Wedding cakes play an important role in the wedding party. In fact, some brides plan their entire wedding around the style of their cake. While traditional tiered white cakes topped with the figures of the bride and groom remain predominant, colorful cakes depicting wacky themes and personally meaningful tableaus have taken over our pop cultural psyche. They are the subjects of reality shows like the ones on TLC. Cake Boss and Food Network ace of cakes. What style of cake to choose? What should I know? After all, you want that special day to last in the sensory memories of both sight and taste. With this guide you can make your wedding cake both a visual marvel and a culinary delight!
Style
The style of the wedding cake will relate to your choice for the type of wedding you are having and the overall tone it is taking, whether it is formal, informal, contemporary, traditional, indoors or outdoors. When you have set the style, you can make all this information available to your cake designer and provide him with a photo or idea of the decoration with colors and materials, themes and motifs.
themed wedding cakes It can not only reflect the reception, but it can also be based on the location of your honeymoon. For example, the wedding cake decoration might include a Hawaiian motif such as a palm tree on a sandbar, or a couple surfing or mountain climbing. That way, the typical bride and groom on top can be changed with some subtle humor into a traditional tiered wedding cake by replacing the topper with Kermit and Miss Piggy, or any of their playful alter-egos.
You may want to tie in with the architectural theme of the reception space and have an Art Deco style with zig-zags, or classic columns and arches, or contemporary simplicity with rectangles, angles and folds that mimic a Frank Gehry music room. If you and your fiancé (or fiancee) are musicians, you may want to share your love of music by treating your guests to a Baby Grand candy or Rock-and-Roll guitar. Getting married in Sweden? Maybe you want to eat the country, that is, symbolically, in a sheet cake designed with a blue and yellow flag that outlines the geographical shape of the country. Did you and your soon-to-be spouse meet during the Star Trek convention or do you share a love of Halloween?
Then you will see how the ideas grow and how the wedding cake themes are infinite, personal and precious for each couple and their circle of friends and family.
traditional wedding cakes they are of the staggered circular type, but can be upgraded as a fancy stack of diminishing squares. Another up-to-date trend is to decorate tiered cakes with asymmetrical cascading arrangements of fresh, colorful and vibrant flowers. Cake Boss’s floral wedding cakes are leading this trend. Your baker must coordinate with your florist to mix and match the correct flowers.
Another addition is to place wide ribbons around the base of each tier of the cake. Grosgrain or satin ribbon is typical or the baker can create fake icing ribbons.
Mimicking a pattern or motif from the wedding dress is another great trend that helps coordinate the wedding as a whole. The cake designer could duplicate the dress’s lace or embroidery pattern, or copy the bride’s unique necklace. For a more fun look, he or she can simply put some jewelry on the cake, like crystals or fake pearls to reflect the bride’s jewelry. Meanwhile, the traditional wedding cake still abounds with icing flowers, garlands, and swirls.
Taste
Who doesn’t remember a piece of richly glazed wedding cake that was simply delicious? Although your choice of cake and frosting may not please everyone, you can make sure your choices are your partner’s too, then go all out to pick a crowd pleaser!
- White or Yellow Cake. The most traditional wedding cake flavor is white or yellow cake. To take it a step further, you can add filling between layers, and here you have a variety of options, such as custard, milk chocolate, buttercream, raspberry, strawberry jam, and apricot preserves.
- Chocolate cake. Many wedding guests love chocolate cake and brides are finally serving it more often, even though it may be hidden under the traditional white frosting. Better yet, many brides opt for the decadent “double-double” treat: chocolate cake, chocolate filling, chocolate frosting, and chocolate topper!
- marbled cake. A marble cake can be your answer to trying to please everyone, and each cut piece can make a beautiful display on your plate. Another method of pleasing people is to alternate layers or tiers with chocolate cake and white cake.
- lemon cake. For a change, a refreshing lemon cake can fit in with your overall wedding style, especially since you can have the color of lemons as part of your color scheme. Yellow may be more appropriate for a spring or summer wedding.
- Carrot cake. A fall or winter wedding can be the opportunity for carrot cake. Note that the traditional cream cheese frosting found on carrot cake will be cream colored rather than pure white.
- fruit cake. In the UK, the traditional wedding cake is a rich fruit cake. It was the cake chosen for the 2011 wedding of Prince William and Kate. It’s not a dense cake, but the traditional English version is nonetheless filled with chopped dried fruit and nuts and spread with brandy. It is usually topped with Royal Icing which seals in the freshness of the cake.
- royal icing. Due to the smooth and beautiful appearance of Royal Icing, it is often used to decorate wedding cakes and to create delicate decorations on the cake, such as a monogram. As it does not taste as pleasant as marzipan or traditional soft icings, it is not recommended for icing cakes unless cake stands are used. This is because after Royal Icing dries and hardens, it tends to crack easily.
- fondant. This is rolled into thin sheets and placed on top of cakes for a very smooth finish. Fondant makes a great base for decorations and is chosen more for its appearance than its taste, so you may want a more luscious layer of icing underneath.
- Marzipan. A paste of almonds, marzipan is also rolled into thin sheets and glazed to glaze cakes, mainly wedding cakes. This use is particularly common in England, in large fruitcakes. Persipan is a similar but less expensive product in which the almonds are replaced with apricot or peach pits. There are German, French and Spanish variations of marzipan.
Measurements for cutting cakes
Depending on the size of your reception, wedding cakes can cost anywhere from millions to thousands of dollars. One way to have a show-stopper on a budget is to order a smaller tiered cake to display and cut, while having a cake in the kitchen where it can be cut and then served. A brave alternative is to have a cupcake wedding. Displayed on a tiered stand, cupcakes can be offered in multiple flavors with a variety of decorations. Of course, a small tiered cake can be displayed and cut at the ceremony. So, don’t let your budget limit the role your wedding cake can play in your wedding. It will be unique for your special day. Whether traditional or themed, your wedding cake will look wonderful and taste delicious that will be a memory for a lifetime.
(c) 2012 Elizabeth McMillian