A new wave of artistic baking has led to a plethora of unique wedding cake designs. Meanwhile, many brides still prefer the iconic white, 3-tiered cake that retains traditional meaning.
So, when choosing a wedding cake, it’s important to balance how meaningful tradition is to your wedding and how unique or even extravagant you want your wedding to be.
Keep reading to find traditional, non-traditional, modern twists on classic wedding cake ideas that will be perfect for your personality and wedding theme!
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the spiritual meaning of cake?
Wedding cakes were originally considered quite a luxury due to limited access to ingredients. This haute couture status made its way into religious practices, symbolizing good fortune, fertility (because of the wheat grains), and purity (because of the white icing).
What Type of Wedding Cake Is Right For You?
If you are traditional, a 3-tiered wedding cake is best. The bottom tier is to be served during the ceremony. The middle tier is to share after the wedding. The top tier is to preserve for posterity.
If you are non-traditional, go wild! Make sure to plan for in-season flowers and fruits, and to match the wedding cake to your wedding theme.
Is a wedding cake worth it?
Aside from the wedding gown and rings, the wedding cake has come to be the most powerful symbol of a wedding. it’s a major event at the wedding reception and, if your wedding cake budget allows, very much worth the investment.
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Traditional Wedding Cakes
Cutting the wedding cake is the first official act that married couples perform together. This custom, along with all of the other symbolic meanings placed on wedding cakes is more than enough reason to opt for a traditional wedding cake.
White Cakes With Flowers Decorations
At weddings, white is the color of wealth and purity and is best served at a traditional or religious wedding. For an authentic experience, choose a 3-tiered cake adorned with real flowers. Colors should be muted and modest.
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Lace Cake Designs
Lace wedding cake designs are the perfect compromise for couples who prefer a traditional approach but aren’t necessarily religious. The added texture foregoes traditional modesty but is exceptionally beautiful. This choice pairs well with harvest-season florals, warm candlelight, and metallic color schemes.
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Rustic Wedding Cakes
In many ways, rustic wedding themes are the antithesis to traditional white weddings. Modern brides and grooms seek a more authentic experience of their own design as opposed to following a regiment.
Rustic and country-themed wedding cake ideas need to find that special place between traditional symbolism and natural individuality. Consider opting for the familiar decorated with freshly plucked wildflowers and presented on a live-edge slab of local wood. Complete the theme with burlap table runners, string lighting, and mason jar wine glasses.
Naked Cakes
Another opposition to traditional weddings is the minimalist approach. If it’s not simple and raw, it’s not right. Compliment naked rustic wedding cake ideas with an assortment of berries and dark flowers.
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Wooden Cake Designs
Burlap belts and crafted florals can make for an amazing wedding cake in wonderful ways. Bring it into any theme with the addition of contrasting bows, ribbons, and lace.
Rustic Cakes And Cupcakes
Rustic wedding cakes and cupcakes are all about the color and what you serve them on. For a proper rustic feel, choose wood or stone serving surfaces with a bit of natural texture. Cake colors should be neutral or have a single, natural tone.
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Colored Wedding Cakes
For many couples, colors carry a lot more meaning than white cakes can offer. Colorful wedding cakes photograph extremely well and offer new levels of versatility when it comes to wedding themes. This is especially true during colorful times of the year such as spring or harvest season. This trend produces beautiful wedding cakes and we encourage you to pursue it, just make sure that guests double-check their teeth before photography time.
Blue Wedding Cakes
Choose blue wedding cakes for winter wonderland, navy, or ocean destination wedding themes. Match your cake with seasonal florals or a complementary (opposite) color scheme if you are looking for a vivid experience.
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Golden Wedding Cakes
Golden wedding cakes work best at Gatsby or art deco themes. Single tiers are ok, but the larger the cake the more successful you are at achieving decadence. Complement this look with black and other metallics.
Beautiful Wedding Cakes
Make a stunning statement with a show-stopping wedding cake that captures attention. Consider a tall, multi-tiered design adorned with hand-painted florals or metallic accents. Sugar flowers crafted to match your bouquet create an elegant touch, while intricate lace patterns piped in royal icing add timeless beauty. For modern appeal, incorporate geometric patterns or watercolor effects. Choose premium finishes like pearlescent fondant or edible gold leaf. Remember that lighting can enhance your cake’s presence – work with your venue to highlight its best features through strategic spotlight placement.
Simple Wedding Cake
Embrace minimalism with a clean, sophisticated design that lets quality ingredients shine. A smooth buttercream finish in ivory or white creates a perfect canvas, while single-tier or double-tier cakes offer practicality without sacrificing style. Consider subtle textures like horizontal lines or swiss dots for understated elegance. Fresh flowers or a single ribbon can add a pop of color without overwhelming the design. Focus on exceptional flavor combinations like vanilla bean with raspberry filling or rich chocolate with salted caramel. Remember, simplicity often translates to lower costs while maintaining impact.
