Saturday, October 3, 2009

Summer Wedding Cakes

Summer is one of the most popular times for weddings, and it is a season of joy and celebration. Bring the wonderful feeling of summer to your wedding with a great wedding cake. Read on for tips on choosing the perfect cake for a summer wedding.

One of the first things to think about for your cake is what type to choose. A heavy dark chocolate cake, while scrumptious, might be a bit too rich for a July wedding reception. Lean towards more refreshing flavors, like classic white cake, lemon, or even key lime (yum!). Think about the season when choosing your frosting, as well. If your wedding will be outdoors, buttercream will be sure to melt in the heat of an August afternoon. A more hardy frosting like fondant will be a much safer option.

For an indoor wedding, you can have any type of frosting that you like; consider adding summery flavors to the frosting. Shreds of coconut over a buttercream frosting make a delightful pairing with a key lime cake. You can also combine fruit flavors, such as lemon and raspberry in your frosting and filling. A simple summer wedding would be the perfect setting for a white cake decorated with whipped cream frosting and fresh strawberries (as long as your reception will be in air conditioning).

There are many cake designs that will say "summer". A beautiful and elegant look would be to decorate a soft pink cake with frosting "pearls". Pearl bridal jewelry has long been beloved by brides. Not only is the pearl a timeless choice for bridal jewelry, but it is also the June birthstone. Using pearls on your wedding cake would be perfect for a June reception detail.

Summer is also a season known for its fabulous flowers. You can have your cake accented with summer blooms in either a neutral palette, like white with a touch of yellow or pink; if your style is a little bolder, choose bright and cheerful flowers. You can either use fresh flowers (pesticide-free, please) or have your baker create sugar flowers. For a fondant cake, flowers like gerbera daisies would look fresh and modern. On a buttercream cake, think about summer favorites such as hydrangea.

Trips to the beach are one of the best things about summer, and you can use that as the inspiration for your cake. Coral is one of the most elegant and sophisticated beach motifs that you can use for decorative accents. The graceful lines of coral climbing up the tiers of a wedding cake will look very chic and minimalist.

You can also choose to do a more exuberant beach inspired summer wedding cake. A talented baker can create an underwater theme confection with schools of vibrant fish for decorations. Seahorses would make another fun water related motif. Of course you can't go wrong with a classic seashell design for your cake, either.

The wedding cake is really one of the main focal points at a wedding. Take advantage of all the wonderful flavors and themes of summer when designing your cake. There are so many fantastic options for a summer wedding cake that the hardest part will be choosing just one!

Wedding Cake Decorating

The wedding cake decorating is one thing you want to get right on the biggest day of your life. There's no bigger occasion than a wedding and there's no bigger central piece than the wedding cake. We all want it to be the best cake possible and this can be achieved by following the dos and don'ts of wedding cake decorating in this article.

Do:

- Buy a small practice cake and test out different types of cake decorating designs. By the end of this, you would have a better idea as to what kind of decorating would look best for your wedding cake

- Look at other wedding cakes in town and get ideas and draw inspiration from them

- Get advice and/or help from a professional cake decorator if you don't believe that you can come up with a decent wedding cake. If you have no idea, then it is best to hire a professional.

Don't:

- Go overboard with the amount of decorations on the cake otherwise you risk detracting from the appearance of the cake.

- Buy the cheapest icing available as this probably means that it's already out of date. High quality icing may cost more but it is certainly worth it when it comes to making spectacular wedding cake decorations.

- Forget to add sentimental items on the cake to symbolize the union of man and woman. This is what a wedding is about and because of that the cake should have a personal touch from both the bride and groom.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Wedding Cake Jewelry

The wedding cake is one of the most important elements in today's weddings. No longer a simple white affair, the cake has become almost as key to the wedding as the bride's gown. Accordingly, brides want their cakes to be absolutely spectacular, and many are even ordering special wedding cake jewelry for decorations.

Jewelry for the cake is a very popular type of accent and design concept. It takes the place of the more traditional fresh flowers or frosting decorations. Wedding cake jewelry is particularly popular as the cake topper, instead of the old fashioned bride and groom figurines.

Brides and their bakers can find many ways to use cake jewelry to create a one-of-a-kind confection. The effect of the cake should enhance the bride's overall look and style. Brides who are wearing crystal bridal jewelry sets love the idea of adding some sparkle to their wedding cakes. For brides who have chosen the more demure look of bridal jewelry sets handcrafted from pearls, there are also some gorgeous cake decorations available to coordinate.

