Bachelorette Party Cake Ideas: A Sweet Surprise You Can Make Yourself

A cake is the sweet highlight, but only in the right place. If you’re planning a party at a fixed venue, a cake you’ve designed yourselves is a great showstopper. If you’re heading round the clubs, you’re better off enjoying it beforehand. Here’s everything: when a cake or cupcakes are worth it, buying or baking, what it costs and which decorations turn the cake into a real eye-catcher.

Is a cake even worth it?

Opinions are divided on this one, and the split often follows the groups: on a stag do the money tends to go on barbecue meat and beer, while hen groups more often go for a cake or cupcakes. But more decisive than the cliché is where you’re celebrating.

If you’re touring bars and clubs, you don’t need a cake on the way; enjoy it beforehand instead, for example in the garden or the hotel room. Elaborate cakes come into their own at a fixed venue, because there you can design and cut them at your leisure. Cupcakes are the more flexible alternative: they come in lots of flavours and vegan versions too, which is handy if anyone with allergies or any vegans are celebrating with you.

Buying a cake

Ordering online is the quickest route to a finished cake. You choose the designs, and some bakeries will even print your own photos on an edible topping. Cakes like these come at a price, starting at around €50.

Often, though, it’s worth popping into your local bakery. There the cakes are still handmade and often cheaper than you’d think, with small ones from about €25. And if you fancy it, turn the baking into an activity and do it yourselves.

Baking your own cake

Baking it yourself saves a good deal: the ingredients cost €15 at most, and even with elaborate decorations you’ll usually stay under €20 per cake. If you’re not too confident, the countless step-by-step baking videos online will help, and a trial run beforehand takes the nerves out of it.

A simple trick for height and looks: fill shop-bought sponge layers with fruit, jam or cream, stack them and cut them into shape with a knife. The cake is easy to decorate with icing (tinted with food colouring) or a layer of marzipan with sugar lettering. Small plastic bride-and-groom figures are available from specialist shops, while marzipan decorations have the advantage that you can eat them too.

The right decorations

We eat with our eyes first, and the decorations make or break the impression. Personalised cake toppers are a real eye-catcher: custom lettering to stick in the top costs from around €20 online, hearts with a name worked in from about €34.

Candles remain the most popular, and the choice is huge. Match the size and colour to the cake. Simple candles start at €3, ones with a personalised print at €10 each. Sparklers are a cheap alternative, with a pack of ten costing around €2. For a grand entrance, go for the longer cake fountains that sparkle for minutes, the kind you know from American films; they start at around €3 each.

Making your own cupcakes

Cupcakes are the easy add-on or alternative to a cake and let you play around with flavours. Three classics that almost always go down well:

• Chocolate cupcakes: mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cocoa, egg, milk, oil and vanilla extract, spoon into muffin cases and bake at 180°C for around 20 minutes.
• Lemon cupcakes: as above, but without the cocoa and with lemon zest for the fruity version.
• Red velvet cupcakes: combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cocoa, egg, buttermilk, oil, red food colouring and a dash of vinegar and bake at 180°C, a highlight in both looks and taste.

For the finishing touch, add hen party cupcake toppers with slogans and designs, plus wrappers that you simply wrap round the cases. You’ll find a selection below.