Choosing a Wedding Cake

Your choice of wedding cake gives you a great opportunity to stamp your personality on your wedding celebrations. So max out the possibilities and get creative!

As a centrepiece, your wedding cake sets the tone for the wedding breakfast and reception. Whether you opt for a traditional or contemporary design wedding cake, you’ll want it to wow your guests, while also complementing the overall style of your special day.


Ideas for Wedding Cakes and Wedding Cake Alternatives

• Croquembouche: (a French tradition), a pyramid shaped creation of choux pastry buns oozing crème patisserie, and topped with drizzled caramel; check out www.wedding-cakes.co.uk.

• Pukka Polka Dot Design: be bold with stunning polka dot tiers with a retro feel; visit www.daisyhillcakes.com.

• ‘A cake for all seasons’: www.cakesforfun.co.uk; creates seasonal ambience with spring, summer, autumn and winter themed wedding cake to match your choice of wedding date.

• A chocolate fountain is a great scene-setter and the ‘wedding cake’ of choice for many contemporary couples. Guests particularly enjoy the participation element with a selection of delicious confections to dip in the cascading melted chocolate. For example, see www.wedding-cakes.co.uk.

• ‘Catwalk’ wedding cakes that reflect current fashion trends are big news; influenced, for example, by the likes of Karl Lagerfeld and Vera Wang. Alternatively, you could have a cake designed to complement style elements of the bride’s wedding gown.


Tips to Trim Costs Not Quality

• Why not abandon the traditional wedding cake and go for an inspirational dessert as a centrepiece; very ‘now’ and an increasingly popular option for contemporary style weddings?

• An eye-catching cupcake tower makes a fun, style statement, while also keeping your budget under control. Other possibilities include themed creations composed of individual upmarket chocolates from your favourite chocolatier or individual cheeses and exotic fruit.

• Most families have someone who’s nifty in the baking department and would be chuffed to contribute to the celebrations by creating a bespoke designed wedding cake, perhaps as a wedding present!

• Traditional (and expensive) fruit cake bases are no longer an essential requirement for modern day wedding cakes. Chocolate cake is a popular alternative, so too are lemon cake, Victoria sponge and carrot cake.


Trendy Ideas for Cutting & Serving the Wedding Cake

The tradition of cutting the cake after the speeches is often abandoned in today’s weddings in favour of keeping the cake for the evening buffet.

If you really want to be on trend, why not do as the Americans do and present a cake to the groom during the reception?

Top Tip

When it comes to wedding cakes, size does matter! So think carefully about what size cake you need to order. Much depends on when you intend to serve the cake, e.g. as coffee sized portions after the main wedding feast, or possibly at the evening buffet. But as a general guideline a 9.8kg 3-tier cake of 15cm, 20cm and 25cm diameter serves approximately 144 guests.