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Let Them Eat Cake
Traditions and Trends to Follow as You Choose Your Wedding Cake
By Kim Crowley
A wedding reception is where we celebrate the union of a newly married couple—with food, drink, dancing, and music. The wedding cake is a sweet symbol of the love the couple shares and their unique personalities.
Here, we reveal some of the tradition behind the wedding cake and some of the latest trends you’ll uncover as you select your own cake.
Traditions and Symbolism
Traditional wedding cakes are white to symbolize purity and the virginity of the bride. Some modern brides stray from this tradition, choosing a cake with colored icing or decoration to coordinate with the flowers and bridesmaids’ gowns.
In the Middle Ages, the size of the cake represented the popularity of the bride, as each guest would bring a layer to add to the cake. Large-scale cakes with multiple tiers are also symbols of wealth and prosperity.
More traditions that have evolved over the centuries lie in the fate of the cake. During the Roman Empire, couples symbolized the coming together and breaking of bread, having the groom break cake or bread over the bride’s head. Guests who ate the bits of bread after they fell were promised fertility.
In the past, brides cut the cake and served it to all of the guests. The cutting has become a task that the bride and groom complete together, symbolizing their first chore as a couple.
A bit of this history still exists, as some couples share their first taste of wedding cake, followed by a plastering of cake in the face. It’s a good idea to keep the price of your gown and makeup job in mind. Be sure to pinkie-swear with your spouse not to overdo it.
Dazzling Decorations
Cake decorations can be as elaborate as your imagination allows. Elegant icing scrollwork, ribbons, pastiage, and other details are just a few options. Some brides choose flowers made of icing, gum paste, or fondant—a sugared dough. Others select real flowers to adorn the cake—even edible ones like pansies or violets.
Classic elegance is the trend in wedding cakes. The most common requests brides make is that their cake is, "simple and elegant," says Paula Kirrane, owner, The Icing on the Cake, Inc., of Newton, MA. Kirrane has been making wedding cakes for over 23 years. She says that her 14-employee bakery has busy seasons and slow seasons, producing about 30 wedding cakes each month.
Cakes with added pizzazz are becoming more popular, thanks to television programs on the Food Network and WE’s Amazing Wedding Cakes. The possibilities are almost endless, and the cake designers are more talented than ever. Brides looking to take a cue from these shows choose unique designs that incorporate their wedding colors, hobbies, pets, and more.
Some brides choose to have a traditional wedding cake as well as a non-traditional groom’s cake. Cakes are deliberately made to look as though their tiers are off-kilter; they are shaped like life-size guitars; they are sculpted to look like bridal couple in a Corvette; they are crafted entirely of cupcakes. Kirrane, of The Icing on the Cake, Inc., tells us her shop’s most unusual creations are a Star Wars wedding cake and one made out of Twinkies.
While Diamond Baking Co. of Danvers, MA, does offer non-traditional groom’s cakes, they really are not very popular at all in the shop. "Most grooms don’t care enough to spend the extra money, and would rather let the bride have ‘her’ cake," says Heather Diamond, owner, Diamond Baking Co.
A cake topper can add some personality to the top of your cake—from classic to whimsical. Your baker may have a selection to offer. Retail bridal shops and quite a few online retailers, such as Caketoppers.com, JustCakeToppers.com, and That’s My Topper, also offer toppers in a range of categories. Themes include traditional bride and groom sculptures and doves, characters such as Mickey and Minnie Mouse, religious motifs, ethnic couples and symbols, and hobby-specific hunting toppers and hogs on Harleys. Some options are also animated with moving figures and lighted water fountains. Many vendors will create a custom topper with a monogram or a personal figure if you can’t find something to suit your vision.
Fantastic Flavors
As with your reception dinner menu, it is important to have a tasting before choosing your cake. The cake is more than just a showpiece; it has to taste fabulous too. Flavors range from basic vanilla to mango to green tea.
"Flavor is limited to the couple’s imagination," says Diamond. Flavors Diamond Baking Co. offers include chocolate, vanilla, red velvet, carrot, pumpkin, gingerbread, and lemon lime. Fillings and other options include citrus curds, cream cheese frosting, buttercreams, custards, mousses, jams, fondant, and fresh fruit.
