Wedding Cakes
Careful attention to beautiful detail and professional services are reasons why we stand out.
Wedding Cakes
Careful attention to beautiful detail and professional services are reasons why we stand out.
Don't just take our word for it, see what our couples think...
“Nadiya and her team were amazing for our wedding! After doing a tasting with her, I knew I wanted her to bake my cake and other sweets for my wedding.”
“[Nadiya] is one of the most receptive bakers I’ve ever worked with, and has found a perfect balance between letting you execute your vision with offering her experienced opinion to create a finished product that is truly one of a kind in the business.”
“Her team was available to help us with follow-up questions and gave us recommendations when we weren't sure which direction to go. Our cake turned out better than we could have ever imagined and our guests LOVED it.“
“We're so glad to have Nadiya's Cupcakes in our wedding! It was hard to find the wedding cake we love in Chicago and we were so lucky to have Nadiya to help us.“
“Nadiya was very descriptive of how the process would go with design the cake and delivery. She made me feel comfortable that everything will go smoothly. We also added macaroons to the order for the guests that were staying the houses.”
“The flavors were absolutely delicious, and the pairings worked out really well — definitely listen to Nadiya’s suggestions if you’re unsure where to start!"
"I had a vision idea, but letting a true cake artist take over and make it come to live completely blew us out of the water. The design was intricate, classy, elevated, and elegant, and was such a good fit for both the venue and us as a couple.”
“Nadiya's Cupcakes was the most professional vendor that we hired for our wedding. Excellent customer service and a great pleasure to work with! The whole process was seamless and straightforward, and our cake was beautiful and very delicious!“
“I thought [it] was very thoughtful [how] very detailed their wedding cake sampling [was], Nadiya made a beautiful sample box for [us] to try and the presentation of it was a solid A+ which made it easy for my Husband and I to choose our flavors. Highly recommend.“
"We want to thank Nadiya's Cupcakes for such a beautiful experience with cupcakes instead of a traditional cake it was beyond our expectations and just a beautiful all around experience."
“Nadiya was her team were incredible to work with! One of my biggest concerns when finding a cake vendor for our wedding was someone who could accommodate my food allergies in a safe environment and they did a great job!“
“Nadiya delivered above and beyond for our wedding and we could not have been more thrilled!“
“She is a small business owner and takes care of her couples and ensures she delivers exactly what they want. Our guests were amazed at our cake, and yours will be too! Choose Nadiya's Cupcakes, she will be the best vendor you have that day!”
“Nadiya is very easy to work with and she listens to what you want and she made the most delicious and gorgeous cupcakes for my daughter’s bridal shower. Would 100% recommended using Nadiya’s Cupcakes.”
"I also ordered some cupcakes and again she did not disappoint. She even delivered and set up everything at the venue. I was so pleased with how she handled everything. I would definitely recommend her cakes!"
“She was extremely thorough and attentive to all emails. The cake reveal on our wedding day was absolutely spectacular. 10/10 on taste, presentation, professionalism. Everything was amazing.“
“Her desserts are the perfect amount of sweet, and not that pure sugar icing we're used to tasting on other cakes. We went with a naked cake with florals and it was absolutely GORGEOUS. I am literally already trying to think of excuses to order more cakes from her. “
"I was so mind blown when I saw the final product on our big day. It exceeded any expectations I ever had and not only was it beyond beautiful, but also incredibly delicious. I would highly recommend for any event you need a cake or bake goods for!"
“All I can say is. Wow! From the first time my husband and I met with her we could tell we were in more than capable hands! Nadiya listened to us, she asked us about our vision and what we expected for our big day!”
"Nadiya has been so pleasant and flexible to work with. [Her] communication, adaptability, and advice were impeccable."
“Nadiya and her team were amazing for our wedding! After doing a tasting with her, I knew I wanted her to bake my cake and other sweets for my wedding.”
“[Nadiya] is one of the most receptive bakers I’ve ever worked with, and has found a perfect balance between letting you execute your vision with offering her experienced opinion to create a finished product that is truly one of a kind in the business.”
“Her team was available to help us with follow-up questions and gave us recommendations when we weren't sure which direction to go. Our cake turned out better than we could have ever imagined and our guests LOVED it.“
“We're so glad to have Nadiya's Cupcakes in our wedding! It was hard to find the wedding cake we love in Chicago and we were so lucky to have Nadiya to help us.“
“Nadiya was very descriptive of how the process would go with design the cake and delivery. She made me feel comfortable that everything will go smoothly. We also added macaroons to the order for the guests that were staying the houses. The macaroons were so amazing.”
