If you thought your wedding cake had to be fruitcake… think again! Classic cake designs will never go out of fashion. But traditional doesn’t have to mean old fashioned
The choice in wedding cakes is literally endless! Wedding cakes can come in almost any flavour you can think of. In the end it’s a matter of personal taste but here are a few of the latest trends.
WEDDING CAKE TRENDS
Serving your cake as dessert
If you’re serving your cake as dessert, plan carefully what comes before it. If you’re having a very savoury main dish you might consider a more sweet and sticky cake, if your meal is quite rich, you might go for something a little lighter in texture and taste. Ask your caterers to serve it with cream, ice cream or fresh fruit.
Other points to take into consideration are the time of day your wedding will be held. If you’re having a wedding brunch, a banana cake might be just the ticket. Also, what season is your wedding to be held in? A lighter cake in summer may be more to your guest’s tastes, however in winter a white chocolate mud cake may be the ideal choice!
Miniature wedding cakes are very popular and have many uses. They can be served as an alternative to dessert at your reception or they can be mini versions of your wedding cake to be given to guests as bombonniere. They can also come in just about any flavour and colour.
Which flavour?
The best flavour cake is the one that you and your partner will enjoy the most. Chocolate wedding cakes are ever increasing in popularity, but many couples are also choosing to have layers in toffee, fudge, coffee, carrot, and fruity flavours. Go to your cake designer together and taste some of the options available. If you just can’t decide on the best flavour why not have a different one for each tier?
Here are some flavour ideas to whet your appetite:
- Traditional dark fruitcake
- Mud cakes in any flavour you can think of – try cherry, caramel, mango and of course white or dark chocolate.
- Carrot cake
- Flourlesss orange and almond
- Croqembouche
- Butterscotch
- Lemon
- Honey maple carrot
- Lemon buttermilk
- Port and chocolate fruitcake
- Almond banana
- Chocolate cherry
Cakes inspired by bridal gowns
There is a growing trend towards basing your cake design on the style of your wedding dress or your wedding theme. Ivory, cream and white cakes are regaining popularity, and these are being decorated with pearls, diamante, fabric, flowers and pieces of jewellery to mimic the bride’s outfit. Some high end cake makers are actually working with dress designers to create couture cakes inspired by the designers’ collections.
For brides who want something different to the traditional white cake, colour is making a big comeback and strong colours and bold patterns such as polka dots are very fashionable. The cake colours can be chosen to complement the overall wedding colour scheme; choosing a bolder shade of the bridesmaid dress colour often works well. Large individual patterns such as flowers can extend across several cake layers to add impact.
Ice cream cakes
For casual summer weddings, ice cream cakes are the perfect choice, and should double up as dessert as your guests won’t be able to take a piece home. White chocolate and strawberry or lemon are popular flavours for ice cream cakes, just be careful not to leave the cake out of the freezer for too long if you don’t want it to collapse.
A new twist on cup cakes
The trend for a large cake stand with individual cup cakes is still going, but some couples are looking for new ways to work with this. One innovative solution is a traditional round layered cake with a couple of layers made up of tiny individual square cakes, fully iced and personalised for your guests. This is a more formal alternative to cup cakes but still means that each guest gets an individual cake.
Metallic accessories
Metallic themes are currently becoming more evident in every area of wedding design, including the cake decoration. Ribbons, icing and other decorative features can be found in traditional silver and gold, or more contemporary metallics such as pink, pewter and bronze. Another trend is using large pieces of costume jewellery instead of flowers to adorn your wedding cake, and to tie the cake design in with your overall wedding theme. This trend is particularly good for winter or evening weddings, where the jewels will sparkle under your lighting. Swarovski crystal monograms and white on white icing with textured highlights are becoming increasingly popular with modern brides.
Unusually shaped layers
Tiered wedding cakes do not need to have matching layers. Stacking various shapes on top of each other creates a modern, alternative look. Traditional tiers are still quite popular, although plastic pillars are a definite no-no! Instead, the layers are placed directly on top of each other. If pillars are needed to steady a heavy cake, then the cake decorators are hiding them behind fresh flowers, sugared fruits and berries for a lush look.
Cake calligraphy
There is a trend for wedding cakes with writing, usually they tend to be white cakes with black iced writing. Many couples choose a single word or phrase, while others have a whole poem or verse in beautiful writing on their cake.
Etiquette
Traditional wedding etiquette says that the top tier of the cake is to remain uncut and stored until the first anniversary, so if you would like to follow this, then the top tier of your cake should be fruitcake. Store it well, wrap and freeze it in an airtight container. When your first anniversary arrives, you can have the cake re-iced and enjoy.
