Wedding cakes are the centerpiece of a wedding reception. These cakes are masterfully baked, carefully layered and creatively decorated representations of newlywed couples.
All that said, perfectly encapsulating your relationship in a single baked treat is no small task. We break down this task into three simple steps with help from Edible Art Bakery, so you can design the perfect wedding cake for your special day.
Step 1: Choosing an overall wedding cake design
Edible Art ruffle wedding cake designed with unique symbols of birds and keys
The first thing you need to consider is the design of the wedding cake. To start, you should find photos of cakes and trends you like. Here are some of the wedding cake trends of 2021 you can use to find the latest and most popular wedding cake aesthetics. For more inspiration, we recommend doing research and checking out Edible Art’s Facebook, Instagram and website or our Pinterest.
Once you have collected designs that catch your eye, pinpoint the aspects of each design you like most. Remember, you do not need to replicate a design from one photo. Many wedding cake vendors, like Edible Art Bakery, can incorporate different aspects from multiple photos to build your dream wedding cake.
Step 2: Considering important details
A custom Edible Art five tier Marvel superhero wedding cake design.
Flavoring: While it is acceptable to mix up the flavors and choose multiple flavors within a tiered cake, we suggest sticking by the “less is more” rule. If you want a two-to-three tier cake, we recommend sticking with the same flavor throughout. A maximum of two flavors is best for cakes with more than two or three tiers because each tier is a different size and serves a different number of people.
Layering: If you’re planning on adding a faux layer to your cake, only the top layer or layers should be faux. The bottom layers should be kept real. The faux layers are light and can cause structural damage during transportation if placed on the bottom.
Icing: Many people have trouble choosing between buttercream and fondant. There are some distinctions to consider when making your final decision. Buttercream provides a better taste and more intricate detail. Fondant, on the other hand, can be used for more elaborate 3D designs.
Coloring: When light colors are added to buttercream, the taste of the icing does not change significantly. However, darker colors like blue, red and black can give the buttercream a different taste and cause temporary stains or discoloration to people’s mouths. To avoid this, we suggest using fondant for darker colors within your cake design.
Step 3: Making the finishing touches
The very last details to consider are decorative elements. Decorations are the perfect way to include symbols or elements that make your relationship unique and showcase your personalities.
Traditionally, wedding cakes include beautiful flowers that match the aesthetic of the venue decorations. There are many materials you can use for your flowers. Fresh, faux and fondant flowers all have different yet beautiful qualities when added to a cake.
Wedding cake decoration close-up of Edible Art’s gum paste flower.
If you’d prefer flowers to be more detailed in natural and earthy tones, we recommend fresh or faux flowers. When choosing fresh flowers, be sure to choose flowers with thicker stems as they will provide more sturdiness to the display.
There are also benefits to fondant or gumpaste flowers. You can color these flowers anyway you want and they can last for a longer period of time. Also, these flowers do not wilt, so you can easily save them as a memento.
Now that you have the basic steps, we hope you can get started on your exciting wedding cake journey.
But we know these decisions may be hard to make on your own. To support you along the way, there are plenty of local North Carolina wedding cake bakeries that are happy to help craft the perfect wedding cake of your dreams.