Wedding in 4 weeks, still need a cake

[TayceOnToast]

Just that really 😂

We’re having a registry office wedding followed by private area booked at a nice pub. My original plan was to have something like this delivered direct to the pub the day before

https://www.patisserie-valerie.co.uk/products/pink-ombre-rosette-cake

but the pub are saying they don’t have the fridge space to store it overnight.

I don’t really want to spend more than £150, but I do want a cake and I do want it to look a bit wedding-y. I’ve already bought a personalised Mr&Mrs cake topper.

I don’t want cupcakes or anything like that because I always imagined having that “cut the cake” moment. Although now I’m starting to wonder if it’s even worth all the stress for that little moment.

any suggestions? Xx

How warm is your house / where you’d store it? As I did a cake decorating course with a wedding cake maker and she said cake and buttercream don’t need to be refrigerated unless quite warm (ie it’s a buttercream melting rather than going off scenario)

depends on your budget you could buy 2 cheap cakes one smaller than the other and order acrylic tiers to give wedding look they have nice ones on temu but order now to arrive on time ill add pic you can place flowers or cheap fairy lights and adds height to cake . if you have more in budget you can order 2 tier cake for 200 and they deliver

If it’s literally just buttercream, it’ll be fine out of the fridge. My butter sits for a good week or two in the butter pat on the kitchen side! Get it delivered as planned the day before but can be stored at room temp.

Any fresh cream requires fridge.

I bought a patisserie Valerie cake for my mums 80th. It came frozen, so I left it in the garage to defrost (November). It was perfect. You might get away with somewhere cool rather than a fridge.

To save your mum and sister the mad dash and to make cake logistics easier, how about hiring someone for a few hours to drop the cake off and sort the decor whilst you're at the ceremony? Lots of "extra pair of hands" type self employed people who will do this sort of thing. The lady I use for random things like this is £20 an hour. Sounds like you'd only need 2 or 3 hours and it would make the day less stressful for your family.

They also sell at least some of them via ocado which might be worth a look.

This is the smaller M&S naked cake. Just bought a topper a pack of macaroons and it was good to go!

The buttercream cakes in shops aren’t refrigerated. The very high fat and sugar content of buttercream means it is safe.

There is nothing in the P Valerie info that says the cake needs refrigeration.

I would just keep it out of a level of warmth that would make it melty.

Think of all the buttercream cakes on the shelves in M&S. They aren’t in fridges. They are designed to be ok on normal shelves (tho shops are quite cool). So am sure your cake will be fine

Isn't the usual issue with PV cakes that they're made and then frozen and shipped with dry ice for transport and need to defrosted in the fridge?

We had the M&S cake for our wedding earlier in the year, two tier and then the standalone one tier added to it.

Worked really well, everybody assumed it was a lot more expensive than it was. Tasted very nice too, which is always a plus!

I’ve bought the M&S cakes for children’s parties a few times and picked them up the day before. It never even occurred to me to refrigerate them and they have always been fine.

I would only worry about it if it was in the middle of a heatwave.

buttercream cakes are absolutely fine out of the fridge, just kept in a cool room. If you look at cakes in shops with buttercream, they’re all on shelves, not fridges

Yes this is exactly what it says on the webpage linked. They transport them frozen (presumably so they can make them in advance, and to protect the prettily piped butter cream from being boshed about and damaged in transit). The only reason it needs to go in the fridge is to enable it to defrost slowly - tbh I think it would be completely fine being left somewhere out of the fridge to defrost, but maybe that’s one to ask a cake maker on here.

Can the pub store it out of the fridge? It would be best not to try to transport it when it’s defrosted, as it would damage easily in transit.

I don’t think that PV cake needs to go in a fridge overnight, it needs to defrost but if they can store it overnight I think it’ll be fine, can they take the delivery and store it not in a fridge for you?

This is what the website says, doesn’t mention keeping it in a fridge :)

It’s buried right down under “more information” but here’s where it says about defrosting in a fridge:

Ah, missed that, they keep all that info quite hidden don’t they!

Do you have any friends or family who are local and can help. Get the cake sent to them and they can deliver it to the pub before heading to the ceremony

I'd pay for a "helping hand" business to deliver it to the pub the morning of your wedding.

Last wedding we went to, there had been a problem with the cake, and they did this. It looked lovely and I imagine most people didn't know what had happened.

If its in a pub they can store it in the cellar, done it many many times over the years and its actually better for the cake as it wont be tainted by smells from other food that will be stored in a fridge.

Maybe go back to them and ask if they will store it overnight in the cellar if you send a signed letter saying that you are happy for them to do that.

ETA just seen that they say about defrosting it in a fridge, the cellar would be perfect for that. Pub cellars have coolers to keep the beer at the right temperature, they are COLD! There is a reason why we all find excuses to go in there on hot days!

Other vote for M&S

Or Waitrose do lovely cakes you can buy two to stack them on top of each other and add your own bride and groom.
They have to be ordered only eight days in advance. X

Could the Pat Val cake be delivered to a responsible guest who can store it in their fridge and bring it on the day?

Or a bakery local to the venue may deliver/ let someone collect on the day of the wedding.