2012 Wedding Cake Color Trends

Ivory Wedding Cake with Navy Ribbon and Pink Orchids

  

    As brides are beginning to plan weddings for 2012, here are some of the most popular new color combinations to consider for your wedding cake.  Regardless of the season, choose the colors you like, and that most reflect your personality, then add them to your wedding cake in a variety of ways ( See Adding Color to Your Wedding Cake, October 2009, for ideas on using flowers, ribbon, and other decorations to add color to your cake.)

     One of the hottest new colors for 2012 is Honeysuckle Pink.  This coral-pink color is beautiful paired with many shades of green – especially  mint and spring green.  It is also lovely with bright shades of yellow and with cream accents. 

     Many brides are choosing dark, rich colors for a more formal, sophisticated look, such as navy blue, or deep eggplant purple.  The dark navy can be complimented with brighter colors such as yellow, pink, and red and cream.  Colors used with the eggplant shade include cranberry, cream, and platinum.

     Black and white continue to be popular wedding cake colors, with accents of red, pink, turquoise or lime green.  Lime green is also being used with orange, brown, hot pink, or purple.

     Another popular trend is the combination of three or more wedding colors, with one dominant color and other colors added in a variety of decorative elements.  These multi-color combinations include: orange/green/brown, purple/blue/teal, yellow/orange/green, or purple/orange/pink for a tropical destination wedding.  Cranberry/purple/ cream, plum/silver/black, turquoise/brown/cream, harvest yellow/ gold/brown. and lavender/pink /mint are also trendy choices.

      Be sure to provide your wedding cake professional with color swatches or paint samples from the paint store, so that the colors can be accurately reproduced on your cake. Whatever colors you choose, your wedding cake professional can work with you to ensure that your wedding cake is another beautiful element in your wedding palette!

From Flowers to Feathers – Fun Spring and Summer Wedding Cakes

   

Wedding Cake with Roses, Feathers, Polka Dots and Ribbon

 

 

   Planning a spring or summer wedding?  That’s the perfect time to incorporate vibrant color, beautiful flowers, and even feathers into your wedding cake design!  With a limitless choice of food colors, your wedding cake professional can create lifelike sugar flowers that will compliment your wedding theme, and are more durable and safer (with no toxic chemicals or sprays) than real flowers.

While the most popular wedding cake flowers are roses, many other varities may be used, including daisies, cymbidium orchids, and stargazer or calla lillies.  If you want to use flowers on your wedding cake, they can be made in virtually any color or size to match the flowers in your decor or bouquet.

Wedding Cake with cascading teal and purple roses

 

 

 

Wedding Cake with Green Cymbidium Orchids

Wedding Cake with white, Malibu blue, and lime green daisies

 

 

Wedding Cake with traditional red roses and rosebuds

 

     Another increasingly popular wedding cake decoration is peacock feathers.  The feathers can be used on every tier, or on the top to enhance the cake topper.  Be sure that the feathers are artificial peacock feathers, and are made with non-toxic dyes.  Many brides also use polka dots, ribbon, butterflies or pearls to make their spring and summer wedding cakes unique.

 

     With the help of your wedding cake professional, you can create the wedding cake of your dreams by adding elements that reflect your personality and style, for fun and beauty.  From flowers to feathers, the sky is the limit! 

 

Wedding Cake with Blue and Burgundy Roses

 

Setting the Stage for Your Wedding Cake

 

     Your wedding cake will be the star of your wedding reception.  After months of designing and planning, it’s time to showcase your wedding cake in the most beautiful setting possible.  Take as much care in planning a display for your wedding cake as a stage designer does for a hit Broadway show!  Here are some helpful hints:

• The Backdrop – Consider what will be behind your wedding cake before you decide where to place the cake table.  The cake and the cake cutting will be the focal point of some of your most beautiful wedding photographs, so be sure the cake is accented, not overwhelmed by what’s behind it.  If possible, do not place the cake table in front of windows, which may show glare or reflect camera flashes.  A cake in front of a window becomes part of the landscape, and may be lost in the view.   Instead, try to choose a location where the cake is complemented by what is behind it.  Choose a wall with a neutral color, or darker if your cake is totally white.  A purple cake won’t show up very well against a purple wall.  Since repainting the wall is probably not an option at your reception venue, if you find the wall color does not work with your cake, drape the wall with a lush-looking fabric or curtain.  Another option behind the cake is a screen of wood, lattice, or fabric that matches your cake.  Plants can also be a beautiful background for the wedding cake.  Make sure, however, that there is enough space between the background and the cake table to facilitate serving.

