How To How to Choose Your Perfect Wedding Cake

How To How to Choose Your Perfect Wedding Cake

How To How to Choose Your Perfect Wedding Cake (Plus Wedding Cake Idea Photos Below)

By: Georgina Clatworthy

FIND THE PERFECT WEDDING CAKE TOPPER - CLICK HERE

How to Choose Your Perfect Cake

Your wedding cake is an important element to your wedding celebrations. Many couples use their wedding cake as the focal point of their reception, so it will need to look fabulous & taste fantastic. Here is some guidance on choosing your perfect wedding cake.

Find your cake style

Traditionally wedding cakes are multi-tiered & covered in white icing. This remains a popular choice today; however the designs & icings get ever more creative & elaborate. Take a look through magazines & online to get an idea of the style that appeals to you most. You may choose a traditional tiered cake with pillars or without, a stunning display of cupcakes, a luxurious chocolate cake or something more novel.

Seek out the talent

When you have an idea of the shape you want your cake to take, start looking for someone to create it for you. As ever recommendations from friends & family is a good place to start or ask your venue if they can recommend someone. Bridal fayres offers you the chance to see cakes in ‘the flesh’ & even have a taste. When you start looking for a cake designer, look for one that specializes in your particular choice of cake, some may be able create fabulous traditional cakes but not a novel cake with intricate decoration.

Choose the flavors

Fruit is the traditional choice for wedding cakes & although still popular, flavored sponge cakes are increasing in popularity. You can choose to have various flavors applied to the plain sponge mix such as lemon or honey. If your have chosen a tiered cake you can have a different flavor for each tier. This is particularly good advice if some of your guests have special dietary requirements. If you choose a sandwich style cake you can also go to town on the fillings such as fruit combinations, cream cheese or chocolate.

Decide on the decoration

The decoration is probably the bit you have given most thought to & will co-ordinate with the rest of your chosen wedding scheme. Traditionally the wedding cake was iced to match the brides dress. Fresh flowers are still a popular choice & you can ask you florist to create to some small arrangements for you cake. Edible flowers can look very impressive & a good designer can make flowers that you will have trouble tell apart from the real thing. A good designer will be able to guide you & come up with a stunning design for your cake, try & furnish them with as much detail as possible about your dress, color schemes & venue.

Top it off

They may have been out of favor in recent years, but cake toppers are making a comeback. The traditional cake topper was a plastic version of the bride & groom, but modern toppers are far more sophisticated. Whimsical toppers, fondant characters of the bride & groom & even elaborate crowns are just some of the options available. Other toppers will match your theme such as snowflakes, or you may go for glamour & have your monogram made up to sit on top of your cake. CLICK HERE FOR CAKE TOPPER IDEAS

Check it for size

You may design a fabulous cake but will it be big enough to feed all your guests? Once the third course is over, hopefully all your guests will be full so you don’t need to serve up large portions. Your cake designer will be able to tell you how big your cake needs to be ensuring sufficient for all & on the portion size. As a general rule a 10″ cake will serve around 70 guests. A square cake is a more economical choice as there is no wastage when cutting, unlike with a round cake. If your budget is tight, have a decorated cake on display at the reception & smaller plain cakes or cutting cakes, in the kitchen for your guests.

Think about presentation

As you will have spent all that effort in designing your beautiful cake it would be a shame to let it down by bad presentation. Place it on a table on it’s own & perhaps add some flower petals or candles to showcase it perfectly. Place it somewhere it can be seen by your guests & not tucked away in a corner.

Save some for later!

Traditionally the top tier of the cake was saved for the christening of your first child. However this only works if the cake is made from fruit & hasn’t been cut into. After the wedding wraps it well & store in an air-tight container. When you come to use it strip away all the icing & ‘feed’ it with brandy to moisten it, and then re-ice. It is worth remembering that after a long period of time your cake may not taste as good as it did on your wedding day & so you may decide to enjoy it on your wedding day & forgo tradition.

