How to choose your wedding cake
Sculpted ganache wedding cake by Emma Page Cakes London
Until you come to plan your own wedding, you’ve probably not thought very much about wedding cakes. Then all of a sudden you’re overwhelmed with hundreds of different styles and options on Instagram and Pinterest. Where to start? Your venue may offer a list of local recommended wedding cake suppliers that they know to be reliable and will deliver your wedding cake at a low cost, but these lists are often quite outdated, and can overlook more exciting and creative cake designers. Here are my thoughts on how to choose the perfect cake for your special day.
Do We even need a wedding cake?
Obviously I’m going to say yes, but don’t just take my word for it. During my career as a wedding cake maker I’ve met hundreds of photographers and they all agree that the cake cutting shot captures the most joyful and authentic moment of the day. Not only does it signify the close of the ceremonial proceedings and the start of the party, BUT it catches a couple doing something rather than posing for a photograph, and the reaction of those around them. Put simply, you’ll never forget the cheers that burst fro your guests at the moment you cut your wedding cake!
Having a wedding cake also embraces a tradition that has no religious or cultural associations. Whatever type of ceremony you choose, there will be a style of cake that suits the occasion and your style.
And you can eat it.
HOW MUCH SHOULD WE EXPECT TO SPEND?
Unsurprisingly, this depends on the size of your cake and the talent and experience of your cake maker. Some cake makers calculate their prices using a formula that is tied quite closely to the time they will spend baking and decorating a particular cake. Traditional fondant cake makers (fondant is another word for sugarpaste icing, which is rolled out and used to cover cakes) will decorate wedding cakes with sugar flowers. These can be super realistic and are very time consuming to make well. Each tiny detail is hand-modelled, wired, dried and painted or dusted: a process that can take days or even weeks.
This is why a traditional fondant cake, while less fashionable now, will usually be the most expensive option. Very generally a three tier cake to serve around 100 will be £750-£900.
More commonly now, skilled wedding cake makers will operate in a niche in which they will price their cakes according to demand. This has less to do with the time taken to produce a cake and more to do with its desirability and scarcity, ie it’s a style of cake only offered by a small number of cake makers and each only has one pair of hands.
Cakes decorated with ganache or buttercream are more popular these days than those covered with fondant and decorated with sugar flowers. I paint and sculpt my wedding cake decoration using palette knives. Some designs are very busy and take a lot of time to create, some are much quicker. Very generally speaking, a palette knife cake will be less expensive than a fondant cake but these cakes are increasingly popular and there are only a few cake makers that offer them so demand pushed the price up. Expect to pay £650-£800 for a three tier to serve 100 (coffee portions).
The cheapest bespoke option by a mile, (we’re not talking about supermarket cakes here) will be a naked or rustic-coated buttercream cake dressed with fresh flowers. These cakes look very simple but still require baking skill and experience with filling and stacking tiered cakes. You can’t just pile different sized cakes on top of each other without proper support. The cake maker will dress the cake with flowers supplied by your florist on site. The flowers should be organic and must be non-toxic. They also need to be wrapped in a food-safe way to ensure the plant material does not touch the cake. Expect to pay around £350 for a three tier to serve 100.
NOTE: Many cake makers no longer offer naked cakes as they dry out very quickly.
HOW BIG SHOULD IT BE?
Sculpted ganache wedding cake by Emma Page Cakes
The size of your wedding cake depends on how many servings you need and how much of an impact you want it to have.
Most modern cake tiers are four layers of sponge and measure around 6 inches tall. As a very general guide, a three tier cake of 5, 7 and 9 inch diameter tier swill yield 60-70 dessert servings or 130 coffee servings. Many couples choose to have their wedding cake as dessert. This can help your budget BUT bear in mind that if your cake is to be served to table, not only will the serving sizes be bigger, you will have to serve every guest. If you opt to serve smaller servings for your guests to help themselves to with coffee or during the evening, I would recommend calculating a yield of around 80% as some guests won’t take any.
