The wedding cake is often the visual focal point of a reception and traditionally is a symbol of fertility and marital happiness. We may have abandoned the practice of crumbling cake over the bride’s head, but the ritual of the bride and groom making the first cut into the cake as a sign of their shared future continues.

Wedding cakes used to be round or square, with two to four tiers, and were almost always rich fruit cake iced in white and draped with sugar-paste roses and ivy. Many couples still opt for this traditional style, based, it is said, on the unusual shape of St Bride’s Church spire. However, wedding cakes now come in all shapes, sizes and colours. You may serve a white chocolate extravaganza, a summery lemon or passion cake, or a dark chocolate or meringue confection, and the cake is just as likely to look like your reception venue or a pyramid of flowers.

You can be as creative as you like, with both flavours and shapes. The wedding cake can be fun or an edible work of art that is hopefully also delicious to eat. Generally, there is a move towards making cakes and decorations as unique and individual as possible, and although tiered cakes are still favoured, most are stacked directly on the tier below or placed on top of flowers instead of plastic pillars.

Chocolate wedding cakes are now extremely popular and tiers supported by rosebud rings can look stunning. Another trend is for individual sponge cakes, piled high and decorated with fresh flowers, or iced and tied with ribbons. These can be served as dessert with fruit coulis and mixed berries.

Another popular style is to make the wedding cake look like a stack of presents. Each square tier is iced to look like a gift-wrapped present tied with a ribbon that may be either real ribbon or made from icing. These ‘presents’ are then stacked one on top of the other with the ribbons cascading down the sides. Themed wedding cakes are also increasingly common,  for instance, sea-shell decorations for a beach or seaside wedding.

Insist on tasting the goods ahead of time, too, hey, why not? Tasting cakes can be an afternoon’s entertainment for you, your mother, and your maid of honor. And there is a great difference in how bakeries prepare the cake itself. Ask how they do it. Ask what the ingredients in the icing will be.

You can have any flavor cake you want too: current favorites are white, chocolate, cheesecake, red  velvet, raspberry, strawberry, or chiffon. If you have a favorite, request a taste test and order it. Any  flavor cake can be made into a wedding cake by a creative baker. If you want a really big cake to use as a centerpiece but you’re only expecting 75 guests at your wedding, discuss this with the pastry chef. It’s possible
to bake a small cake and then place it on a piece of cake-shaped Styrofoam that has been iced to match your cake. Voila! You’ve got your huge cake for impressive photographs with no leftover cake to  be disposed of.

Conversely, if you expect hundreds of people but don’t want to pay for the gigantic seven-tiered creation it would take to feed them all, have a three-tiered cake for cutting and photo sessions, and get a couple of sheet cakes to go along with it to serve all your guests. If you want the sheet cake to come stacked and filled like a tiered wedding cake, that’s usually just as expensive as getting the real thing.

Talk to your pastry chef; many options are available, including cupcakes. You probably will have leftover cake, though, and therefore you should make sure that, along with the cake, the bakery also delivers a few of those white bakery boxes for sending cake home with your guests. You’ll also need one for that top layer if you wish to save it.

TIP: Square cakes are better value than round ones and are easier to slice.

KEEPING ONE TIER OF WEDDING CAKE

Some couples like to keep the smallest, top tier of wedding cake for their first child’s christening or to celebrate their first wedding anniversary. If this idea appeals, you should opt for a fruit cake, as this is the only type of cake that will remain fresh (and may even improve with age). The fruit will probably seep through and discolour the icing, but the cake can be re-iced when you want to eat it. Wrapped carefully, a rich fruit cake can last for several years.