What to consider when choosing your wedding cake
Type of wedding cake
The first thing is to decide what type of cake you want. Traditionally, fruit cake is used (mainly because it lasts longer) but there’s no reason it can’t be carrot cake, chocolate cake or even a tower of cupcakes! Remember that whatever you choose is unlikely to be everyone’s favourite so maybe choose a different cake for each tier or have a variety of flavoured cupcakes.
Wedding cake decorations
When speaking to the cake designer be sure to have an idea of what you want it to look like. If possible, provide an image from a magazine or friend’s wedding. Think about making the cake special and unique to you both, perhaps by having decorations that represent you. If you and your partner share a hobby why not incorporate this into the wedding cake decoration? Don’t be shy about telling the cake maker exactly what you want –so if it’s a pair of golf clubs you want iced onto your cake then so be it.
Inspiration for your wedding cake
Perhaps you could base the cake around aspects of the wedding such as your dress, the venue or overall theme of the wedding. The details on your dress could be recreated in icing or the design of the rings used as inspiration. Consult your cake maker and see what they’ve created before – ask to see a portfolio of their work – because they just might have an idea that will work great with your wedding that you haven’t considered.
Allergic to wedding cake!?
Be sure to consider guests who may have allergies. Although you can’t cater for every conceivable allergy it is wise to avoid common allergies in your cake, such as nuts or marzipan. Just ensure you warn your guests of any potential allergens to avoid any emergency scenarios.
Transportation of your wedding cake
You want your cake to arrive in one piece, or at least in as many tiers as you ordered it! As such you’ll want to remove any of the hassle and worry by ensuring that your cake maker is responsible for getting it to your reception. Most cake makers will provide this service, although there may be an additional charge for this. They may even provide the stand and knife for the cake, though you’ll be responsible for ensuring that this is returned to them.
Wedding cake size is everything
Try to order a bigger cake than you think you will need. For starters, it will look more impressive, and secondly, you’ll be able to save some for people who were unable come to the wedding (while still catering for those who want second helpings at the wedding!) The wedding cake is a statement so no-one wants to be embarrassed by a cake that won’t stretch to all of the guests. Let them eat cake!
Wedding cake recommendation
If you don’t want the worry then ask your friends for who they used to make their cake. There’s nothing better than a recommendation to put your mind at ease and almost make the decision for you with the minimum of fuss. Even if they had a disaster with their cake, at least you then know who to avoid. If you end up with a whole host of recommended cake makers then at least you have the option of meeting a few of them, discussing ideas and then narrowing your options down. Plus all that sampling can’t be a bad thing!
Seeing double – two wedding cakes?
There’s no reason you can’t have two wedding cakes, after all, there’s two of you getting wed! With two cakes it becomes easier to please those who are a fussier, it adds a bit of variety and it could get round some of the allergy issues. You could even make your cakes double as a dessert, which will save on cost and hassle. Phew.
