IMAGE CREDIT: Objektiv Photography
The More The Merrier!- Wedding Cakes
What could be better than a beautiful and delicious wedding cake? More wedding cakes, of course! Rachael Harrington investigates whether less really is more when it comes to wedding cakes.
It’s no surprise that the multiple cake trend is proving to be a hit with couples and guests alike. It can mean more choice when it comes to flavour and design and can create a stunning display. While not for everyone, you may just find that two cakes (or three, or four!) are better than one.
What’s Your Flavour?
Perhaps the best thing about serving more than one cake is that you don’t have to narrow your choice down to just one flavour. This is great news for a bride and groom who have differing tastes, or if they are having trouble settling on just one flavour.
While fruit, sponge and chocolate cakes are some of the most common choices for weddings, offering more than one cake means that you can go a bit left-of-field when it comes to flavour. From cappuccino to citrus orange, there’s no shortage of options available.
To personalise your cake buffet, you could choose wedding cakes that reflect you as a couple or remind you of special times in your relationship. For example, if your first date was ice-cream on the beach, what about an ice-cream cake? Or if you got engaged while on holiday in New York, you could serve a classic New York cheesecake. You could also use your wedding cakes to acknowledge your respective backgrounds, like a French croquembouche or an Italian tiramisu cake.
Whichever flavours you choose, offering a range of cakes means your guests are sure to find something that they like.
Something For Everyone
Offering your guests more than just one type of cake can cater to differing tastes and dietary requirements too. Whether due to religious practices, ideological beliefs, diseases, allergies or intolerances, dietary restrictions are extremely common.
Venues and caterers can often provide different meals to meet the needs of individual dietary requirements. However, it would be highly unlikely that a pâtissier or cake maker could cater to every restriction in one cake. Offering a range of wedding cakes that are suited to a variety of diets is not only a thoughtful gesture but an alternative design choice.
From a delectable vegan red velvet cake to an indulgent gluten-free chocolate cake, there’s no shortage of delicious cakes available to suit a range of dietary requirements.
Catering to restricted diets won’t mean that you’re prioritising certain guests over others either. The lucky guests who have unrestricted diets will still be able to enjoy all of the cakes on offer. A cake that is suited to one kind of dietary restriction might often also be suitable for another. A vegan-friendly cake could also be enjoyed by a guest who suffers from lactose intolerance, for example.
Many cake makers will be able to cater to gluten-free, lactose-free and vegan-friendly requirements. However, you may need to source specialist suppliers for certain restrictions like nut allergies or kosher diets.
Cake Cost-Cutting
Catering to a range of tastes and diets by offering more than one cake could potentially be expensive. But, it doesn’t have to be. Multiplying the number of cakes that you serve doesn’t have to mean multiplying your budget! You can still have a delicious cake buffet without spending more than you would on a traditional wedding cake.
If you are serving a range of different wedding cakes, they should be smaller in size than an average wedding cake. However, they should still be designed to serve your entire guest list. Speak to your pâtissier or cake maker about the size of your guest list and the number of different cakes you want. Working out what size each cake will be will help prevent wastage.
A cake buffet can be beneficial for your budget if you choose to serve the cakes in lieu of dessert. The wedding cake is often cut into slices and placed into bags or boxes, following a traditional three-course meal; entrée, main and dessert. Guests can choose to either eat it there or to take it home. By choosing a cake buffet, you could still offer three courses, but with cakes instead of dessert. With a range of cakes on offer, guests can not only choose their own dessert but also how much or how little they would like. This ensures no full plates or slices left on tables at the end of the night.
A Delectable Display
As well as allowing you to offer multiple cakes in smaller sizes, having more than one cake also creates the opportunity to create a beautiful display. The most common way to display multiple wedding cakes is on a single table, showcased as a cake buffet. However, another possible option is having one small cake for each reception table, which could also double as a centrepiece.
If you are choosing to serve your range of cakes buffet-style, it is important to consider what the display will look like. While the flavours that you choose might make some of the decisions for you, it is important to consider how the buffet will look. Cakes that match your colour scheme are a popular option. For example, having one cake decorated in each colour.
Perhaps one of the most important points in displaying your wedding cakes is to ensure that each cake is labelled. If you are catering to dietary restrictions, make sure your signs explicitly state which diets they suit. From chalkboard signs to labelled cake toppers, there’s no shortage of great signage options available.
Another consideration is what your cakes will be displayed on, the most obvious choice being a cake stand. For an eclectic look, display your cakes on different stands in a range of colours and varying heights. Alternatively, if one cake maker is supplying all of your cakes, then you can go sleek and simple by having all the different cakes on the same type of base.
Some couples might not be able to let go of the idea of a single towering wedding cake. But many are now ditching the traditional wedding cake for something a little different. Speak to your pâtissier or cake maker about what will work best for you, your guest list and your style of wedding. You may just find that swapping a single cake for many could be twice (or thrice!) as nice.