“The flavors were absolutely delicious, and the pairings worked out really well — definitely listen to Nadiya’s suggestions if you’re unsure where to start!"
"I had a vision idea, but letting a true cake artist take over and make it come to live completely blew us out of the water. The design was intricate, classy, elevated, and elegant, and was such a good fit for both the venue and us as a couple.”
“Nadiya's Cupcakes was the most professional vendor that we hired for our wedding. Excellent customer service and a great pleasure to work with! The whole process was seamless and straightforward, and our cake was beautiful and very delicious!“
“I thought [it] was very thoughtful [how] very detailed their wedding cake sampling [was], Nadiya made a beautiful sample box for [us] to try and the presentation of it was a solid A+ which made it easy for my Husband and I to choose our flavors. Highly recommend.“
"We want to thank Nadiya's Cupcakes for such a beautiful experience with cupcakes instead of a traditional cake it was beyond our expectations and just a beautiful all around experience."
“Nadiya and her team were amazing for our wedding! After doing a tasting with her, I knew I wanted her to bake my cake and other sweets for my wedding.”
“[Nadiya] is one of the most receptive bakers I’ve ever worked with, and has found a perfect balance between letting you execute your vision with offering her experienced opinion to create a finished product that is truly one of a kind in the business.”
“Her team was available to help us with follow-up questions and gave us recommendations when we weren't sure which direction to go. Our cake turned out better than we could have ever imagined and our guests LOVED it.“
“We're so glad to have Nadiya's Cupcakes in our wedding! It was hard to find the wedding cake we love in Chicago and we were so lucky to have Nadiya to help us.“
“Nadiya was very descriptive of how the process would go with design the cake and delivery. She made me feel comfortable that everything will go smoothly. We also added macaroons to the order for the guests that were staying the houses. The macaroons were so amazing.”
“The flavors were absolutely delicious, and the pairings worked out really well — definitely listen to Nadiya’s suggestions if you’re unsure where to start!"
"I had a vision idea, but letting a true cake artist take over and make it come to live completely blew us out of the water. The design was intricate, classy, elevated, and elegant, and was such a good fit for both the venue and us as a couple.”
“Nadiya's Cupcakes was the most professional vendor that we hired for our wedding. Excellent customer service and a great pleasure to work with! The whole process was seamless and straightforward, and our cake was beautiful and very delicious!“
“I thought [it] was very thoughtful [how] very detailed their wedding cake sampling [was], Nadiya made a beautiful sample box for [us] to try and the presentation of it was a solid A+ which made it easy for my Husband and I to choose our flavors. Highly recommend.“
"We want to thank Nadiya's Cupcakes for such a beautiful experience with cupcakes instead of a traditional cake it was beyond our expectations and just a beautiful all around experience."
Bring your vision one step closer to a tasteful reality with a cake tasting and design consultation. Tasting sessions include 4 cake flavor combinations per couple and are $60 to book.
Creating cake flavors is as easy as,
- Selecting a cake base
- Pairing it with a buttercream
- Finishing with a filling
- Repeat 3 more times
Press on each flavor for details.
Dessert Table
Along with your cake or as the focal point, a curated wedding dessert table will be that final, little touch to your big day. For those who wish to stick with only cake, we recommend sheet cake slices.
Desserts not eligible for tastings.
Wedding Decorations
Decorations are hand-crafted from scratch for every wedding order. Custom dessert designs can be arranged to match your wedding theme, including custom acrylic toppers and charms, sugar and fresh flowers, and figurines. Our specialty is buttercream and we do not use fondant.
Your questions answered
What is your booking process?
After your tasting and when you are ready to take the next step with us, we will process a non-refundable $250 deposit that will go towards your order to reserve your date and we will begin discussing about your cake and dessert details. Once the details are finalized, you will receive an order breakdown for your reference. The final deposit, due 4 weeks prior to your wedding, captures the finalized design details and any adjustments made after the initial deposit. Your approval is needed for every change along the way before the final deposit is due.
Do you deliver?
Yes we do! Our Delivery and Set-up service covers the delivery of your wedding cake and desserts to your venue, and, wherever appropriate, includes final cake assembly with frosting touch-ups, flowers assembly and any final decoration touches to cake and desserts. The desserts will be set-up by us at your venue.
If final set-up is not possible, we will work with the venue/coordinator to make sure everyone is on the same page about the safe handling of your cake and desserts.
Do we need to have a cake tasting?
A cake tasting is totally up to you, and if you already know what you want your cake to taste like, then that saves us a step. We see it as a way to help with the decision making process and to take some of the stress out of planning.
