The wedding cake holds a very special purpose for a wedding – beyond getting your new spouse a little messy with the ceremonial first bite! The cake is symbolic of the new life you have just entered and the love shared between you and your close friends and family there to celebrate the grand occasion.
As each year passes, the wedding cake evolves, resulting in new and unique creations for those brides and grooms not being afraid to think outside of the box and choose a more contemporary cake style.
Creative Wedding Cake Design Ideas
1. LEAVE IT NAKED
Credits: Photo by PHILIP FICKS
Resist the urge to frost it and show off the inside instead. For a summertime wedding, fresh berries work well; in winter and fall, ask your baker to fill the layers with seasonal fruits, like apples, pears, persimmons or blood oranges.
2. THE SECRET SUPERHERO
Credits: Cake by Tier by Tier / Photo Credit: Tier by Tier
Are you and your groom being pulled in diametrically opposing directions? This jaw-dropping “superhero in disguise” cake proves you can have the best of both worlds.
3. BOX-OF-CHOCOLATES WEDDING CAKE
Inspired by a chocolate sampler, this decadent cake mimics a pastry box, with bands of tempered white chocolate piped with royal icing.
4. STRAIGHT FROM A FAIRY TALE
Photo Credit: Mariia Berezina Photography
Gravity-defying cakes have gained popularity, and this sweet songbird style is straight out of a fairy tale.
5. THE MEGEVE WEDDING CAKE
Credits: Photography: Gentl & Hyers
Named after the Megeve ski resort in Switzerland, this cake resembles a mountain covered in chocolate curls. Under the curls, rich chocolate mousse is layered between disks of vanilla meringue.
6. ASIAN-INSPIRED WEDDING CAKE
Fondant bamboo borders and varied wave impressions give this vanilla-and-mocha marble cake a modern, Asian-inspired aesthetic. The wooden cake board, edged in pieces of real bamboo, mimics the shape and look of the cake.
7. GO SMALL OR REALLY BIG
Credits: photo by Kristen Weaver Photography
Change the perspective and order a petite two-tier wedding cake, decorated to perfection (and then serve alternate desserts, like pies or sorbet). Or go big—really big. Ask your cake baker to create a seven- or nine-tier wedding cake (some of the layers could be Styrofoam) for a serious wow factor.
8. PYRAMIDES DE SORBET
Credits: Photography by Gentl & Hyers
Another creation from pastry chef Florian Bellanger, this most spectacular of ice cream cakes would necessarily make a sudden and dramatic appearance just before being disassembled and served. Each of the realistic fruits, which cover an edible nougatine cone, is molded from refreshing sorbet.
9. CROQUEMBOUCHE
Credits: Photography by Gentl & Hyers
This towering confection is the traditional wedding cake of France. The name croquembouche, which means “crunch in the mouth,” refers to the hard caramel that coats delicate puffs of pate a choux filled with vanilla cream. The top tier rests on an edible nougatine base, made of caramel and crushed almonds. The roses and ribbons are pastillage, a sugar paste that dries with a porcelain-like finish; the giant swirls are pulled sugar.
10. BRING THE OUTSIDE IN
Credits: Cake by Chantilly Cakes / Photo Credit: Ashley Roper from Ashfall Mixed Media
Texture mimicking the look of a tree stump takes a woodland-inspired cake to new heights.
