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Wedding Cake Glossary

Are you wondering how many tiers your wedding cake should have or what flavour to pick? If you are not familiar with the secrets of making wedding cakes, we can help you choose the perfect one and teach you the basics of the wedding cake glossary.

Jenna Rae Cakes

Choosing a cake-maker

Firstly, you need to find a good cake-maker. It is an important decision, so we suggest that you shortlist several candidates and arrange meetings. Ask to see photos of their previous work and taste some of their cake flavours. Even though it is the bride’s responsibility to order the wedding cake, this fun task can involve the groom too. They can taste cakes together and decide which one they like best. The design is crucial since your wedding cake will be at the centre of attention, but the choice flavour is important too.

How many tiers should your cake have?

The second important decision you need to make is how big the cake should be. If you want a traditional multi-tiered wedding cake, there are several options to choose from. The smallest one is a three-tiered 22cm cake that can feed up to 50 guests. A four-tiered 36cm cake is the most common choice and it can feed up to 150 guests, while a five-tiered cake is suitable for receptions with about 200 attendees and a huge 50cm cake with six tiers is perfect if you have between 200 and 300 guests. Multi-tiered cakes can be round or square, depending on your personal preferences.

Flavour ideas

The most traditional choice of flavour is the classical fruit cake, but nowadays the decision comes down to personal taste. There are many flavours available, and if you can’t select just one, you can even combine several of them into one single cake. