Wedding & Tiered Cakes

For spring and summer weddings, it is best to have your order placed by Christmas. For autumn or winter weddings, place your order by Easter to ensure availability. Keep in mind that getting appointments during the "Wedding Season", which in West Michigan is May 1st through October 31st, can sometimes be difficult because we are very focused on producing cakes for our current weddings. For this reason, Saturday wedding appointments are only available November 1st through April 30th.

Bring any ideas for the cake design that you have in mind. We have free Wi-Fi at the bakery, so we can pull up your Pinterest Boards or feel free to bring pictures from magazines, books, websites, your gown, invitations…anything that inspires you! Be sure to bring along color samples so that the designers can match your cake to your colors. Additionally, be prepared with your deposit. We require a minimum of $50 or 20% down on your cake, whichever is greater, at the end of your consultation.

At Ryke’s we build tiers that are different sizes; because of that, they are cut differently.

• A 3” tall tier has two layers of cake, one layer of filling and servings are based on a 1 ½” x 2” x 3” cut.
• A 4” tall tier has three layers of cake, two layers of filling and servings are based on a 1” x 2” x 4” cut.
• A 5” tall tier has four layers of cake, three layers of filling and servings are based on a 1” x 2” x 5” cut. Because of the additional layer of cake, 5” tiers have a higher starting cost.

Any stacked cake starts at $150.00 regardless of how small it is. As a general rule, most cakes serving more than 50 people range from $4 - $7 per serving depending on the design. We will work with you to stay within your budget.  Other costs may include equipment rental, delivery, and set-up charges.

Tiered cakes require additional time and materials to construct so that the cake doesn’t topple down. Each tier has to be completely level and have an internal structure to secure it. It takes at least 4 to 5 times longer to build, frost, and stack a tiered cake than to build a sheet or a round layer cake. Additional time is also needed for the consultation and for artwork. The more detail, colors, materials, and hand-work required to decorate the cake, the more time it will take; consequently, the more the cake will cost.

Yes, we can decorate styrofoam tiers, and this is a great option if you are interested in having the appearance of a larger cake. If your intention is to save money, this is not a great option as the majority of the cost of your wedding cake is in the decorating of the cake and the dummy tiers still have to be decorated. So, by the time you pay for artwork and then order your sheet cakes, it’s basically a “wash”.

Yes, every tier can be different. However, it is important to consider how the cake will be served when making the decision about offering more than just one flavor. If the cake is being served buffet style, offer many choices and create a cake or dessert buffet. If the cake is plated and served directly to your guests, offer one choice only to ensure that guests are served quickly.

Yes, as long as you are offering another sweet that we don't offer at our bakery. We ask that all cupcakes, kitchen cakes, and sheet cakes come from our bakery as we work very hard to produce an extraordinary product and don't want to confuse guests by giving them something they think came from our bakery which, in reality, did not.

Yes, we absolutely prepare groom's cakes! The groom's cake is an old English tradition where small pieces of cake, generally dark, rich, liquor-saturated fruitcake, were boxed and given to the unmarried female guests to take home and place under their pillow. The myth promised that while sleeping with the cake under her pillow, she would dream of the man she would marry.

This tradition took hold in the southern United States and has slowly migrated to the rest of the country. In the U.S., the groom's cake is usually a chocolate cake decorated to represent the groom's hobbies, career, or with a fun, contemporary design and is often the dessert served after the rehearsal dinner or displayed with the wedding cake.

Absolutely! We understand that many of you have moved out of town and are coming home to get married or planning a destination wedding on fabulous Lake Michigan. Complete our Wedding Cake Planning Questionnaire and we’ll get the process started. Email the form along with a photo of what you are thinking. Your photos can be from our website or from any other source.  Our cake artists can do just about anything.

Yes, we offer a complimentary tasting which consists of our classic flavors of batters and fillings. This tasting is offered during the full consultation when you place your order and put your deposit down.

As we are a full-service bakery, we also have products available in the store every day. Feel free to pop in anytime and purchase a piece of cake, cupcakes, pastries, or anything else you may be considering.

Yes, we offer delivery within an 80 mile radius of Muskegon, Michigan. Delivery costs vary and are based on time and mileage.

If you are outside of our delivery area, we are still happy to make your wedding cake. We have had cakes travel to Wisconsin on the Ferry, Northern Michigan, the Detroit area, Chicago, and beyond. Just let us know at the beginning of your consultation so we design a cake that can travel safely to your wedding destination.

