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How to Choose Your Perfect Wedding 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
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.
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.
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.
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.
by: Georgina Clatworthy
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