Tips on choosing your wedding cake
With the never-ending variety of cake flavours and designs to choose from, you may become overwhelmed and unsure about what cake you want to have at your wedding. Keep reading to find out what our advice is on choosing a cake for your wedding.
The origins of the wedding cake
The tradition of the wedding cake has grown over the years. One of the first traditions came from Ancient Rome, where a cake made from barley or wheat was broken over the bride’s head in order to bring good fortune to the couple.
In Medieval England cakes were stacked on top of each other as high as they could, with the groom and bride having to kiss each other over the tower. If they could do this successfully, they were guaranteed to have a prosperous life together. A French pastry chef observed this while visiting, and later returned home to create the first croquembouche after being inspired by the tradition.
Wedding cakes were also originally a luxurious sign of celebration and social status. Bigger cakes meant a higher social standing and with white icing symbolising money and social importance, it makes sense as to why everyone envisions traditional wedding cakes as purely white.
Starting out
Your first step in planning for your wedding cake should be determining what flavour and type of cake you and your partner would like to have. Think about any flavours that are special to you and your partner, like something you shared on your first date. If you’re having trouble deciding what to choose, we recommend talking to your wedding baker. With such a large variety of combinations to choose from, they will be able to provide professional insight on what types of cakes and flavours pair well together.
One of the most important, and fun, aspects of choosing a wedding cake is tasting. Not only do you get to enjoy a wide variety of cakes and flavours, this will be the best way to help you figure out what you like and what you love.
Matching the wedding style
It’s quite common to plan the theme, style and colour scheme of the wedding first, which will then determine the appearance of your wedding cake so they complement each other. Semi-naked cakes match rustic themed weddings well, while traditional weddings will want to have a traditional white cake with touches of embellishment. Couples wanting to have a non-traditional cake will have the greatest amount of creative freedom, able to experiment with vibrant colours, assorted cake decorations and different cake shapes.
Having a mood board or a collection of your planning ideas for your wedding to show your baker gives them a reference for style and design. They can then replicate the style, theme and the feel of the wedding in the cake.
Plenty of cake to go around
The number of guests you plan to have at your will serve as a guide to the size of your cake and the amount of tiers it should have. Having a guest list of around 200 will require 4 or 5 tiers while 3 tiers can suffice for a guest list around 100, although this depends on the size of the tiers baked. Discuss with your baker your guest list and how many tiers of cake you want and they should be able to make it work for you.