Yes we can ship 7”, 8”, or 9” round cakes. Because our products are fresh and made without preservatives, we ship overnight or 2nd day air to ensure quality. Cakes are fresh frozen after decorating and put in a Polar Tech shipping system to ensure quality and freshness. Due to the special packing required, a $50 handling fee is charged for EACH cake which includes dry ice and the shipping system. Shipping charges which are based on standard UPS or FedEx rates are additional.

Please click here for guidelines on using EBT at Ryke’s Bakery.

• Call the bakery during business hours: Monday-Friday, 6:30am-5:30pm and Saturdays & Sundays, 7:00am-3:00pm.
• A VIP membership or full payment is required at the time of order. If paying with EBT, please click here for more information.
• Two weeks notice is requested for all special orders; however, call us if needed sooner to discuss how we can accommodate your specific needs.
• Approval of product is requested at pick up. We are happy to fix anything you are not satisfied with, while at the bakery.

We ask that you place your order by phone (231-726-2253) so we can clarify the information and ensure accuracy.

Yes, we do ask for full payment at the time of order unless you are a member of our VIP Program. We started asking for pre-payment because of the amount of orders placed and never picked up. We ask for payment regardless of the quantity ordered. We accept all major credit cards, cash, checks, and EBT cash benefits. Click here for more information regarding EBT and deposits.

During the holidays, graduation season, or for large orders, we love at least 2 weeks notice, but feel free to call and we’ll see how we can accommodate you if you need something sooner. For smaller orders during the “off season”, just let us know within a week to 4 days and we’ll have your order ready for you!

Changes to your order or cancellations will be honored at no charge up to one week prior (7 days) to the scheduled pick up date. If less than a week notice is given, there will be an additional charge for changes to design, cake sizes, or cancellations up to 50% of the original cost.

It depends on what you’re ordering. If it’s something we carry in the store on a regular basis, there are no minimum orders. If it’s for cupcakes, breads, rolls, or other products that are made to order or only carried during the holidays, minimum orders apply as we sell by the batch to minimize waste.

Yes, we offer an $11 dozen doughnut deal all day, every day, and a quantity discount on our Homestyle cookies if purchasing 4 dozen or more. We are unable to offer quantity discounts on decorated products (cupcakes, pastries, decorated cookies, etc.) because of the time involved to make each one.

As much as we’d love to be able to accommodate every request that we get, our equipment is very large and when we bake anything, we are making 50 gallon batches; which is enough to make 100 cakes! We don’t have equipment at the bakery small enough to make a single cake.

Yes, we can. Please give us one week to process your image. You are welcome to bring your image into the bakery or e-mail your image to info@rykes.com. If pulling images off the internet, keep in mind that we are subject to copyright law, so we’ll need written permission from the owner of that image to reproduce it for you on your cake.

Any picture provided must be in JPEG format.

Because we are selling our cakes to you, we are bound by Copyright and Trademark Law. This means that any character that is trademarked, like Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, college or company logos and most other characters from popular TV shows and movies are off limits for our bakery to reproduce unless we have written permission from the owner of the copyright or trademark. The reason you see them online is because many of these cakes are being produced by hobby bakers for their families and friends and are not being resold to the public. We are not allowed to make money from someone else’s intellectual property.

We do, however, have a wide variety of “licensed” toys that we can put on your cake. We also have requested permission from many West Michigan High Schools and Colleges to reproduce their logos on our cakes. Please view our list of licensed kits and logos. If what you are looking for is not on our list, feel free to contact that company directly and request written permission. The permission and approved item in a .jpg format can be e-mailed to info@rykes.com. Please include your name and event date in the subject line of the e-mail.

Sadly, we do not make any Sugar-Free or Gluten-Free products. We made an attempt, early on, but because we are equipped only for large batches, we had too much waste for the amount of products that were being requested.

Some of our products, like our carrot cake and sweet breads, do contain nuts and all of our baked goods are baked in the same kitchen and may not be suitable for individuals with nut allergies.

We ask that all products are approved at pick up and due to the nature of our products, we cannot accept returns or issue refunds. However, we want all customers to be 100% satisfied with their Ryke’s Bakery experience. If for some reason you are dissatisfied, please contact the bakery within 24 hours of your purchase and we will do our best to address your concern.

There are too many kids runnin' around here! We choose to keep our cakes rated PG.