Wedding Cake & Dessert Trends

Inspire your imagination with this list of today’s top trends for wedding cakes and desserts…

Much more than a sweet finale to the reception meal, wedding cakes and desserts are a major style statement, and the trends, like all other wedding details, evolve with the times. The wedding cake presents a perfect opportunity for creative brides to play with shape, color, and embellishments. For those of you who need a little inspiration, consult this list of top trends for wedding cakes.

Back to Buttercream
Buttercream was once the traditional frosting for wedding cakes, but sleek cakes came into favor, and rolled fondant became the frosting of choice. Not anymore, thanks to advanced tools and techniques that allow buttercream to look as smooth as fondant, cakes iced in buttercream are again the norm. We love this trend, since buttercream frosting tastes better, has natural ingredients, and costs less than fondant. Now you can literally have your stylishly sleek cake – and eat it, too.

Keeping it Simple
As brides look for creative ways to meet their budgets without sacrificing style, simple cakes are making a comeback. Classic ivory fondant embellished with ribbon or flowers is a gorgeous and safe choice, but many brides are taking things to the next level with contemporary and fun “messy” icing. These cakes have gorgeous texture and a truly modern look while requiring less labor, which will help keep costs down.

Creative Toppers
While unique cake toppers like pinwheels, paper rosettes, and bird nests are adorning contemporary cakes, many couples are going back to the traditional bride and groom but with an interesting twist: completely personalized toppers that bear a likeness to the couple themselves. Etsy artist, Milk Tea offers a plethora of pre-made toppers to choose from, but will also create a completely customized mini version of you and your honey.

Square Mini-Cakes
Cupcake towers in lieu of wedding cakes have been around for awhile, but brides are making cupcakes interesting again by playing with shape and size. Brides are stacking square shaped mini-cakes (slightly larger than cupcakes) adorned with flowers or dressed as presents for a completely different take on the cupcake frenzy.

Think Pink
Pink – the perpetual hot color for weddings – had begun to fall out of favor as brides experimented with more non-traditional hues like browns, grays, and even black. But soft pink is back in a big way, and brides are incorporating the blush tones throughout their wedding cake designs. Pink instantly freshens up classic white. Tone down an all-pink cake with real ivory flowers or lace details.

Cupcakes
For years, cupcakes have been replacing traditional tiered cakes and somehow, the tiny confections continue to evolve. From floral embellished towers to intricate icing and creative toppers, cupcakes always seem to both wow and please the wedding guests.

Dessert Tables
Dessert tables are an increasingly popular option that allow you to offer several different types of dessert. Pies, cupcakes, macaroons, rock candy, and M&Ms are often among the color coordinated sweets that dominate the dessert table while a single tiered cake tends to play a central roll for the traditional cake cutting. Often creatively decorated, dessert tables can become a fun, focal point of your wedding décor.

Groom’s Cake
The old Southern tradition of the groom’s cake is shedding its regional trappings and growing in popularity throughout the nation. And no, it doesn’t have to be the iconic red-velvet armadillo from Steel Magnolias. Today’s groom’s cakes, now just as elaborate as the wedding cake itself, often reflect the groom’s interest in a dramatic and whimsical expression: a deer grooms cake for an avid hunter, shaped like a race car for an diehard Nascar fan, or decked with his favorite sports team logo.