 

• The Stage - The cake table is the stage for your wedding cake.  There are literally hundreds of ways to decorate a cake table, but here are a few of my favorites.  I like to take cues from the wedding cake itself, and have the cake table be an extention of the cake decorations.  I like to choose a beautiful fabric with which to cover the table: satin, silk, or sheer, usually of the wedding colors.  Then, if the cake has swags and ribbons, I will put swags and ribbons around the table.  If the cake has roses, I will sprinkle colored rose petals around the  table.  If there are pearls on the cake, I will use strands of pearls on the table.  If fresh flowers adorn the cake, I will place  the bridal or bridesmaid’s bouquets in vases around the wedding cake.  If the cake has a lace motif, I will use lace on the table.  The tablescape can also dictate which type of cake stand to use.  Traditional silver round or square stands, pedestal stands, multi-tiered stands, columns, and even inverted wine glasses make beautiful cake displays.  Cakes can also be placed on glass or mirrors on the cake table.  Traditionally, two filled champagne flutes are placed on the cake table for the wedding toast.

 

• Lights – Lighting the cake table can create a dramatic display for evening weddings.  Small candles or battery-powered votives are  beautiful around the cake.  Another impressive lighting option is a string of mini twinkle lights under the sheer tablecloth.  Recessed overhead lighting should be subtle, but bright enough for photographs.     

      Don’t leave the cake table design to a caterer or the manager of the reception venue.  Use your imagination and work with your wedding cake professional to create the perfect stage for your wedding-day work of art – the wedding cake!

A Cake for All Seasons

    Many brides opt for a wedding theme that matches the time of year they have chosen for their wedding.  Whether your wedding is in the winter, spring, summer, or fall,  a beautiful wedding cake can be created by incorporating a seasonal theme.   By using colors, flowers and decorative elements specific to each season, you can design your wedding cake to celebrate the season!

 Winter weddings are the perfect time to celebrate a white wedding cake.  An elegant look for a winter wedding cake could include a pure white cake, with white roses and ribbon, or white sugar paste snowflakes. White or silver snowflakes are also striking on a blue or silver fondant-covered cake.  White or silver pearls rimming each tier of the cake add luster and sophistication.  White (sugar paste – real hydrangeas are toxic) hydrangeas could be used as snowballs to create a Winter Wonderland cake.  For a Christmas wedding, more traditional elements such as ivy, holly leaves and red berries are simple, yet beautiful. ( Be sure to use artificial berries, as many live winter berries are toxic. ) Flavors for a winter wedding cake could also reflect the winter theme, such as white chocolate or white chocolate mousse.  A groom’s cake could display his love of skiing or other winter sports.

     Valentine’s Day weddings are a perfect transition between winter and spring.  Heart-shaped wedding cakes can be dressed with roses, lace, and ribbon in an almost-limitless variety.  Valentine colors of red, pink, and white are a romantic combination on a wedding cake.  Choose a many-tiered cake with red roses between each tier, or small, individual heart-shaped cakes adorned with a single rose.    Valentine cake fillings could include red velvet, chocolate with chocolate mousse filling, or strawberry, for a pink filling. 

     Spring is the ideal season for brides who love pastel colors and abundant flowers.  Fresh or sugar paste violets, daisies, marigolds, tulips,  pansies, rosebuds,  apple blossoms, or lilacs grouped together or individually represent the beauty of spring.  Cake colors  or accents such as mint green, pink, yellow,  sky blue and purple compliment any spring-themed wedding.  Cake flavors such as lemon, strawberry, apricot and Italian cream are great for spring.  A spring groom’s cake could reflect his love of baseball or golf.  For a St. Patrick’s Day wedding, consider mint cupcakes with a mint- chocolate frosting and shamrocks on top. 

