You Take the Cake
A slice of the divine

A delightful and delicious cake caps off a wonderful wedding and offers yet another way to show your personal style. There are as many cake designs as there are wedding gowns, and it pays to do your research before making a choice.

Variety is the spice of life and there are certainly a wide variety of flavors available in
the wedding cake market. Gone are the days of the cake that is white inside and out. Contemporary cakes come in flavors ranging from carrot and lemon sponge to chocolate mousse with mocha filling, and ice cream cakes, fruit basket cakes . . . the choices are limitless. If you have a favorite cake, chances are, those flavors can be integrated into your wedding celebration.

As for design, your imagination certainly seems to be the limit for how your wedding cake will look. Some of the most popular choices are white chocolate, cream cheese and traditional butter cream frosting—either white or colored. Rolled fondant is a popular choice because of its elegant, smooth porcelain-like look and the ease with which it is sculpted by confectioners. All those swirls, polka dots, and ribbons make the modern wedding cake a true expression of who the two of you are. Bakers today have become true artists when it comes to decorating your wedding cake.

While the round tiered cake is still the most popular, many couples are opting for more creative interpretations of the wedding cake. Square or hexagonal cakes make a stunning impression, as do those with overall patterns. Bands of color, ribbon and even gemstones are making a big splash in the wedding cake market.

If theme is an important aspect of your wedding, ask your baker to incorporate some of those design elements into your cake as well. Asian themes, bright colors, filigree designs, even custom "artwork" on a wedding cake are all possibilities.

Many couples are mixing things up and offering other desserts in addition to their wedding cake. Others are opting for a dessert bar stocked with family favorites, impressive towers of cupcakes, cookies, chocolate fountains, even s'mores.

Selecting a Baker
When selecting a bakery, find one that specializes in wedding cakes. Ask for references from friends, hotels, reception sites, bridal consultants and other wedding professionals. If your favorite bakery is in another town, ask about shipping. Many couture bakeries are now offering delivery of wedding cakes within a specified distance.

Most bakeries will offer you a book of photographs showing some of their previous designs, and will let you sample some of the most popular flavors. Bringing photographs or color swatches of elements you'd like to incorporate into your design will help. If you don't see what you have in mind, discuss your ideas with your baker. Likewise, if you would like to incorporate a cake topper into the design, share this information with your baker from the beginning.

Aside from design and flavor, the baker will need to know how many guests will be served. Be sure to ask about cake sizes, delivery charges, payment schedules and deposits during your meeting. You might also discuss ways to economize, such as false layers, ordering a smaller decorative cake and serving some of your guests from a separate sheet cake. As the cakes are often cut for serving away from the guests, most will not know which pieces came from the tiered cake and which came from a same-flavor sheet cake.

The Wow Factor
The flowers may bring the romance to your event, your gown may make you feel like queen for the day, but the wedding dessert can certainly bring the wow factor to your reception.

Some of our favorite cakes this year include those in non-traditional colors. How about the garden of delights that results when a creative baker adorns a cake with realistic looking sugar paste flowers? Our favorites this season are beautiful twists on the floral decorated cake.

Replicating a pattern from the bride's wedding dress or the table décor brings the event theme to the forefront. Monograms and cake jewels also take a cake from plain to spectacular. We have seen wedding cakes adorned with flowers, sea shells, peacock feathers, favorite candies, even cookies fashioned to resemble tiny Venetian mardi gras masks. Dream a little dream and, together with the right baker, you'll have a wonderful creation to cap off your wedding reception.

Save the best for later?
It is a long-held tradition to save the top tier of the wedding cake for the couple to enjoy on their first anniversary. Many couples arrange for the wait staff at the reception site to remove this tier before they begin serving the guests. Often a friend or relative will take the cake to the couple's home and place it in the freezer. Other couples like the sentiment of this tradition but would rather have a fresh cake. Those couple usually ask the baker to make a new small cake for their first-anniversary celebration.

Cake:
Ambrosia of Tucson

Photography:
Studio Z

Chris Richards Photography

Ted Hewitt Photography