We are looking at the tasting box and are ready to begin. What should we keep in mind when tasting?
Put on your culinary hat because things are about to get technical, okay not really, but here are a few good points to keep in mind when enjoying your cake slices:
- DO pay attention to the different textures of the cakes. Look for qualities such as fluffiness, sponginess, and density of the cake bases.
- DO try each component of the cake separately, we are talking about the cake base, the frosting and the filling. Look for overall flavor intensity and sweetness level of the whole bite and individual elements.
- DO try to mix and match between flavor combinations.
- DO take notes, this is a flavor assessment after all.
- DO take sips of water during the tasting to help cleanse the palette. Drinks like coffee and tea will affect the overall taste perception.
Additionally, here are some things to try to avoid for your tasting:
- DON’T rush to try everything at once, otherwise you won’t have the chance to properly enjoy the different elements of your cake flavor combinations.
- DON’T be totally full or totally hungry before the tasting, it will skew your perceptions.
Can we have multiple flavors on our cake?
Absolutely, this is your cake and, in fact, we recommend it!
For multi-tier cakes, each tier can be in a different flavor.
For single-tier cakes, we may include up to two different fillings or frostings while sticking with the same cake base.
How early should we be contacting you for booking our wedding?
Please inquire with us as early as you can to give us enough time to work out all the details, and to check if your wedding date is available. Rushing orders puts everyone at risk and we would hate to jeopardize your big day.
We would love to partner with you, but we live out of state. Can we still work with you?
Absolutely! It would be good to let us know ahead of time so we can start planning a tasting whenever you are in town; we privately operate in Wood Dale, IL and meet our clients in convenient, open public spaces. If a tasting is not possible but you are absolutely sure you’ll be working with us, then to reserve your day we will process a non-refundable $225 deposit that will go towards your order. In general, we communicate primarily over email, and we can also work out the design details over a video or phone call if needed.
I have a budget, but I don’t know how much my cake will be. How do you price your cakes?
We love to bake and ultimately creating beautiful wedding cakes is a labor of love and not every cake is made the same.
The prices listed above on our Weddings page are the starting prices for our cakes, and prices include an average estimated amount of labor hours based on cake size. The estimate covers labor involved with frosting the cake in your style choice and includes stencils, and touches like handwriting, gold foiling, and other accents.
Depending on your wedding cake vision, we may have to adjust the price to meet the additional labor and materials required to meet your vision. Additional details that will affect the price include cake toppers or flowers sourced by us, complex visual design details, and handmade gum paste details like flowers or leaves.
Regarding flavors, the (gluten-free) Almond Flour cake base and all Specialty Cakes will result in a small price adjustment, and other cake flavor options will not impact the cake price.
If you are looking for a large cake, but have budgetary constraints, then we can consider replacing some of the “real” cake tiers with foam layers, leaving one of the tiers for you to cut. Foam layers will save on labor and cost from baking the replaced tiers.
This means that depending on your needs, you may pay the listed price or more. We understand everyone’s situation is different and we will work within your means to make your wedding cake into an everlasting memory.
Do I need to order a cake?
Not necessarily.
Sometimes venues may include a cake in the catering package, but their dessert options do not sound appealing, so couples turn to bakeries for their dessert tables. We have had couples order just cupcakes or an assortment of cupcakes, macarons, and mini-donuts for their dessert tables.
We are willing to work with you so long as the dessert order quantities are sufficient, so please inquire to see how we can help.
How big are your cakes?
Our cakes come rather tall. Every tier is about 7.5 inches tall and consists of 4 cake layers and 3 layers for frosting/filling. Overall cake height ranges from 8 inches to 40 inches, but can be more based on your design.
I have no idea how to plan for my wedding desserts, can you help me?
Before we begin, take a deep breath because we are here to help.
The most important detail needed to guide us in the wedding dessert ordering process is your budget. Deciding on a dessert budget can be a bit ambiguous. Hence, we suggest budgeting $6.50 to $8 per guest, so for a guest size of 100 your dessert budget would be $650 to $800.
With a budget in mind, you should now take some time to consider your wedding cake and dessert vision. Spend some time browsing Pinterest and Instagram for cake inspiration to help kick-start that creative process. Keep in mind the colors of your wedding theme and the flowers in your bouquet. This is the step where you will begin to see what your dream wedding sweets will look like, and it is totally okay if you don’t have it finalized. You may also take the time to consider if you just want a cake, or a cake with desserts, or a cake with sheet cake slices, or no cake and just desserts. There are may ways to feed your guests and there is no “right” way of doing it.
