Looking back in time, wedding cakes used to be all white inside and out. In my opinion, the lack of choices made wedding cakes beautiful to look at but boring to eat. Those days are long gone – today, your wedding cake can dazzle your eyes AND electrify your taste buds.
Here are some things to consider when deciding on your cake flavor options.
- Think about the desserts you love. What was the first dessert you lingered over together? What dessert do you love sharing on date night? What’s the most memorable dessert you’ve shared together? What sweet treat do you crave that turns an ordinary day into a celebration? Your cake designer can build on those ideas to suggest cake flavors, fillings, and icings that will add sparkle to your wedding cake.
- Consider the time of day and season of the year you’ve chosen for your reception. Planning a morning or early afternoon brunch in Spring or Summer? Consider flavors that are light, fruity or floral; perhaps lemon lavender, strawberry, key lime, peach, or almond sour cream. Fall or winter receptions are perfect for deeper flavors full of spice – pumpkin, apple spice, cappuccino, hazelnut, or Earl Grey. For evening receptions liquor flavors such as brandy or amaretto can highlight your festive celebration. Chocolate always works – devil’s food with coffee buttercream is a rich combination for the end of a perfect evening, while marble cake with white chocolate buttercream is a lighter version of this timeless favorite.
- Amazing flavor is all about attention to detail. Hire a cake designer who excels in creating flavor, understands how to build textures and flavor combinations, is skilled at testing recipes that will make your guests want to eat dessert first, and who delights in going beyond a pre-set menu to create the cake of your dreams. Relying on your cake designer’s expertise and selection of premium ingredients guarantees your cake will taste as good as it looks!
- Explore creative options combining flavors. What if your fiancé is a chocoholic and you’re a lover of all things floral? Or you both love beer, but aren’t sure your guests will appreciate that flavor in your cake? Lots of options here too. If you’re planning a tiered cake, you could have different flavors on each tier, giving everyone options. Or you could have two flavors layered in a single tier. Or select one flavor for the cake and another for the icing. Or have a small single-tier cake just for the two of you and a dessert bar for guests. Or ???? – so many creative options available to you.
- Definitely schedule a cake tasting. Most couples find this the most fun part of wedding planning and you’ll learn a lot at this session.
Most cake artists and bakers provide this service so you can taste test options and explore different flavor combinations. Often these sessions are by appointment or can be ordered as a cake box delivered or picked up for tasting at home. Fees vary for this service, but it is common practice for the payment to be applied to the cost of the cake when you finalize your contract.
As an example, Murphy and Jacob brainstormed about their ideal cake. They couldn’t wait to share their pear, almond, and rosewater cake at their summer wedding. For their cake tasting, I prepared two different versions of pear almond cake with rosewater buttercream. Turned out they loved both cakes and favored one more than the other. The floral aroma of the buttercream was spot on, but as a flavor combination didn’t work as well as they anticipated. After brainstorming together, we selected Amaretto buttercream to highlight the almond and fruit in the cake. Perfect solution!
In contrast, Hailey and Dan arrived at their tasting without clear ideas of what they wanted. They randomly chose a few flavors expecting red velvet cake with cream cheese icing would be their favorite. Turned out that they did enjoy the red velvet, but then Dan tasted the pink champagne cake and his whole face lit up like a neon sign; hers did too. Sample devoured; cake is chosen.
Be open to unexpected choices. So much fun!!
Chances are you’ll be so excited and so busy taking photos and greeting guests, that your cake might be the first bite of food you’ll have at your reception. Artful Sweets is ready to create a cake that will delight all of your senses.
Contact Susan at Artful Sweets (artfulsweetsaz@gmail.com) to schedule your cake tasting.