Five Important Things to Remember When Picking Out Your Wedding Cake

By: Alexine

One of the most memorable moments of your wedding might just be getting cake shoved in your mouth. While this may seem silly to you, it is a traditional part of the wedding reception. We’ve all seen movies of the cake cutting where the husband and wife feed each other the first piece of cake. It is a classic act and since you will defiantly be eating the cake and sharing it with all the wedding guests it is a good idea to make sure you love the taste. With that in mind, here are five important things to remember when picking out your wedding cake!

Flavor
The most important aspect of a wedding cake is the way it tastes in your mouth. This includes the texture and the flavor of the cake. If it is too dry or the frosting isn’t made right, the whole cake will taste horrible. So as a reminder, do not order a cake without trying a sample first.

In order to make the cake sampling process more efficient, you should have a flavor picked out for the cake, filling and frosting. Then you can call around to all the bakeries in the area near the wedding and order sample cakes with your specific flavors. If they are a good bakery they will usually make a tiny version of the wedding cake with a layer of filling and frosting. Then when you go and sample each of the cakes keep notes of the ones you like most so you can use them to make your final decision.

Size
The size of your wedding cake will be dependent on the number of guests invited to the wedding. If you have less than one hundred people a three tier cake will usually work well. However, if you have a fairly large wedding it may be necessary to have two cakes or add more tiers.

If you would like to save the top tier and eat it on your one year anniversary then you will have to plan so that the rest of the tiers feed the wedding. The bakery will usually offer advice as to which size cake serves certain amounts of people from which you can choose. Just make sure to let them know ahead of time that you will be saving the top tier. Then they can put it on a separate foil covered cardboard layer to make it easier to be removed at the wedding.

Shape
Wedding cakes can be ordered in many shapes and usually each bakery will give you a book of pictures from cakes they did in the past to give you ideas. Square cakes and round cakes with no separated tiers are the most popular at weddings. However if you want a different layout you can get your tiers separated with columns to create a gap between each of the layers.

The shape of your wedding cake can directly correlate with your wedding theme. Bakeries are usually capable of creating exotic wedding cakes to order as long as they are not too complicated. In this case you could order a wedding cake in the shape of a large flower or hearts. As long as there is plenty of body to the cake so that it will feed all your guests than you can do whatever you would like. Remember that the more exotic you get, the more expensive the cake will be.

Color
When planning your wedding you will most likely choose one or two colors to use for the theme. There are a number of ways you can incorporate the colors into your wedding and the wedding cake is a great opportunity. You can add colorful flowers on the cake that match your wedding colors or add a design all over the cake to match. Either way it gives your wedding cake a personal touch to match your specifications.

Adding color to the cake is a more affordable way to get color at your wedding. With colored frosting detail you are able to have white linens which are usually about half the price of colored linens. With flowers and cake detail according to your wedding theme it will save you money in other areas and give the wedding your own specific look. I took this approach and my wedding still turned out beautiful.

Cost
The final part of the cake decision process is figuring out the cost. Some bakeries will have an average cost per person when it comes to ordering their cakes and others will have prices depending on the style of cake. Both time and materials come into play when determining the cost of the wedding cakes so if they are priced fairly you should see a direct correlation between detail or size and price.

In order to choose the right cake refer back to the notes you took about the cake samples you tried. Contact each of the bakeries that made a cake you loved and get an estimate based on your specific order. Remember all of the previous parts I discussed above, as they are your cake order.

Once you give the bakery your flavors, head count, shape and color specifications they will get back to you in a timely manner with a price. Most large bakeries have pre-determined prices that go along with a basic cake and then add on for each additional filling, tier or design.

Good Luck
Hopefully these tips come in handy and make it easier to choose your wedding cake. It will take some time and patients to make the appointments and try each cake, but it is well worth it. In order to get the whole process done with plenty of time before the wedding, start sampling about six months in advance.