Elegant Wedding Cakes
Achieve timeless sophistication with classic design elements executed flawlessly. Opt for traditional white-on-white with delicate piping work, or incorporate subtle metallic accents in silver or rose gold. Multiple tiers create visual drama, while detailed sugar work like cascading flowers or intricate scrollwork adds refinement. Consider champagne-tinted fondant for subtle warmth or delicate bas-relief patterns for depth. Work with your baker to ensure proportions are perfectly balanced. Choose classic flavor combinations like vanilla bean with strawberry preserve or lemon with elderflower for sophisticated taste profiles.
Unique Wedding Cake
Break tradition with unexpected designs that reflect your personality. Consider unconventional shapes like hexagonal tiers or asymmetrical arrangements. Experiment with bold colors or striking patterns like marble effects, geometric designs, or hand-painted artworks. Incorporate unexpected elements such as edible crystals, pressed flowers, or metallics. Play with texture through ruffles, textile-inspired patterns, or bas-relief sculptures. Don’t forget flavor innovation – try unexpected combinations like lavender honey, matcha green tea, or dark chocolate with wasabi ganache. Focus on making one extraordinary element your focal point.
Small Wedding Cakes
Perfect for intimate celebrations, small wedding cakes can pack big style into modest proportions. Consider a single-tier statement cake or two perfectly proportioned layers. Maximize impact through detailed handwork like delicate sugar flowers or intricate piping. Semi-naked finishes work beautifully on smaller scales, while metallic accents add luxury. Supplement with additional desserts if needed. Focus on premium ingredients and execution since every detail will be noticed. Remember that smaller cakes allow for higher-end ingredients within budget. Choose designs that look intentionally petite rather than scaled-down versions of larger cakes.
Modern Wedding Cakes
Modern wedding cakes are all about new shapes, surprising textures, and unexpected decorations. Essentially, brides and grooms are stepping away from traditional 3-tiered white cakes and towards edible pieces of art.
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Ruffled Wedding Cakes
Ruffled wedding cakes feature deep waving textures that you can see from across the room. Shapes and sizes for rough icing wedding cakes run the entire gamut of preferences and work well in traditional white or a single gradient color. The only trouble is, it looks too pretty to it.
Petals Wedding Cakes
Petal wedding cakes require a very talented wedding cake designer. Painstaking efforts are put into creating dozens of petal shapes that add an artistic focal point or embellish the entire surface. Add real flowers, berries, or gilded features to steer it towards your wedding theme of choice.
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Themed Wedding Cakes
Wedding cakes are on an easel for couples to feature their unique personalities or create a literal metaphor of their wedding theme. Expect superheroes, fantasy characters, seascapes, or even celestial spacescapes.
Flowers Decorations For Wedding Cakes
Flower wedding cake decorations can either be crafted with icing, artificial or freshly plucked. Either way, it’s an easy way to add a splash of interest in your wedding photos as well as create a direct connection to the rest of your wedding theme decor.
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Cascade Flowers Designs
Cascading flower designs add plenty of visual movement to your wedding cake. This option is ideal for couples wanting to retain traditional meaning but still want a little dynamic uniqueness. Stick to 3 colors or less, and make sure that the flowers don’t overwhelm the cake.
Colored Accents By Flowers
This is a more modest approach to traditional wedding cake decor. Rather than completely transforming the wedding cake, strategically placed flowers add just a dash of texture and interest. This approach can also be used to add texture and depth to colored wedding cakes.
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Wedding Cakes With Wild Flowers Accents
Wildflowers are the hallmark of a boho wedding theme. In this case, and other similar themes, an appreciation of nature takes priority over the cake itself. This approach works with any color, or even nude, cakes. Choose local flowers for authenticity whenever possible.
Fresh Fruit Toppings And Berries Cakes
Fruits and berries are delicious. They look fantastic and are available in enough colors to match any theme. They also offer an abundance of symbolism. The best scenario for this option is mid to late summer, when they are at their freshest, served in outdoor settings.
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Cakes With Sensual Messages On Toppers
Another newer trend we love is the injection of humor into the wedding ceremony and reception. Cake toppers featuring sultry dance moves, scandalous positions, or “adult situation” messages certainly set the tone. Just make sure your choice is audience-appropriate.
Before reviewing wedding cake ideas, it’s always best to have already selected your theme and have come to a decision about how important tradition is to your wedding. Always consider the season and pick something that you LOVE, not something that’s trendy. Oh, and it has to taste great!
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