     Summer wedding cakes can make a bold seasonal statement.  Red, bright yellows and greens, teal, and bright orange are all in the summer color palette.  Summer is a great time to use tropical or beach accents on the wedding cake.  Seashells of gold or assorted colors, tropical fruits, and flowers such as  hibiscus, sunflowers,  honeysuckle, or passion-flowers, make lovely accents on a summer wedding cake.   Flavors for a summer cake could include coconut, pineapple, and orange.  A summer groom’s cake could have a “Surf’s Up!” theme, complete with an ocean and brown sugar sand! 

     Autumn weddings have a wonderful and rich variety of embellishments and colors to choose from.  Wedding cakes could be brown, copper, gold, bronze,  orange, deep red, wine, or forest green.  Accents taken from nature (made from sugar paste)  include acorns, beautiful fall leaves, wheat, and berries.  Fall flowers such as chrysanthemums, tiger or calla lilies, or fall fruits like pears and apples, make stunning presentations on a wedding cake.  Fall wedding cake flavors include spice cake with apple or pear filling, carrot cake, chocolate with orange marmalade filling, or a white or chocolate cake with candy bar fillings.    A fall groom’s cake could sport his favorite football team colors. 

   When you consider a seasonal theme for your wedding, be sure to use the same seasonal cues for your wedding cake.  Your wedding cake professional can help you design a unique and beautiful cake for any and all seasons!

Alternatives to a Traditional Wedding Cake

     Traditionally, a wedding cake has been multi-tiered, white, and expensive with a bride and groom cake topper.  New trends in cake design have offered many alternatives to this traditional cake,  and today’s brides may add color or a whimsical cake topper.  But even the idea of one large wedding cake has changed, and brides now have several choices besides the traditional cake.

• Wedding Cupcakes - Cupcakes offer an infinite variety of flavors and styles for the wedding.  Cupcakes are often less expensive than a traditional large cake, although they can be more labor-intensive.  Individual wedding cupcakes can be displayed on beautiful tiers, like a traditional cake, or wrapped in decorative cups that match the wedding colors.  Wedding cupcakes are not limited to just one flavor, as a tiered cake can be, but can reflect the bride and groom’s favorite flavors.  Cupcakes can be topped with the couple’s initials, flowers, fruit, candy, or any design you can imagine!
• Individual Wedding Cakes -   Another alternative to the traditional cake is a smaller cake for each table at the reception.  These individual wedding cakes typically serve the 8-10 people seated at each table.  The individual cakes can also be multi-flavored, with different designs and decorations, as desired by the bride and groom.  A more elaborate individual cake is provided at the bride and groom’s table for the traditional cake cutting.  Individual cakes may also be less expensive than the traditional large cake, depending upon the number of people to be served.
• Wedding Pies – One of the newest trends in wedding cakes is not a cake at all, but wedding pies.  The wedding pie can be made in a variety of flavors, and decorated just as beautifully as a wedding cake, with flowers, swirls, and ribbons.  A groom’s pie could be chocolate or his favorite flavor.  Wedding pies can also be displayed on beautiful cake stands, on tiers, or on stands made specifically for pies.  Pies are a good alternative at a smaller wedding, and are often much less expensive than a large cake. 

     Brides today have many options in wedding cakes.  Whether you choose  wedding cupcakes, individual cakes,  wedding pies, or a large traditional cake, you are free to match your choice to your individual style, personality and imagination!

Choosing a Delicious Wedding Cake

 

     Now that you have chosen the style and color for your wedding cake, you will want to make sure it tastes as great as it looks!  Here are some tips for making sure your wedding cake is delicious:

• Let your taste be your guide.  What is your favorite cake?  What flavor does the groom love?  These preferences will give you a starting point for choosing your cake flavor.  Traditional choices such as classic white, yellow and chocolate can be expanded into caramel, chocolate marble or fudge, chocolate chip, German chocolate,  and the popular Italian cream.  Love fruit flavors?  Try a lemon, orange, strawberry or coconut cake.   Carrot, red velvet, and spice are also popular wedding cake flavors.  The wedding cake does not need to be a single flavor, but each tier can be different, representing both the bride and groom’s tastes.  Let your cake specialist know your favorites and request an appointment to sample some of the flavors you are considering.  Don’t give up on your favorite cake because you think it won’t be an appropriate wedding cake.  A client of mine loved German chocolate cake, but didn’t see how the traditional coconut/pecan icing would work on a wedding cake.  I decided I could make the German chocolate cake, and use the coconut/pecan frosting for the filling instead.  What a delicious cake and personalized, too!

