Spotlight on...Wedding Cakes

Amber Daniels

Choosing a wedding cake can be just as daunting as choosing your dress. Gone are the days of simply choosing a cake flavor and traditional icing style. Today’s bride faces a plethora of choices including fondant, buttercream or no frosting at all, white or brightly colored, decorated or plain, small or large, traditional, inverted, or skewed tiers, square, round or structural… the list goes on and on. To help you narrow the field we have broken down some of the biggest trends in wedding cakes with a few examples of each. Happy tasting!

Small Cakes

One of the biggest trends in cakes this year is also one of my favorites. Smaller cakes allow brides on a budget to have the cake of their dreams without breaking the bank. The smaller intricate cake is used for the ceremonial cake cutting and the actual cake that is served to the guests is traditional sheet cake. Sheet cake is much cheaper per slice than the decorated wedding cake and once it’s cut the wedding cake loses its look anyway, thus making smaller cakes and sheet cakes the most economical way to go. Once the ceremonial cake is cut you can use it to serve the head tables and parents tables, take it home and relive memories over it the day after the wedding, or use it as the centerpiece of your dessert table like recent Peabody couple Eve and Greg Beye did with the cake featured below. (Photo courtesy of Beautiful Mess Photography, cake by Sarah’s Cakeshop)

Ombre

Ombre cakes started trending early last year and have shown no signs of slowing down. For the adventurous bride there is the option of full bright colored ombre, like the small cake featured below. (All pictures: Pinterest)

 

More subdued brides can still get in on the ombre fun by using a light neutral color or using traditional white with ombre colored accents

Candy Covered Cakes

Candy covered cakes are a way for sweets lovers to combine their favorite things into one delectable dessert. Match the candy to your wedding colors or go all out and theme your cake based on your favorite candy treat.

Dress Themed Cakes

Another trend that is quickly gaining popularity is that of designing the cake after the look of a dress. Whether it’s ruffles, layers or the weave of your favorite cable knit sweater, textured cakes are a great way for a fashion savvy bride to show off their style.

Floral Cakes

Floral cakes have been popping up as a another way to add texture and dimension to your cake with the use of fondant or sugar. Whether you go full on floral or just one floral accent there are plenty of options to choose from.

Start planning the wedding of your dreams today by contacting Angie Carr at acarr@peabodyoperahouse.com or click here for more information.