Where once bread was broken over the bride’s head to bring a couple good fortune, we now cut and eat cake, and I for one am unendingly pleased about this, for is there anything quite so lovely as a nice slice of cake?

Rainbow Cake – Photo By BBC Good Food

The cake has become a prominent feature of the wedding day, with guests almost as eager to lay eyes upon it as they are the dress! Tier after tier of frosty white might appeal to traditionalists, but for me it has to something a little different, and there are so many fabulous ideas and options out there.

Firstly, what flavour would you like?

I’ve always liked Lemon Cake but Vanilla Sponge with Raspberry Buttercream sounds heavenly! I think it’s always sensible when choosing your cake flavours – be it different tiers, different cakes or cupcakes – to have a Vanilla based option as well as a more exotic one or fruit cake (which a lot of people don’t seem too keen on!). That way, there should be something to suit everyone.

Teapot & Teacup Cookies – Photo By Sweetopia

Sweetopia is a baking blog full of tutorials, tips and confectionary know-how. I particularly love their decorated cookies. They’re so imaginative and would work wonderfully at a wedding, either as cute favours or a kitsch alternative to cake. Perhaps you could have a small cake to cut, and then cookies for all your guests. (Clue – I’m using the ‘small cake to cut, something else to eat‘ idea for my own wedding!)

Cookies & Photographs by Sweetopia

And then, naturally, we come to cupcakes. Cupcakes have become more and more popular over the last few years, and couples are increasingly replacing a large cake with these individual tasty treats. I  personally, am a big devotee of cupcakes. It’s all the goodness of a cake in one fabulously presented portion.

There’s lots of ways to make cupcakes look lovely. Floral cases, ribbon, and even teacups have been used inpresentation, but I think cupcake toppers can make a really beautiful finishing touch to your tasty treats.

All cupcake cases by Edible Glitter

Here’s a quick and easy tutorial for paper heart-shaped toppers!

You Will need –
Pretty Paper (Book pages/Vintage Dress Patterns/Wrapping Paper all work well)
Cocktail Sticks
PVA Glue
Paintbrush
Scissors
Heart Shaped Hole Punch

1. Cut your paper into squares measuring roughly 5cm x 5cm

2. Insert your paper squares one at a time into the hole punch and press out the heart shape. Repeat as many times required, though make sure you have double the amount of hearts to the number of cupcake toppers needed. I.e if you need 20 cupcake toppers, punch out 40 heart shapes!

3. Take two heart shapes. Cover one side of one heart in glue and lay a cocktail stick onto it, so that it sits about halfway up the shape.

4. Take the other heart shape and carefully press it on top of the glue-covered heart, making sure that it lines up neatly.

How easy was that? A five minute make, that can add a really lovely hand-made touch to your big day! If you don’t have a hole punch you could cut the shapes out by hand. Little flags also look really lovely as toppers and would be easier than hearts to cut out on mass!

I’d love to hear about what exciting ideas you’ve come up with for your wedding cake!

Catch up on the first three posts of the Wedding Wednesday blog series here!