So you might as well go all out and order the cake of your dreams. You don’t need tiers and tiers of it either, unless you want to find layers of it in your freezer twenty years later. (True story, ask my sister.)
Be bold, be unique, (be nerdy) or just add some gorgeous colour. Present a cake to your guests that’s almost too gorgeous to cut into. Almost.
Need some inspo? If you’ve never been tempted by the single tier wedding cake before, check out some of these jaw-dropping stunners.
Okay, you got me. The rubiks cube isn’t single tier, but it was too awesome to omit. Besides, you could work some magic with mirrors to achieve the look with a single tier.
Set a weekend aside, grab these few ingredients, and practice your baking skills with this simple recipe.
Ingredients list (for shopping) : white cake flour, milk, large eggs, almond extract, vanilla extract, white granulated sugar, baking powder, table salt and unsalted butter. You will also need two 8-inch cake pans. (If you change the size of the pans be sure to adjust the cooking time.)
Before mixing, ensure all your ingredients are at room temperature.
Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two 8-inch cake pans.
Combine 1 cup milk and 6 large egg whites (both at room temp) with 2 teaspoons almond extract and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract in a medium bowl. Mix with a fork until blended.
Mix 2 1/4 cups cake flour, 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar, 4 teaspoons baking powder, and 1 teaspoon of salt in the bowl of an electric mixer at slow speed. Add 1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter (softened but still cool), cut into cubes and continue to mix on low for about 1-2 minutes.
Add all but 1/2 cup of milk mixture to flour mixture and beat at medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes. Add remaining 1/2 cup of milk mixture and beat for about 1 minute.
Pour batter evenly between two prepared cake pans.
Bake until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 27 to 30 minutes.
Allow cake to cool to room temperature.
Test your cake. Have others test your cake. Tweak the recipe as needed.
For frosting tips, check out this ombre frosting video lesson:
The winter season conjures rich colours, warm layers, crackling fires and cozy textures. It also brings seasonal flavours to tempt your taste buds. A few unique cake flavours for this wintery season are peppermint buttercream, brown butter spice, bourbon-soaked coconut and pecans, maple butter almond, or white chocolate and pomegranate curd. Once you’ve selected the inside, check out some of these gorgeous outsides.
We’ve rounded up our favourite wedding cake trends this summer from Instagram and they are fit to inspire any wedding. Buttercream to sugar flowers, shaved chocolate and decadent drizzles to sugar ruffles and traditional cascades… these beauties bring the inspiration.
If you’re not a fan of cake, don’t have one! Get creative, be inspired, take your favourite sweets (or meats!) and build a tower out of them. Check out these wedding cake alternatives that were a massive hit with guests.
Making your own wedding cake is for the true DIY couple. You must be brave, patient, have the time, and be fully committed to the process. Doing-it-yourself can lighten your budget and also give you a little extra pride of accomplishment.
If this is something you’re considering, there are a few things you need to understand going in. First, you will need to start early. This gives you the time to find the right equipment, find the perfect recipe and practice your frosting skills. (You will be eating a lot of test cakes during this process.)
Two, make sure you get a good recipe. You want something tasty but also easy to work with. Baking is science and art. There are also plenty of online calculators that will let you know how much cake you need based on the number of guests. Really good recipes come with clear instructions and lots and lots of photos.
Thirdly, remember that you’ll likely be assembling under pressure. That happens. After the test cakes and everything works out properly, you’ll be nervous for the last and ultimately THE wedding cake. Anticipate some nerves, but be confident in your skills.
If you don’t want to spend a lot of money on a huge wedding cake with 300 servings and then be left with 250 servings taking up room in your freezer, perhaps doughnuts are the way to go. Regardless of your theme or wedding size, any baker or doughnut (donut) purveyor can help you whip something up to match your personality and style. Check out some of these yummy doughnut tower alternatives:
Planning a princess wedding theme wouldn’t be complete without the castle wedding cake. The castle is no simple statement. It’s the culmination of your entire fairytale adventure, ending in happily-ever-after with your Prince Charming.
Check out some of these gorgeous cakes for your fairytale inspiration!
The idea of a wedding dress cake isn’t new, but recently, cake sculptors have taken it to new heights (and weights). Award-winning cake sculptor, Sylvia Elba, in collaboration with artist Ilinka Rnic, and Fun N Funky Cakes founder Yvette Marner, recently spent more than 300 hours to create this one-of-a-kind edible wedding dress. It stands 170cm tall (wrapped around a mannequin), weighs in around 70kg, and is super realistic.
The cake will be showcased during the Cake International Show, in London on April 16th and 17th. According to the event website, Elba was asked to “produce an exhibit based purely on wafer paper to showcase how versatile it can be.” The ruffles on the dress are made from about 12,000 sheets of the wafer paper.
Big, lavish cakes certainly have their place in the wedding world, but they aren’t for all couples. Sometimes it’s nice to tone things down and go with a cake that is more on the simple side, but still beautiful and elegant. Below are three examples of wedding cakes that are toned down, have very few embellishments, and are totally gorgeous.
Cupcakes are always a nice option for a wedding — they are adorable, you don’t have to worry about slicing several tiers of cake, and they are already in the perfect portion size. The cake above, created by Sweet Creations For You, kept cupcakes as the accent to a two-tiered cake decorated with rosettes. The combination makes for a pretty sweet dessert.
Just because you want a simple wedding cake doesn’t mean you have to stay away from colour. The cake above from i-cakes is a traditional three-tiered cake with a pop of colour in the form of fondant circles. This is a great way to include your colour scheme into your cake.
Once in a while, a simple flower can go a long way. This gorgeous cake from Molly Cake is an absolute dream! The plain, white three-tiered cake remains visually interesting with a middle tier that is much smaller than the top and bottom tiers. A simple pink rose is all this cake needs to make it perfect for any wedding.
Through the years, the wedding cake has become the focus of a variety of customs and traditions. Some of these customs have survived through time. Some have not.
First appearing in the middle of the17th century and well into the early 19th century was a popular dish called the Bride’s pie. The pie was filled with sweet breads, a mince pie, or may have been merely a simple mutton pie. A main “ingredient” was a glass ring. An old adage claimed that the woman who found the ring would be the next to be married. Bride’s pies were by no means universally found at weddings, but there are accounts of these pies being made into the main centerpiece at less affluent ceremonies.
By the late 19th century, wedding cakes became very popular, and the use of the bride’s pie disappeared. Early cakes were simple single-tiered fruitcakes, with some variations. It was a while before the first multi-tier wedding cake appeared in all its glory.
Fake wedding cakes are a great way to save money when planning your wedding. The cake can be made of styrofoam and then decorated like a real cake. Most guests don’t end up eating the cake for a variety of reasons — from the simple fact they cannot eat it to they are having too much fun to notice it is being served. A fake cake is a great option for some, but it depends on your wedding vision and whether you have any budget restrictions. (more…)
