On a day filled with “oooh” and “aaah” moments, every guest, from Grandma Lucy to little Harold, your ring bearer, will recall the beauty and taste of wedding cake – although Harold probably wouldn’t care how it looked – as long as he got two slices!

You’ll want to make sure your cake doesn’t end up on YouTube, filed under “wedding cake bloopers.” With some planning you can avoid the plight of a friend who chose an elaborately decorated ice cream cake.

The cake was beautiful but what put it on my list of “most memorable wedding cakes” is the fact that no one remembered to remove the frozen-hard-as-a-rock cake from the freezer beforehand. The bride had to scout up an ice pick and a hammer to serve the guests in chunks instead of slices. Now that was memorable!

While you may not need to put quite as much thought into choosing your cake as choosing your groom, keep these things in mind:

How large should your cake be?

Can you picture a 300 pound wedding cake? That’s how much Britain’s Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s cake weighed when they tied the knot. Although your cake probably won’t be that hefty, it’s good to know you can increase your tiers as you increase your guest list. The tiers signify prosperity – so the more the better!

Avoid weather-related cake disasters!

Will you have a summer wedding, a winter wedding or something in between?

Summer is a popular time to get married but soaring temperatures might make the aforementioned-mentioned ice cream impractical. Summer can also be hard on butter cream icing which tends to melt in summer heat. You don’t want your wedding cake to melt into a puddle of sweet goo!

A cake incorporating fresh fruit, like berries, is nice for a summer wedding, while the fall and winter months are a good time for carrot or spice cake with cream cheese filling.

Wedding Cake Decorations – From Trendy to Traditional

Traditional white icing symbolizes purity and is always a good choice. However, nowadays the choices are only limited by your imagination.

Are you a tomboy who hates pink and drives a big truck? Will your Irish Setters, Pixie and Dixie, be standing up with you? Maybe a traditional wedding is more your style and you’d like the cake to match your romantic Cinderella theme or the color of the bridesmaids’ dresses.

Consider also real flowers, which are popular, or silk flowers. Cake charms make lovely souvenirs of the day. Whether your choice is chic and sophisticated, or quirky and quaint, your cake can reflect your individual taste.

What about cost?

Every wedding has a budget and the cake can fit into any price range. One factor influencing the cost of your cake is the ingredients’ quality. Expect to pay more for a cake baked from scratch with fresh ingredients.

How labor-intensive is your design? That and size also affect cost. Usually price is based on the number of guests the cake will serve. You may pay from $8 to $10 a head for a high-end baker.

To avoid this high cost, you might want to make your own cake or have a friend or relative make one for you. A personalized, beautiful cake would make a wonderful gift for your special day.

A wedding cake has multiple tiers stacked on top of each other so if you decide to bake the cake yourself, choose a recipe that has the buoyancy and mass needed to support this. Here is one that fills the bill:

Classic White Cake

6 cups sifted cake flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 1/2 cups butter or margarine
3 cups sugar
2 cups milk
1 1/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
12 egg whites

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease bottom of pans and line them with waxed paper.

Sift flour and baking powder together and set aside. Cream butter and sugar until it’s light and fluffy. Set aside. Beat egg whites until stiff, but not dry. Set this aside.

Mix at slow speed, adding flour mixture to butter mixture, alternately with milk. Beat well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract. Fold egg whites gently into batter.

Pour into prepared pans, then bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Yield: 12 cups batter.

This luscious cake recipe comes from “Cake Decorating Made Easy!” Here is what one reader had to say about our Video Books:

“Well worth the investment. A fabulous gathering of tips, techniques, and recipes that only experience can offer.”

I. Moser
Murrells Inlet, SC

Once upon a time, it was customary for the guests to throw pieces of the wedding cake at the bride, rather than eating it. Happily, those days are gone and now, the cake takes its place of honor in the festivities.

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Samantha Mitchell, Co-Author
Cake Decorating Made Easy! Vol. 1 & 2
The World’s First Cake Decorating Video Books

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