•      Choose a compatible filling.  Again, the traditional fillings of vanilla and chocolate have given way to a variety of choices.  Chocolate mousse is a decadent choice for chocolate lovers.  Fruit fillings such as pineapple, orange, apricot, lemon and strawberry, and apple can containmorsels of real fruit.  Crushed candy bars make a fun filling:  Snickers, Butterfingers, Oreo and even M&M’s taste great in cakes!   Again, by consulting your cake professional, you can find a great filling to enhance your wedding cake.

•  Co-ordinate your cake to your wedding colors.  Another of my clients chose brown and orange for her wedding colors.  Her favorite cake was pineapple upside-down cake.  To incorporate these ideas into her wedding cake, I made a rich, yellow cake with a pineapple filling, and to match her colors, I added chopped apricot to the filling to make it orange.  She was very pleased with the cake, and the guests loved it, too!

• Now to icing and frosting.  Many cakes today are covered with fondant to facilitate the elaborate decorations.  While fondant is often necessary to make a beautiful cake, its taste leaves something to be desired.  The taste can be improved, however, by kneading a little vanilla or other flavoring extract into it before covering the cake.  I  prefer using a homemade marshmallow fondant to commercially prepared fondant, as I believe the taste and texture are better.  Your cake can also be beautifully decorated without fondant, by using the traditional buttercream frosting.  The buttercream can be flavored to compliment your cake, with vanilla, chocolate, or fruit flavorings.

     Of course, any of these cake flavors, fillings, and icings can apply equally well to the groom’s cake.   Whatever your personal preferences are, your cake specialist can work with you to make a wedding cake tailored to your  tastes, and delicious as well!       

Adding Color to Your Wedding Cake

   Along with your wedding dress, your wedding cake is the most personal part of your wedding.  Many brides choose traditional all-white wedding cakes, while others opt for a more contemporary, colorful cake.  Regardless of the type of cake, even traditional cakes can be personalized by incorporating the color palette of the wedding.  Think of your cake as a blank canvas, and start creating!

Here are some easy ways to add instant color and style to your wedding cake:

1. Flowers

Flowers add both color and elegance to any wedding cake.  Fresh flowers or flowers made from sugar are beautiful sources of wedding cake color.  If you decide to use fresh flowers, be sure that any flower touching the surface of the cake is food-safe, pesticide-free, and non-toxic.  Fresh flowers that may safely be used on a wedding cake include: apple blossoms, carnations, daisies, gardenias, hibiscus, honeysuckle, lavender, lilacs, marigolds, pansies, petunias, roses and violets.  Obtain these flowers from an organic source, if possible.  Do not use: hyacinth, hydrangea, lilies of the valley, morning glory, sweet peas, or wisteria.

     Flowers made from sugar offer a huge variety of colors and types.  Sugar flowers are a great option when the toxic flowers are part of the wedding decor, but cannot safely be used on the cake.  Any flower, including the toxic ones, can be crafted out of sugar and used safely.  You can re-create your bouquet flowers and colors on the wedding cake, drape garlands across the cake layers, or insert flowers between the cake tiers.  From the rich purple of violets and pansies, to the deep reds, pinks, and yellows of roses, flowers can be an instant burst of color on your wedding cake.

2. Ribbon

Another sophisticated way to add color to a wedding cake is with ribbons.  Shiny satin or grosgrain ribbon can encircle the base or middle of the cake tiers.  Bows can be attached to the cake with corsage pins.  As with the flowers, make sure the colors on the ribbon are non-toxic and color-fast.  Remove all ribbons and pins before cutting the cake.

3. Colored Icing and Fondant

Of course, the wedding cake itself can be colored, instead of the traditional white.  An almost limitless variety of food coloring is available for icing and fondant cake coverings.  Your cake can be embellished with colorful buttercream borders, garlands, flowers and stars.  A newer technique features painting beautiful designs directly on the fondant.  Fondant may also be textured with a sponging technique to produce a spakled effect. 

     Today’s wedding cakes are as individual and creative and the bride and groom.  Your wedding cake specialist or caterer can work with you to create a cake as unique and special as you are.  They have many resources to turn your wedding cake vision into a reality!