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Choosing a wedding cake
Wedding cakes are an important tradition, and the cutting of the cake is often a key focus of the wedding reception. Your wedding cake is likely to be photographed and admired throughout the day, so it’s worth taking some time to choose a well-designed, good quality cake.
Traditionally, wedding cakes are made of three iced tiers, but many couples go for a more modern option these days. Also, some people don’t go for an actual wedding cake at all. For example having lots of iced cupcakes is a fashionable option at the moment, as is a croquembouche-a French profiterole dessert.
Making a wedding cake
It is possible to make your own wedding cake or let a friend or family make it for you. However, unless they have experience in this area it can turn out to be a more stressful option than seeking professional help early on. Making and decorating a wedding cake is not as simple as making an ordinary cake.
For starters there is a lot of pressure to make the perfect wedding cake, and there are also a number of practical considerations. It takes experience and skill to make the wedding cake stand up, ice it accurately and bake it to perfection. Making your own wedding cake also requires time and forward planning. Many experts advise that you bake your wedding cake around three months before your wedding day-this is when you’re likely to be busiest organising all the other aspects of your wedding!
If you are considering making your own wedding cake, think it through thoroughly to make sure it’s practical.
Professional wedding cakes
If you choose an expert to make your wedding cake, you’ll have peace of mind knowing that you will have a professional-looking and delicious cake for your wedding day.
Make sure you order your wedding cake well in advance. You should start visiting wedding cake makers about six months before your wedding date.
When you visit cake makers, ask to look at their portfolio to see previous wedding cakes they have made. This will give you an idea of some of the possibilities for your wedding cake and also perhaps gives you some fresh ideas which you hadn’t previously considered.
Choosing a wedding cake
The size of your wedding cake will obviously depend on the number of guests you are inviting to your wedding. Your wedding cake maker will need to know how many people you are catering for before they start designing the wedding cake. It can also be a nice gesture to have enough wedding cake made so that you can send some to people who couldn’t make the wedding.
For the design of your wedding cake you could choose something along the lines of a cake you have seen in the cake maker’s portfolio. Alternatively you can take a picture in of a wedding cake you have seen somewhere else and admired. Most wedding cake makers will be willing to make something similar for you. Try looking in cake decoration magazines or books for suitable images of wedding cakes. Obviously the design you choose for your wedding cake will affect the cost and the fancier the design, the more the wedding cake will cost.
Of course the taste of your wedding cake is just as important as how it looks so ask the wedding cake makers for some samples to try. There are a number of options for different flavours and fillings for your wedding cake, so it’s a good idea to taste a few to see what you like. Chocolate, fruit and sponge are all options for your wedding cake. If you really can’t choose, you could always go for a different flavour for each layer of your wedding cake!
Although you need to give the cake maker plenty of time to bake and decorate the wedding cake, it’s best not to choose the decoration of the cake until you have finalised details such as your wedding dress, bridesmaids’ dresses and flowers. This way you can have the wedding cake decorated to match the colour theme of your wedding or at least remain in keeping with the overall style of your wedding.