Saturday 9 March 2013

Have your cake & eat it too - Part 2 - 5 Ideas for a Show Stopping Wedding Cake

OK so after sharing my beautiful cake with you here's the 5 ideas I have seen & loved along with some advice on picking that perfect cake. Just remember although it may seem like "just a cake" you will spend a good 20-30 minutes of your day having pictures taken 'Cutting the cake'. This will become a focal point of the day and you will want this cake to look perfect so make sure you put the same time & effort selecting this as you did choosing the perfect dress.

1) Cupcakes: I love cupcakes, they are so cute and on the plus side you don't have to slice an entire cake for your guests. Any left over after the wedding day won't go stale as quickly as a sponge & you can get really creative with cupcakes. Plus you know how many guests are coming so it's a lot easier to cater for, where as with a sponge you are estimating that a certain sized sponge will serve so many. Also you can still have that small one tier cake to allow for the traditional 'cutting of the cake' Here are two examples of cupcake Wedding Cakes I think are just amazing:





I love that these little cakes are iced & topped in the same way as the top tier. It looks so cute the way it's all tied in.







 What I love most about this cake is that the top tier is a giant cupcake! I mean come on, that is how you do cupcake my friends! Mega cute but I don't know that I could cut this. I'd have to pretend.






Price wise for a cupcake wedding cake it will vary hugely depending on whether or not you want a top tier for cutting, how many cupcakes you want, flavours & just how extravagant you want the decorations but roughly you are looking at about £60 for 50 cupcakes & about £30-40 for the top tier/cake. This is rough & of course will vary dependent on your cake provider but certainly doable for around £100.

2) Single Tier Wedding Cake: Provided your cake is sufficiently sized for the amount of guests you have there is no reason why a single tiered cake can't be just as dramatic, attractive or show stopping. An added bonus with this option is that it is so much cheaper. For a large cake you will get around 60 servings and that would cost you about £50. 


This heart shaped cake is a lovely idea and reminded me there is nothing to stop you varying the shape of your cake, it doesn't have to be square or round. Heart, Book Shaped, Infinity signs, Hexagons & Star Shapes are just a few of the variations I've seen.








3) Cheesecake: Not everyone is a lover of sponges, or maybe you just fancy doing something different. One of the ideas I considered was a cheesecake, but too many people I know wouldn't have eaten it including my husband, so it seemed a waste. However this idea really grabbed my fancy, is it something you'd consider?


If I had decided to go cheesecake it would have had to be something like this, chocolate fudge cheesecake topped with profiteroles. For a three tier version of this you are looking at around £175-250 and thats to serve about 50/60 guests so its not cheap, but shop around see if you know any secret cheesecake masters.




4) Themed Designs: I personally stayed very traditional and just incorporated my theme of butterflies by having icing butterflies spiral up the side of the cake, however if you want to be less traditional, and far braver than me, you can create some spectacular themed cakes. Here's a few that sparked my interest, but price wise these would be pretty expensive unless you were decorating the cake yourself:


This cake is just WOW! I love all the shells, sand & of course the deckchair cake toppers. For a wedding abroad or even just a summer wedding this would be the Perfect cake! Stunning!









For the couple who like to travel, or are about to set off on an adventure how cute is this! It's different but not too outlandish. Shape-wise the Sponges are easily made it's just the icing that is a little intricate, but if you are good with icing, or know someone who is I think this is a little treasure!





OK, so it's not for every-one and is bordering big fat gypsy wedding style wise, but what Princess doesn't need a castle? It's different, not for everyone but I like it.









It's disney, what is there to not like about it! If I ever get in to cake baking & decoration I will be making this when my best friend gets married. She loves Disney as much as I do ... probably more as I don't love it enough to have a Disney Wedding but I'm pretty sure she would :)








There are so many ideas out there. Use google to your advantage, look up ideas. You don't have to use the idea in full but take the elements you like and use them to create your dream cake.

5) Why have cake at all?: Not a fan of cake? Not bothered about the traditional slicing of the cake? Then the world is your oyster. Here's some ideas:


Croquembouche - basically a stack of profiteroles. Decorate with fruits, flowers, sugar arts. Or just cover in Chocolate!










Rice Crispies any one? - Rice Crispy Cake, a very unusual idea but yes, I see the attraction. Easily made yourself too - recipe for Mars Rice Crispy cake is coming up some time soon I think!








Fruit. For all those health conscious, or just non cake type people why not provide a selection of melons, pineapples, strawberries etc to feed your guests instead of cake.







Basically you can do what ever you choose! Cakes can be decorated with flowers, ribbons, icing, butterflies or any number of things you want. Make sure you set a budget and stick to it. Find people who can & are willing to help. If friends or family offer their assistance check prices with them. You don't want to assume your Aunt is throwing in a freebie & then get lumped with a bill you can't afford. Talk money before you agree to anything! 

It is especially important to remember that this is your cake for your wedding. If family are helping then remember to stand your ground and get what you ask for (within reason). If you ask a company for three tiers & they only provided two you would complain. Be polite but apply the same principle to anything friends or family are doing for you, especially if you are paying for it. Freebies are what they say on the tin, but if you are paying for a service then make sure you get that service.

Hope this gave you all some inspiration! As always, Thanks for reading!

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