Once you’ve done the initial prep-work, you may reach out to us via the Wedding Inquiry form to kick-start the planning process. With our guidance, we will start by discussing dessert flavors.
Do I have to keep anything in mind after delivery and set-up?
We generally communicate these details to the kitchen and event coordinator, but because we use buttercream on our cakes they can be out for no longer than 2 to 2.5 hours, and same goes for other desserts that use frosting like cupcakes.
If your wedding is outside, it might be best to have the desserts inside because the buttercream will literally melt if the environment is too warm. In cases like this, we will work out a plan with the kitchen for refrigeration space.
I really love the cutting cake tower with cupcakes below design. Do you do that?
Yes, we have had couples order small cutting cakes with an assorted cupcake tower and dessert table for their guests.
Please review our dessert menu while filling out your inquiry form.
I already have a lot going on, can you work with my florist and event coordinator?
We understand how stressful planning can be, and we will happily take some of that stress of your shoulders. We will work with your wedding partners to make sure everything goes smoothly behind the scenes.
What is the difference between fondant and buttercream?
This is a great question, and one that I think is worth understanding when it comes to deciding on how your cake will look.
Fondant is a mix of some kind of sugar, water, and a gelatin or another other stabilizer to create a smooth pliable covering to stretch, cut, mold and shape however necessary to decorate the cake.
Buttercream is a frosting made by mixing a sugar, a fat, and any other flavorings like vanilla to achieve a velvety, smooth consistency to spread on cakes and desserts.
Buttercream is our specialty with a Signature Vanilla Buttercream recipe forming the basis for all desserts, and we do not work with fondant.
Buttercream based desserts also need to be refrigerated if left exposed in room temperature for more than 2 hours.
Okay, so then what is the difference between fondant and gum paste? I’ve seen your work and it looks like you’re using fondant.
This is another good question, and there are some technical differences that I won’t get into. They may appear to be similar in that both are used for dessert decorations, but their purposes are ultimately different.
Fondant stays pliable for the most part and is used more for large surface décor and coverings with definite shape and cut edges.
Gum Paste stays pliable upon initial handling and eventually dries to a hard finish. Gum Paste is perfect for creating complex decorations and figurines, and is the preferred choice for creating the beautiful flowers that we see on wedding cakes.
We use gum paste to create small, intricate details using molds and our hands for our clients, and this is what you see in the beautiful desserts from us.
I have gluten intolerance, what desserts can you offer?
We understand how difficult it can be to find dessert options with a gluten-intolerance, and that is why our Almond Flour cake base will be the right choice. This cake base uses almond flour as its main ingredient and this cake pairs well with light and fruity flavors.
Additionally, our macarons use the same flour and are the perfect bite-size dessert to accompany your cake for your guests. Panna Cotta is a milk-based mousse dessert that is also gluten-free.
Do you have vegan options?
At this moment we do not have any vegan dessert options to offer.
Are cake stands a thing for weddings? Should I get one?
Cake stands can help elevate (no pun intended) a multi-tier cake to give it a grander appearance. This is a completely optional detail, but one that can help further woo the crowd and better capture your overall wedding theme.
In general, we suggest sourcing a cake stand that is 2 to 4 inches larger in diameter than your biggest tier, and one that is FLAT with no lip on the outer edge. Our cakes come on a cake board that is generally 2 inches larger than the biggest tier, so your stand would either need to be the same width or larger.
For example, if you are ordering a two-tier 6 inch and 8 inch cake, then the cake board will be 10 inches so your stand should be at least 10-12 inches in diameter.
Do you provide plates and silverware?
We do not, you will have to work with your venue to arrange that.
We want to take the stress out of your planning, so that is why every wedding order is eligible for delivery and set-up services. The services cost $55 per hour which includes travel time and final set-up with flowers, cake toppers and touch-ups. We do not provide plates, napkins, etc. Service cost for large orders will be adjusted.
Once delivery and set-up are complete, handling is out of our control and we cannot promise safe handling by others. Cake and desserts should NOT be left out for more than 4 hours in warm climate because buttercream will begin to soften and decorations may fall. Refrigeration may be necessary.
All Wedding Orders require a minimum 6 week lead time.
To formally book Nadiya’s Cupcakes for your wedding day, we require a non-refundable $250 payment that will go towards the overall order. We may accommodate changes to the order and make any necessary adjustments to the final price until 4 weeks before the Wedding Date which is when the final payment will be due; orders cannot be cancelled after this time. Payments made in less than 4 weeks of the order’s Wedding Date may be subject to a 15% late fee, and any events that are less than 6 weeks away from their Wedding Date will need to be paid in full.