Weddingbee Blog

Cake, of course!

This is one wedding detail that Mr. Yorkie and I haven’t yet checked off of “The List”. Soon enough! I’ve scheduled an appointment for a tasting (mmm!) at Cake Designs by Edda for Wednesday after work. I wonder if one tasting with one baker is enough. Is cake something that you should “shop around” for?

I’ve never been a fan of those fussy, frilly, taller-than-the bride creations that you see all of the time in magazines. It’s just not my style, and I honestly don’t see the point in shelling out that much money on a cake. Plus, I know that some people just aren’t that into cake. So, rather than having cake as our only dessert, I’m opting for a smaller-scaled cake and offering an array of fun bite-sized sweets, like key lime pies, fruit tarts, chocolate éclairs, and mini cupcakes for our guests to choose from.

Back to the cake, though. My ideas for our cake have always been rather simple, though they’ve definitely become more defined as the months have passed. My original plan for our cake (or cakes) was inspired by this photograph from Jordan Ferney’s wedding (Oh Happy Day!).

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My heart just about stopped when I first spotted this lovely arrangement on her blog (shortly before Mr. Yorkie and I started dating). For our reception, I imagined a display of assorted cakes made from recipes that have been passed down through the generations, which would tie in perfectly with our vintage-styled, family-themed wedding. I love the charm of homemade things, especially cakes! Single-tiered, multi-layered goodness, slathered in chocolate and buttercream frosting. Mmm! At first, I thought of baking the cakes myself. Just as soon, though, Reality reared her little head and reminded me that I’d have so much already on my plate, that I couldn’t possibly bake the cakes and keep my sanity. I knew that I would likely have to hire someone to do the job, and because of that, multiple cakes were probably out of the picture.

So, my search continued… and it led me to Elisa Strauss’ Confetti Cakes. My goodness, can this woman make a beautiful cake! Take a look for yourself…

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As the saying goes, though, beauty comes at a price. And the price for that pretty square cake on the bottom (which serves 100)… $1,200. Yikes! That’s $12 a slice! When it comes to wedding cake, I’ve learned that a “slice” is roughly equal to a piece about as wide as my pinkie and as long as my pointer. Hmmm.

I now knew that I needed to find a cake that was very simply decorated, perhaps with ribbon or something else rather inexpensive. I found these great examples in the summer ’04 and spring ’05 editions of Martha Stewart Weddings. Not surprisingly, they are both from Confetti Cakes! I guess I have pretty specific tastes.

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A combination of these two cakes would be nice. The simple ribbon border from the one on the top paired with the dotted royal icing detail from the one on the bottom. All I needed to do was find the right ribbon. Easy enough, right? Not quite. I looked everywhere for jacquard floral ribbon in tones that would match our fuchsia/taupe palette… and nothing. I searched on eBay, Etsy, M&J Trimming, but couldn’t find that just-right ribbon.

So, I scratched the ribbon idea and kept looking. Boy, am I glad that I did! Because just at the moment that I stopped looking for it, my perfect cake design found me. I stumbled upon it through Brooklyn Bride’s Facebook photo album. I couldn’t quite figure out how I never happened to see it before, considering that I’ve read that blog ritually since Mr. Yorkie and I got engaged. When I found the original post where Vané featured the photo, I realized that it was dated July 10, 2008. Exactly one week after Mr. Yorkie got down on bended knee! That’s how I missed the cake! I was still floating around somewhere on Cloud Nine!

Well, without further delay, I present the inspiration for our wedding cake (with slight modifications, of course).

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The only changes that I can foresee having to make (other than the colors) are to scale it down and cover it in fondant (unfortunately), since the heat and humidity of Miami in June would surely make a mess of buttercream. I’d also reconsider the gumpaste bow cake topper. I’m not sure what I’d replace it with, if anything, but I’m just not feeling it. The silhouette plaques are absolutely perfect! Don’t you think? The only other thing that I would do is display it on a pedestal cake stand. I guess there’s still something left from my Jordan Ferney inspiration photo, after all!

What are some examples of wedding details that have evolved during the process of your wedding planning?