Once upon a time finding a three-tier vanilla cake with white frosting and icing swags and an adorable ceramic bride and groom standing serenely on top was a common sight.
These days, wedding cakes are rarely the white tiered confection of yesterday. As with other modern-day wedding elements, today’s wedding cakes are more varied and personalized, and designed to fit the wedding couple’s personalities and their wedding color scheme and theme.
There are an increasing variety of options for today’s wedding cake. You have a wide choice of cake flavors available to you – from traditional white, chocolate, or marble, to red velvet, bananas foster, lemon, and strawberry. Let’s not forget the variety of fillings – banana cream, white chocolate ganache, raspberry mousse, and lemon curd (So delicious!), and frostings – cream cheese (a perfect pairing with red velvet or carrot cake), cookies and cream (yummy with chocolate or vanilla cake), or peanut butter frosting (how can you not pair peanut butter filling with chocolate cake?).
Wedding cakes are more colorful too, and cake shapes have also changed, from the standard round cake to one that is square, oval, and hexagon among others) – or a combination of different tier shapes on the same cake!
Some couples choose to serve non-cake options to their guests – think cupcakes, ice cream buffets (where guests can add their favorite toppings), donut walls, and desert tables which feature a wide range of cookies, bars, and other tasty nibbles.
The cake cutting represents the first activity done as a couple. If you are choosing to include a traditional wedding cake at your reception, consider these points.
4 Tips for Today’s Wedding Cake
1.Display it!
Make sure your cake table isn’t sitting in direct sunlight, especially if your wedding will be held outdoors. Direct sunlight and wedding cake can lead to a melted mess.
2. Time it!
Decide when you want to cut the cake. Do you want to cut the cake at the beginning of the reception so that guests can take the cake with other dinner options or just after dinner and before the dancing starts? Once you’ve decided, be sure to communicate this choice to your wedding planner, catering staff, photographer, videographer, and DJ/band leader.
3. How do you want the cake cutting announced?
Do you want to do the cake cutting quietly with just family around it? Or do you want your DJ or band leader to announce cake cutting time to all of your guests and have special music playing while everyone gathers around the cake table at the time of the cutting?
4. Plan the first cut!
The cake cutting “ceremony” symbolizes their commitment to each other. Cutting the cake is one of the easiest things to do (don’t’ over-think it). You’ll make the cut together – hand over hand. Traditionally the bride holds the cake knife, and the groom places his hand on top of hers (signifying his support for her).
Together they cut a small slice of cake, then feed each other a piece from that slice. Some believe that the groom should feed the bride first, then she feeds him. Others believe that they should feed each other at the same time. Do whichever way you prefer.
Please, don’t pull any of that smashing-the-cake-in-the-face stuff. (Do you usually smash food in your partners face? I don’t think so. So why do it at your wedding of all places?)
Your wedding planner or caterer will have a cake knife, dessert plate and napkins at the ready. Alert your photographer and videographer.
Remember the tradition of the wedding cake and what it symbolizes in your life together.
Wedding Cake Fun Fact:
A white wedding cake was a symbol of money and status in the Victorian days. Sugar, the icing’s main ingredient, is white, therefore the icing is also white. The more refined (and which was also more expensive) the sugar, the whiter the cake.
Photo Credits:
Wedding Cake Scrabble Tiles – Kevin Simmons via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
Yellow and White Cake – Liji Jinaraj via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Square Shaped Wedding Cake – Sana Lee via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Heart Shaped Wedding Cake – Phillip Taylor via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Cupcakes – Duané Viljoen via Pexels
Donuts – Brad Greenlee via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
Cake Cutting – Alex Urezkov via Pexels
Hearts, Joy, Love!
Jean
Looking for fun ideas, or need help with your wedding plans? Contact me today at jean@weddingsfromtheheart.net or by phone or text at 937-581-3647!