You may want to satisfy varied guest tastes. "Do not pick a crazy flavor," recommends Kirrane. "You may want to be different, but some of the flavors work better for a small party, not a wedding." The Icing on the Cake, Inc., offers clients about 15 different flavors, including golden raspberry, mocha chocolate, lemon velvet, carrot, chocolate hazelnut, and orange Grand Marnier.
Diamond tells us Diamond Baking Co.’s most popular wedding cake is either chocolate or vanilla, with seasonal fresh fruit. "We find most couples want simple to please the most of their guests," she says.
Diamond offers some advice to her clients. "I usually tell my bride to go with what she likes. I also suggest to get two different flavors in the hopes of pleasing more of their guests. This way there are two offerings to her guests."
Special Requests
It is common to have guests at your wedding who are sensitive to foods such as nuts and gluten. You or your guests may also be vegetarian or dairy-free. A number of bakeries are able to accommodate these situations in creating your cake.
"My bakery specializes in allergy-free cakes including gluten-free, dairy-, soy-, and egg-free. We also do whole grain cakes using natural, organic, and local ingredients," notes Diamond of Diamond Baking Co. "I find dairy-free to be the most popular because of allergies."
The Cost
Today, wedding cakes are different from those made ten years ago. "Gone are the days of large cascading flowers, and more cakes are done in a color background," says Kirrane. Another thing that has changed is the price of wedding cakes. Kirrane tells us that the most extravagant wedding cake done by The Icing on the Cake, Inc., included 12 tiers, at a cost of $3,255.
Most wedding cakes don’t reach that great a cost. Cost will vary based on flavor, fillings, design, topper, cake stand rental, delivery, and set-up. Some bakeries will have a minimum wedding cake order fee, of $500 for example.
Base price per serving for wedding cakes, at the New England bakeries we polled, ranges from $3.25 to $5.40. The average base price per serving is $4.33.
So if you are looking to serve 100 guests at your wedding, prepare to spend approximately $4.33 per person, or a total of $433 on your cake. If you are serving 150, you will spend approximately $649.50. Serving 200, you will spend approximately $866. Remember, you will be charged for any added enhancements, such as higher-grade fillings, elaborate decoration, rentals, and delivery. These additions can add hundreds of dollars to your total.
Be prepared to pay a down payment for your wedding cake at most bakeries. This can be a flat fee, for example $50 or $100, to anywhere from 25 percent to 50 percent of your final cake cost. Some bakeries refund this deposit with two to four weeks before the wedding.
Diamond Baking Co. has some unusual cost-saving requests come in. "Our most unusual requests have been making dummy cakes and serving sheet cakes. This has become popular to save money," says Diamond.
Depending on your reception venue and your caterer, you may find that the wedding cake and cost are already rolled into another wedding expense. If this is the case, your flavor and design options may be limited.
Placing Your Order
Most bakeries require that wedding cake orders have between two months and six months of lead-time before the wedding. Many also require that you call ahead and schedule a one-on-one consultation with the baker to taste their variety of options.
At the tasting, the baker will show you a photo album of their prior work. Some will guide you through a showroom of dummy cakes. You may also be shown some comments and testimonials from satisfied customers.
What should you bring to the wedding cake consultation? If you have seen a cake that you would like to emulate at a friend’s wedding or in a wedding publication, bring in a photo to show the baker. If you want to match your bridesmaids’ dresses or flower arrangements, bring a fabric swatch or silk flower with you. Most bakeries will try their best to recreate your dream cake. Also, if you have a special cake topper that you want to use, bring it or a photo of it to the shop now.
Sweet Memories
Your big day has arrived in all of its glory. For one more touch of wedding tradition, be sure to set aside and save the top tier of your wedding cake. In the past, married couples preserved the top portion of their cake with hopes of sharing it at their first baby’s christening, just a year after their wedding. Now, couples share the top portion of their cake as they celebrate their first wedding anniversary.
Here’s to a perfect cake on your wedding day and on your first anniversary. And here’s to many more anniversary cakes to follow!
Dec2008, NortheastWedding.com
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