Also bear in mind that the later your cake is served, the more you’ll need, as your guests will become hungry as time goes on, especially if the wine is free flowing!
If you only have a small number of guests, but you want your cake to have an impact, you could add height with dummy tiers or ask your florist to supply a beautiful flower meadow to surround your cake, which you can then sit on a clear perspex stand so it seems to hover above the florals. This can tie your cake to the floral decoration in your space really effectively, and stops a narrow cake looking a bit lost on a large cake table.
WHAT STYLE SHOULD WE CHOOSE?
This is the most important question. The size and price of your wedding cake can both be adapted to your needs but the style has be be right for you and your day.
Think about the clothes and homeware that you like. Do you have a traditional or a more contemporary style? Are you drawn to a minimalist aesthetic or are you a ‘more is more’ maximalist? Do you express yourself with bold, clear colours or a quiet earthy palette? What is it about your wedding venue that appeals to you? Is it historic, industrial, rustic or super grand and luxurious? Have you chosen your flowers for drama, colour or shape? All these facets of your taste can be expressed in your cake once you know how to describe them to your potential cake designer.
Flowers obviously dominate wedding cake design. I tend to work quite closely with the wedding florist so that the flowers I sculpt or paint on the cake match the flowers around it to best effect. As I work directly onto the cake in the days running up to the wedding I can accommodate any last-minute changes to the planned flowers easily. This is obviously not the case if the cake maker is working with sugar flowers. The palette knife techniques I use enable me to create floral designs that are full-on bursting with flowers, or with more restraint. Some couples prefer a more delicate or spare design with lots of white space punctuated by the odd floral element.
Flowers aren’t the only choice though. You may prefer a vintage Lambeth design, dressed with swags of piping and topped with cheerful red cherries. Or an expertly-painted landscape like this example by Perfect Cakes Co here. This is a great choice for couples who have a passion for a particular landscape, but also travellers. How wonderful to have a wedding cake that literally tells your story!
A landscape painted wedding cake by Perfect Cakes Co
Or you could go to the other extreme and opt for a sharp geometric design, which would complement a contemporary space perfectly. Check out Glasgow-based ARD Bakery for the very best in contemporary cake design. And they offer matching chocolates!
All experienced cake makers will offer a consultation so that you can share your thoughts on the design of your cake and they can offer their own ideas. They will usually follow this up with a price quote and a box of samples for you to try. It’s very important for you to respond to your sketch honestly - don’t worry about causing any offence. If you don’t like the composition or the colours or anything about it you must say!!
WILL ANYONE EAT IT?
They will yes. Most cake makers send out boxes of samples to potential customers to try before they pay a deposit. I include samples of my decorating ganache as well, which is delicious. If you choose a fondant cake, the chances are nobody will eat the fondant itself as it doesn’t taste good. And sugar flowers are not edible.
Remember that all non-fondant cake can be frozen so if you have cake leftover you can freeze it to eat another time.
tips and tricks for The perfect cake cutting shot
Here are a few things to think about that will ensure you capture the perfect cake cutting moment.
Where will the cake be displayed? If it is against a wall or in a corner where will you stand to cut it? If it’s in the centre of the space have you remembered to tell your cake maker that it needs to be decorated all the way around? Always display your cake against a plain background and well away from fire-exit and toilet signs, trailing cables and busy drapes or curtains.
How well-lit is the space? Ideally you should place your cake so that it benefits from natural light but is not silhouetted in front of a window (where it may melt anyway). Don’t put it in a dark corner.
If there’s a cake table, what size is it? A small wedding cake will look lost on a large round table dressed with a conventional white cloth. Many venues have tall bar tables on site that are much more suitable, as they raise the cake up and have a smaller diameter. In a rustic setting, a beer barrel or similar would be perfect. If you have to use a normal white table, make sure you order flowers to dress it around the cake. There are all sorts of display plinths you can hire for wedding cakes.
Make a big thing of it. Get everyone on their feet so they can crowd around and cheer you as you cut your cake, then start the dancing right away!!!