CLICK HERE FOR CAKE TOPPER IDEAS

Enjoy Some Wedding Cake Idea Photos Below:

CLICK HERE FOR CAKE TOPPER IDEAS

Wedding Cakes - What's HOT, and what's NOT!?

by: Charish Pyatt Hoover
Owner: http://www.FresnoWeddings.Net/
http://www.WeddingCakesFresno.com/

Everyone LOVES wedding cake! If you don't, well, then I question just how human you are!? ;-)

If you're like me, the first thing you likely notice when you walk into a couple's wedding reception is not just the heavenly aura put off by the wedding cake somewhere across the room, (being displayed almost as if it's a non-touchable work of art), but you most likely notice the heavenly smell as well. A smell that takes you back to your child-hood when you remember sticking your finger in mom's frosting, or getting to lick the bowl clean when all the mixing and pouring is done. A smell that brings good feelings of contentment, and warm hugs.

Some cakes are just too pretty to cut, (Of course that's why the wedding photographer's picture of the cake is so important, so as to preserve this edible work of art that smells so darn good!)
FIND A PHOTOGRAPHER AT: http://www.FresnoWeddingPhotographers.com/

When I started out in the wedding industry in 1991, most people had not heard of fondant covered wedding cakes. In fact a photo of most wedding cakes from back then today - would most likely easily be "dated".

Then, it was common to see multi-tiered buttercream wedding cakes (topped with frosting flowers), and displayed on extravagant plastic (supposedly fairytale-like stands). Some of these stands were inspired by castles, some were just bridges, and some even had water fountains running through them. Most were topped by a traditional bride and groom wedding cake topper.

TODAY, it is rare to see cakes and cake stands as mentioned above. Our more modern bride and groom often take a more simple, and elegant approach when choosing their wedding cake design.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say, that the artistic appearance of the wedding cake is more important than ever for today's bride and groom, , , , but , , , without sacrificing excellent flavor, which can often be the case if choosing a cake designer without ample experience in the actual baking aspect of the cake.

Today - I see a good balance of cakes that are either Fondant (a sweet clay-like covering), or traditional buttercream frosted. Both have their benefits, unique taste, and decorative possibilities.

Frosting flowers are a thing of the past. (see gumpaste flowers below).
Today's cakery's often deliver a cake that is without flowers, that can, and often will be decorated with real flowers brought by the hired florist once the cake has been fully setup on its table.

It is becoming more common to see edible (gum paste flowers) as decorative accents on wedding cakes in place of real flowers, however real flowers are still used most often to date.

Both fondant covered and buttercream frosted cakes can be decorated with CAKE JEWELRY - which can either be a fashionable cake topper, monogrammed cake topper, and/or things such as pearls, or gems (aka BLING), placed all over the cake in a decorative manner. It is also common for colored, decorative, silk ribbon to be used around the base of each tier to add color, style, balance, etc.

FIND MODERN CAKE TOPPERS & CAKE JEWELRY AT: http://www.fresnoweddings.net/wedding_cake_jewelry.html

FIND PERSONALIZED CAKE TOPPERS AT: http://www.fresnoweddings.net/personalized_cake_toppers.html

I have learned that fondant covered wedding cakes tend to hold up better in higher temperatures, therefore if you're having your reception at an outdoor wedding venue, it would be wise to consider this option.

FIND A WEDDING VENUE AT: http://www.weddinglocationcalifornia.com/central_california_wedding_location.html

While some couples choose a more simple, elegant look for their wedding cake, there are those who want a cake designed specifically for the purpose of serving as an expression of their personalities, or a special passion in their life.

For example: One couple chose a wedding cake in the shape of a fire truck topped with a riding bride and groom. The groom had been a firefighter for many years, and the couple thought that this design was not only a tribute to the groom's dedication, but to the many firefighter friends/guests that were to attend their wedding reception as well. As a small tribute to the bride, a small duplicate of a tiny blue sports car she owned and loved was placed to the side of the fire truck.

So what's HOT, and what's NOT when it comes to wedding cakes? The answer is pretty much anything that suits the styles, and personalities of the bride and groom is HOT!!! What's NOT? I say who cares?

Whether you want a mini fondant wedding cake for each of your guests, a six tiered buttercream wedding cake smothered in daisies, or an elegant and completely BLINGED out fondant wedding cake, , , , , be sure to choose your cake designer/baker carefully, as few things can harm your reception success than a lopsided wedding cake (delivered late), , , that not only looks little like you had discussed with the designer, but also leaves a lot to be desired in the flavor department!

FIND A TRUSTED FRESNOWEDDINGS.NET MEMBER CAKERY AT: http://www.fresnoweddings.net/wedding_cakes.html