Wedding cakes are insanely expensive. They can cost upwards of $300, and that’s depending on how many tiers you want. They can cost a lot more if you want the enormous, flowery creations you see all over Pinterest.
But one frugal man decided he didn’t want to shell out hundreds of dollars for his cake. So, with the help of Costco, Trader Joe’s and Hobby Lobby, he and his family created a gorgeous DIY wedding cake for only $50.
Jessica Hoyle-King, a lifestyle and design Instagrammer who runs the account @cottagefarmhouse, shared a picture of her brother’s gorgeous multi-tiered white wedding cake — from Costco! — covered in flowers. Her post about this incredible $50 cake has since racked up nearly 5,500 likes. Not only is this a brilliant way to save money, it’s also tasty: Costco sheet cakes are absolutely delicious.
“We created a beautiful wedding cake out of two white Costco cakes, with cream cheese filling, for my brother’s wedding recently,” Hoyle-King told ABC News in an interview. “Basically we cut them into squares, stacked them with homemade buttercream frosting and then threw some flowers on it from Trader Joe’s.”
The cost in the end? “I think we spent less than $50-ish total,” she said.
The caption notes that the cake was thrown together in just a couple of hours, right at the venue.
“This wedding took frugality to a whole new level,” Hoyle-King wrote in the post.
Hoyle-King’s brother and his wife wanted to save as much money as possible for their honeymoon to Rome, and she agreed to be a financial and design consultant for their wedding. When she learned they planned to bake cupcakes (for 150 guests!) in order to save money, she told them to ditch that plan and head straight to Costco.
They picked up two giant sheet cakes for $18.99 a pop and about $10 worth of flowers from Trader Joe’s. The bride’s brother-in-law Jamie Warley, who is the head pastry chef at London’s St. Ermin’s Hotel, helped them cut, rearrange and frost the cakes, then decorate them with a variety of flowers. They put the four-tier cake on a stand from Hobby Lobby, and the rest is history.
“Everyone thought it was amazing,” Hoyle-King told Fox News in an interview.
It looks professional, right? Is anyone else wondering if they had leftovers?
Turns out, there are plenty of hacks out there that can turn delicious, inexpensive Costco cakes into something special.
The Little Dove Blog reports that with just a little bit of customization, you can really upgrade the decoration on a Costco cake. It’s easy: When you’re filling out the form to buy a cake, just cross out the word “flowers” on the “scored flowers” line. Write “N/A” for color and specify that you want it scored, with no flowers.
When you receive the cake, it’ll be scored into squares. You can simply fill the squares with little decorations on whatever theme you’ve chosen. Here’s a picture from @littledove.justine’s Instagram showing a Costco cake that she hacked this way with “Frozen” decorations inside each little square.
Her daughter is enraptured! Go to her blog for detailed instructions on how to achieve this look. You can also fill the sections with sugar seashells, candies, flowers, or whatever you like.
Blogger Amber at Averie Lane has another idea for a Costco cake hack, which simply involves getting an undecorated but frosted cake with piped edges from Costco.
Simply buy a toy play set of your choice and you can create your own little scene on top of the cake! In her case, she used blue sugar for the ocean, crushed Graham crackers for the sand and put Ariel the mermaid and friends, along with a castle, on top of the cake. Her kids must have loved it!
Seriously, though, getting an undecorated but frosted cake at Costco is like getting a blank slate. You can decorate it however you like! Stick some balloons on it, or make DIY candles and cover the cake with them, as the blogger at Aww Sam suggests. (Of course, any candles will do!)
Use sprinkles to write out numbers, stick lollipops into the cake, or use colored M&Ms to spell out words. More ideas like these can be found at the blog It’s Always Autumn.
Your kitchen is your studio. Go ahead, let your creative juices run wild!
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Checkout Simplemost for other great tips and ideas to make the most out of life.