Nothing is more fabulous than a crystal and rhinestone crown perched atop your cake. This is one of the most fantastic types of cake jewelry, as well as the most regal and fabulous. A large glittering crown will make your cake look fit for royalty. This is a cake topper that is likely to be chosen by brides who don't quite have the guts to wear a full crown on their own head, but love the look. Having the cake wear the crown allows the bride to choose a more delicate tiara for herself while still getting to use a big crown in her wedding design. It is the proverbial chance to have your cake and eat it too!

If an elaborate crown on your cake isn't quite what you have in mind, there are still plenty of other wonderful jewels for your cake. Crystal and rhinestone flowers make stunning accents when placed on the tiers of the wedding cake. They are so eye catching that you will not need to use more than a few per tier. A very sophisticated look would be to use an array of crystal leaves dripping down one side of the wedding cake on a diagonal.

Brides who prefer pearls need not be left out of the fun. A very popular cake design is to decorate the base or top edge of each cake tier with faux pearls. It is a simple and classic treatment for a wedding cake. Pearls arranged in a diamond like pattern all over the cake is another beautiful design, and it works very well for a summer wedding, as it can mimic the fresh and pretty look of Swiss dot fabric.

There is another way to use pearls as cake jewelry that ties in with another current trend. A circlet of pearls, or pearls and crystals, designed in a wreath shape makes a wonderful cake topper. Stand it up on its edge for the best effect. To really make the look special, you can have your monogram inside the wreath, perhaps in a contrasting color to make it stand out.

Jewelry isn't just for brides anymore! One of the best parts about cake jewelry is that you will end up with a special keepsake from your wedding that you can display or even wear. This is a terrific way to not only make your wedding cake spectacular, but to also create a lasting memory as well.

The Black and White Wedding Cake

Black and white allows you to easily match other decorations and accents throughout the celebration. This cake can look many things, depending on how it is designed, including elegant, modern, sophisticated and stunning.

White wedding cakes are the traditional choice, but for brides who just want to spice it up a little, black can be very stunning. For those brides who still want it mostly white they can have slight accents of black such as adding dots or swirls to the cake, but leaving it mostly white.

Many brides and grooms choose to evenly distribute the black and white on their wedding cake. One way to do this is to alternate the color of each tier of the cake.

Other popular trends for black and white wedding cakes include having designs or patterns on the cakes. As mentioned before this can be quite simple such as dots (polka dotted themes are always popular) to stripes, lines, and swirls. Hearts and other geometric objects are also quite popular. Sometimes you will see other designs such as intricate leaves, flowers, ribbons or even a specific picture painted on the cake.

If you want a black and white cake but are still looking for a touch of color, that can be done too. You might decide to use flower petals either directly on your cake or artfully positioned on the cake table. If you like the idea of color but you don't want flowers, you can ask your baker to see samples of where they blended in small amounts of color into the cake design.

If you do decide to go with a black and white wedding cake, you are going to want to make sure that the cake topper and any other cake decorations you choose go with the rest of the look you have created. Many people would tend to stay away from a topper or cake jewelry which is overly colorful, as it might clash with the actual cake.

The black and white wedding cake is a popular choice among brides and grooms in all types of weddings. If you do decide this is the color scheme for you, make sure it matches the rest of your day, including your color schemes and decor. Whereas black and white is beautiful, you do not want it to look like it is at the wrong wedding.

Creative Ideas For Groom Wedding Cakes

A groom wedding cake is an American Southern tradition. The cake is traditionally a gift from the bride and it can be served at different occasions during preparations for the wedding or afterward. The whole point is that the wedding will have two cakes for the groom and bride. There are many differences between the two. First off it is normally a dark type of desert like chocolate or one that has liquor. Also the confection has a masculine theme to it.

The interesting thing is that unlike the main cake this one can be served at the rehearsal as well as the reception. It also is a tradition that the cake is not even eaten at the main festivities but is cut up and wrapped to be eaten later. This is tied with a legend that if a single woman sleeps with a slice of the groom cake beneath or near her pillow, she will dream of her own future groom. This tradition is now making a big comeback breaking into the mainstream. If this is something you want to do as a bride, here some ideas and suggestions to help you find the perfect cake for your groom.

The first thing to think about is what flavor you want to use. The point is to use a cake that your groom will enjoy as well as your guests can enjoy. Since tradition mandates that you use dark flavors there are a couple of routes that you can go down when picking a flavor. First go with the classics. Chocolate is a common favorite and there are very few people that don't like this flavor. It also meets the requisite dark cake requirement. The other traditional dark cakes would be ginger cake, coca cola cake, or even carrot cake. These all have great flavor and are not too sweet. A more interesting route to go is with fruit flavored cakes. It is important to make sure that you use dark fruit if you want to use a fruity flavor. Then a novel suggestion straight from the south would be Cool-Aid cake made with grape or fruit punch cool aid.

