorating - and you can sit back and enjoy it on the day! Why not look through these awesome birthday cake ideas for inspiration? If you know what you want, it’ll make your baker’s life much easier! But if you aren’t sure, most bakeries will be able to make suggestions and talk you through cakes they’ve done for other similar events.
Lot's of love
