I know a lady that does cakes that are amazing!!! She is much less expensive than any of the bakeries, but her work is every bit as good or better! Her cakes taste delicious, and have a look that will wow your guests. The great thing about her is that you tell her exactly what you want, or give her some ideas of what you have in mind and she draws up about 6 different cakes and emails them to you. At that point, you look at them and let her know what features you like about each cake, which features you don't like so much, and then she draws the design for your cake based on everything you have liked. Then you basically go back and forth with her tweaking the design until it is the perfect cake of your dreams! Then you start talking price - and I will say her prices are significantly lower than most bakeries out there of the same quality. If the price is a little higher than what you had in mind she just makes suggestions of how to alter the cake to fit the budget. She is soooooo easy to work with!! She has many flavors of cake to choose from - we got the strawberry cake and it was unbelievable and so moist. She gives you icing choices as well and does lots of decorative work with fondant that just makes the cake so special. Give her a try - you will be going back to her every year! I know I will be. Her company is Iced Artistry and the website is http://icedartistry.blogspot.com/
If you see a heart shaped Cinderella cake on the website, that was my daughter's birthday cake - it was the talk of the party. I think every single Mom asked me where I got it! Good luck and have a great birthday party!!!