Creative Wedding Cakes

Choosing Your Creative Wedding Cakes

Sometimes the most creative wedding cakes aren't even cakes at all. Don't feel limited to the traditional white, several-tiered cakes that have been around for decades. How you choose your type of different wedding cake has a lot to do with you, your future spouse, the theme of the wedding, and the overall mood of the reception. If your wedding and reception are going to be steeped in tradition, and you and your spouse are old-fashioned folks, you may prefer a tall white cake with a bride/groom wedding cake top. You can get creative with the shape and size of the cake, as well as the accent colors used on and around it.

Other ideas include:

• Layering flavors/cake types
• Cupcake wedding cakes
• Croquembouche
• Dessert bar, sans elaborate wedding cake
• A fake cake as a prop

Who Says White's a Must?

If you'd rather have an extravagantly decorated unique wedding cake with multi-colored icing, or just one color of icing that matches your wedding party, go for it! White cakes are beautiful, but not for everyone. Changing the color is one of the quickest ways to create a stunningly memorable cake.

Layer Your Flavors

You may think wedding cakes are some of the blandest cakes out there, and when they’re usually white or yellow cake on the inside with white frosting, it's no wonder! Not only can you put whatever kind of cake you'd like on the inside, you can layer your flavors for more creative tastes – celebrities do it all the time!

Carmen Electra and Dave Nvarro's cake layered Oreo cheesecake, chocolate cake, and strawberry shortcake. Talk about a crowd-pleaser!

Other celebrities who layered flavors include:

• Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen: Chocolate fudge and banana cream
• LeAnn Rimes and Dean Sheremat: White chocolate and strawberry

You can layer icing/cake flavors, alternate cake flavors with the same icing on the outside for a uniform appearance, or do a different cake on each layer completely.

Croquembouche

Croquembouche: A French Treat

In other words, your wedding cake will "crunch in the mouth." These are usually tower-like cakes made of cream puffs, caramel, sometimes sugared almonds, and chocolate in a cone shape, sometimes with added flavorings.

For recipes, check the Food Network, Cyber-Kitchen, Cooking.com, and Martha Stewart's website.

Fake Your Cake

If you feel that wedding cakes are a waste of money, or if you'd just prefer to have a dessert spread, you can still appease the crowd with a “cake.” You just won’t cut it, feed it to each other, or serve it to your guests. It's merely a prop for your reception.

You'll instead save money and still have a dessert. You can choose from sheet cakes (cut behind the scenes), or set up a whole table full of desserts like crème brulee, wedding cupcakes, cookies, and more.

You rent the fake cake, so you're not left wondering what to do with it later. Not only is it cost effective, you'll save the stress of wondering if your cake's going to make it okay. They're very durable, so you don't have to spend the night before your wedding dreaming of collapsed cake towers, smudged icing, or a teetering top layer.

If you like the idea of a fake cake -- everything your wedding cake dreams are made of, minus eggs, flour, sugar, and a few more ingredients—try these sites:

• Fake the Cake
• Cake Rental

Crazy Layers

Inspirational Websites

If you want a creative cake but you're not sure what you want, exactly, sometimes all you need is a little inspiration. You could design your perfect wedding cake by looking at cake sites that feature not only wedding cakes, but retirement cakes, birthday cakes, and even baby shower cakes. Here are a few websites to get your creative juices flowing:

• Special T Cakes: Cakes of all kinds, and creativity abounds!
• Miel y Leche: All types of dessert ideas you could incorporate into your wedding desserts. If you're lucky enough to be able to have them cater your wedding, you can have any of the cupcakes made into a cake.
• Great Wedding Cakes: Like Special T Cakes, this is a blog full of beautiful cakes and dessert ideas.

Choose What You Want

Remember, it's your wedding. If you prefer to have a "not cake" cake, a colorful cake, or no cake at all, the choice is yours. Try not to feel pressured by tradition or family and friends. You'll be happier—and in some cases, richer—if you stick to what you want. Give yourself plenty of time to find the right baker/caterer who can re-create the creative wedding cake you have in mind, and you’re sure to have a sweet reception.