A beautiful wedding Cake well sculptured and perfectly designed is a wedding's masterpiece no doubt, and if you have a sweet tooth and enjoy confectionery, you will also want your guests to have a heavenly feeling when eating your cake. On several occasions at wedding parties, I notice a lot of the guests have their eyes fixed on the cake aside the couple. Once you have an amazingly decorated cake, you’ll definitely have their eyes, and if the cake tastes just as amazing as it looks, then you have just treated your guests to something special.
So, how do you go about choosing that dream cake that would leave your guests positively talking about it? Here is a guide to having the perfect, delicious and yummy wedding cake you have always dreamed of:
1. Pocket: This is the key thing here. Set a budget straight from the beginning and don't go overboard. Factors influencing the cost of cakes include the season of the wedding, type of cake decorator, transportation and delivery costs, size of the cake, the intricacy of design, extra service such as desserts etc. just have expectations, simple designs can be elegant, classy and not too pricey depending on the decorator. Still, some decorators can offer well-designed cakes at affordable prices. Make research and see who offers the best service for less and go for them.
2. Cake Design: Now you know budget, next is to have as much information as possible to make a good selection of the cake design such as the theme of the wedding (traditional, white, summer, beach etc), color of your dress and the bridal train(a lot of people take this very serious), inspiration from the room, lights and flowers. Share as many details with your cake decorator to help in the selection process so you get just what fits in. Select a style you prefer like a cupcake, tree or tiered-cake, the size, number of tiers, colors, patterns or plain, flowers or piped lace, floral cascades or drapes, models or sugar crafts and so on. The flower garnish can also be in the same colors as your bouquet.
Usually, the selection largely depends on the bride but a groom can also make input so you know his taste too and it can be a couple's choice.
3. Flavor: Be creative, you can go with a mix of flavors, chocolate, vanilla, banana, strawberry. It doesn't have to be a traditional fruit or sponge cake. You can mix layers, go for chocolate, black forest, red velvet or carrot cake. The cake must taste as good as it looks so either you or your cake decorator should go creative and try amazing options.
4. Delivery: Usually for tiered wedding cakes, a butter icing is a bit risky because of the difficulty of transporting and setting up for the day unless the cake decorator can do the icing close to the venue so it can be delivered unharmed. Before you finalize with your cake decorator, confirm who will deliver the cake, or are you expected to pick it up, know the mode of delivery, who will set it up and if there is a guarantee, alternative or recompense in case anything goes wrong during or prior delivery.
5. Taste: Your favorite tastes can influence the cake's taste, ask your cake chef for suggestions, decide on the filling of the cake; buttercream or royal icing topping, fondant filling or caramel.
Take a taste test to know beforehand what you and your guests will be getting and make sure it is something that will leave a tingling feeling in the tongue of your guests and you.
6. As A Dessert Or Party Souvenir: You may want your guests to enjoy your delicious cake by serving it as a dessert in form of cupcakes or cut in small sizes for everyone or packaged to be given out as party souvenirs (this is trending now and a lot of people are buying into the idea).
7. Be original: Sure you can browse lots of Instagram, Pinterest and Google cake pictures to give you ideas and inspirations, but whatever you settle on should be original, a design you see on the internet or cake catalogs can be accentuated with flowers, colors etc so your personality comes alive in the cake. Before you order a novelty wedding cake, think twice, even if they are in vogue now, they may not be in a few years time and you have pictures to remind you of your choice. So let your design be timeless so you will always smile at it whenever you see a picture.
8. Get A Good Cake Designer:If you are not a professional cake baker/decorator, or haven't had lots of practice with it, don't bother making your own wedding cake to avoid mistakes, stress or disappointment (hmmm, I wonder who may even have the time to make her own cake by herself). Also when getting help from friends or family members and the cake doesn't meet up to your standard, just let them down lightly without offending them. Be honest about your expectations. You can just go with a professional cake designer especially when you want designs you know you can’t handle alone or have friends/family try. A cake designer can give you true opinions, offer you selections of designs to choose from, give you a price range within your budget and create a design uniquely yours.
8. Get A Good Cake Designer:If you are not a professional cake baker/decorator, or haven't had lots of practice with it, don't bother making your own wedding cake to avoid mistakes, stress or disappointment (hmmm, I wonder who may even have the time to make her own cake by herself). Also when getting help from friends or family members and the cake doesn't meet up to your standard, just let them down lightly without offending them. Be honest about your expectations. You can just go with a professional cake designer especially when you want designs you know you can’t handle alone or have friends/family try. A cake designer can give you true opinions, offer you selections of designs to choose from, give you a price range within your budget and create a design uniquely yours.
There are lots of cake vendors out there and some on wedding sites. You can also ask for recommendations, referrals and other clients opinions too.
9. Good Display: A wedding cake is part of the ceremony's attraction, it must be designed in such a way that it can be properly displayed and placed somewhere well lighted for its glory to really shine and to get the attention of everyone just so they know you spared no expense in getting a cake that would marvel their taste buds.
10. Shelf life: You should think of how long you want to keep a cake before and after the wedding ceremony especially if you want to save some up for people who didn’t show up for the party or just regular guest visits. Due to the intricate details of some cake designs or the cake designers keeping up with plenty orders, your cake may be made weeks or even a month before the wedding so you should consult with your cake designer to ensure the cake is well preserved and maybe know how long it can last. The best way to also store it is to freeze it. You can also pre-wrap it till it’s ready for use so you won't risk having it get spoilt and cry over wasted money.
So, that is like the easiest way to get your cake ticked off your list. Now that you have your cake plans all sorted out, you can focus on other wedding details and also try to see if some of these points apply to other things you will have on your list. You can also share your cake experience in the comment box below!
