Each year, cake designers create new ways to make wedding cakes new again! Read on to find out the trends for this year’s wedding cakes!
Hey, John!
My partner, Jordan, and I are getting married later this year. I’ve been dreading wedding cake shopping since I don’t know that much about trends. Help! Can you give me a crash course so I sound like I know what I’m doing? Thanks!
–Colin the Confused in Corvallis
Hey, Colin!
I sure can!
First, heart-shaped cakes are a huge this year. Many of the couples who have married this year at Ainsworth House & Gardens had a vintage-inspired, single layer white heart-shaped cake decorated with 18th. century Lambeth piping or pearl beads or local, fresh flowers (I’ll explain all that in a moment) which they cut at the reception for photos. Then that cake is taken back into the kitchen and the caterers cut and serve the guests from a large sheet cake. That’s the basic plan.
Then, it’s what you do to the cake to customize for you and your partner. Here are a few of the wedding cake personalizations which are trending this year. Find your favorites, take notes, and then talk about these at your wedding cake tasting.
Fantastic Flavors
While a traditional vanilla or chocolate cake was great for your grandparents and a Grand Marnier cake was perfect for your parents’ wedding, we’re seeing some very inventive cake flavor combinations including:
- Salted caramel
- Pink champagne
- White chocolate, huckleberry, and lavender
- Honey and lavender
- Tres Leches Mantequilla cake with Peach Puree
- Lemon and thyme
- Lemon, lavender, and blueberry
- Lemon and orange
- Blood Orange Curd with Citrus olive oil and citrus praline buttercream
- Lime and coconut (I started humming Harry Nilsson’s “Coconut.” 😊)
- Coconut and mango
- Apricot.
Savory flavors:
-
Teas: Earl Grey tea, Black tea, Matcha Green, or Chai Spice
-
Fresh herbs: sage, thyme, rosemary
-
Cheeses: mascarpone or ricotta
-
Apple and brie.
Taste flavors which you like and try them in combinations until you find a flavor profile which represents the two of you.
Cake decoration options:
In the 1700s and early 1800s, heart-shaped wedding cakes were in fashion. With series such as Bridgerton awakening interest in this Regency period, we are seeing this updated for 2024.
It’s how you decorate it that gives a new spin on this sentimental classic. Decorating options include:
-
Lambeth piping (or Victorian piping): This technique of creating scrolls and garlands from layers of royal icing was developed in the 1930s by Joseph Lambeth. An example of the technique is in the photo on the left.
-
Pastel or bold colors (white could be an accent color)
-
Multiple layers
-
Cherries
-
Fresh strawberries
-
Fresh, local flowers on or around the base of the cake
-
Piped flower decorations
-
Sparkles
-
Pearls or pearlescent beads
-
Ribbons either as bows or long segments
-
Satin ribbons for a more formal wedding
-
Grosgrain for a more informal wedding.
-
Cake toppers
What you put on the top, flat surface of your cake will personalize your delightful dessert too. These could be:
-
Your initials
-
Your first names
-
“Just Married.”
If you have queries, please reach out to me! I am happy to help!
Your friend in the wedding business,
John Shyne
Images are courtesy of Pixabay.com.
Image of blush pink cake with pearl decorations is courtesy of FabMood.com.
Images below here are courtesy of the Ainsworth House & Gardens Wedding Gallery.
© 2023-2024. Come Rain or Shyne, LLC. All rights reserved worldwide.