Now you need to think about the theme for your cake. This will most likely be the easiest part. You have been with your groom for quite a while so you should know his hobbies and interests. If he has many interests then focus on the one he spends the most time or most enjoys. The beauty of the cake is that you can make it look like anything you want. It can be a baseball and bat if he is interested in baseball or a golf ball if he is interested in golf. In the end you can use your imagination. It can be anything that your groom likes. One example I've seen is a model of the Millennium Falcon starship from Star Wars

Another thing to think about is where you want to serve the confection. For example, one of the places it is served is at the wedding rehearsal. This way it will serve as great refreshment for wedding participants. The other venue of course is the reception. Use your own judgment to see where the cake will best be used. Also try using a matching cake serving set to add something extra to the cake. You can even think about giving it its own cake topper.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Wedding Cake Ideas - Princess Cake

I cannot recall the exact time of the first time I watched Cinderella but I still remember covering my face with my mom's sofa pillows as I gazed Cinderella kissing the prince in front of their fabulous wedding cake as the narrator said "...and they lived happily ever after" through the pillows edges. As I grow up, I still remember the feeling I hope I will be getting: the feeling I got when I watched the romantic cartoon. This maybe is embarrassing but true. I believe most girls in the world carry the dream of being a cartoon princess and live happily ever after in their marriage life with their prince charming in their hearts.

A Princess Wedding Cake is a sweet touch, a dream come true, and maybe the most daring choice a girl can ever make among all wedding cake ideas. Though your prince charming doesn't dance and doesn't ride a white horse to your reception, you both still can do the kissing in front of your pretty cartoon princess wedding cake. Yes, some girls don't grow old, fellas. They just grow taller and gain more weights! Cinderella wedding has many more interesting bits; it was not only the cake, it was all the decorations, wedding outfits, guests' costumes, and impersonated side characters. See girls, if you are planning to have a princess cake; you are not loosing your sanity.

Most people might think this is childish. You don't have to settle a kiddy topper for your wedding cake; you just take the basic colors used in that princess wedding. The most famous and well known classic romantic cartoon is Cinderella. You may have your cake colored in pink and blue, as the main colors used in Cinderella was pink and blue. For some romantic touch, add white ribbons or white roses. But if you are daring enough, set a glass shoe miniature as your wedding cake topper or a pumpkin carriage candle alongside the cake as decoration.

This wedding is yours and entering new day as a married woman should be fun! You go Princess!

Designer Wedding Cakes

Wedding cakes have become a statement of style in wedding ceremonies in recent times. It is said that wedding cakes should reflect the personality and lifestyle of the bride and groom. The wedding will not be complete and everlasting in the minds of people with just an ordinary wedding cake. Only a designer wedding cake can flabbergast the people who attend the function. Special care must be taken to make the wedding cake photogenic, as marriages are going to live on people's memory through photographs many years later. The designer wedding cakes come in a wide variety of size, shape, flavor, and design. There are a number of wedding cake designs available on the internet and in the wedding magazines.

There are many things to keep in mind when selecting a wedding cake. These things are very elaborate that comparing with which selecting a life partner would look much simpler! The shape of the cake is a prime medium through which the couple can convey their personality and the way of thinking. Wedding cakes come in all kinds of possible shapes: round, square, oval, rectangle, triangular, pyramidal, and even hexagonal or octagonal. Round shaped cakes are considered conventional, while oval, square and rectangular shapes are considered modern. True mavericks can go for any other shapes mentioned above. One thing to remember is that it is always better to consult your future life partner before finalizing on a particular type of wedding cake. After all, the cake should reflect the personalities of both the bride and the groom.

Having a theme for the wedding cake has been increasingly becoming popular. By having a theme means the color of the wedding cake should match that wedding dresses. It also involves using some specific kind of flowers that should match with the interior decoration of the wedding hall. So before deciding on the theme it is advisable to find out the kind wedding arrangements made by the other party also. Also, the taste of wedding cakes has undergone a revolution. Earlier it is almost same as Christmas cake. Now wedding cakes are available in an unbelievable number of tastes and flavors. One would find it difficult to select a particular flavor from a sea of flavors available.

So it is better to zero in on two or three particular flavors before going to order the cake. Most popular flavors are vanilla, chocolate, coconut, strawberry, and butter scotch. Special care must be taken for selecting the icing. The cake has to survive three or four hours in the hot conditions of the wedding hall. The icing should be sufficiently large and well prepared so that it will mot melt completely at the time of cutting the cake. Also, wedding cakes can be very costly. So always check your budget before ordering some fancy wedding cake.