I have a confession to make: Until the first time I was involved in acquiring a wedding cake, I had no idea what the process involved. Maybe you’re in the same situation. How do you go about getting a traditional cake for your wedding?
Here's one style of wedding cake.
There are two parts to wedding cake: the cake itself and the decoration. It’s important to give some thought to both parts.
When you visit a bakery for a tasting, they will give you some options to taste. You’ll have choices of cake, of fillings, and of frostings. Chocolate or vanilla or carrot? Whipped cream or custard or fruit? Fondant or buttercream? It’s a tough job, but you’ll have to taste all of them and decide what you like.
Your choice of frosting also affects what the cake looks like. Fondant gives a cake a rounder edge, while buttercream frosting allows for sharp corners. Also, some types of decoration work better with one or the other type of frosting. There is one more consideration: My experience is that very few people actually eat fondant. If you get it, you may be paying extra for something that will only be thrown out.
A very different kind of cake. Photo by Johnny Knight.
The decorative aspects of a wedding cake can be even more complicated. You’ll need to decide on the shape (round, square, or something else), the number of tiers, the color, the texture, and the decoration.
Be prepared with some ideas, but also keep your mind open to suggestions from the bakery’s gallery of cakes. Or maybe they have made the perfect cake before and you can ask them to replicate it for you. Whatever you decide, remember that bakeries can offer you their expertise in what will work well on your cake, and on what will not work.
Cake shopping can be a lot of fun. It is even more fun if you know what to expect and are prepared for it.
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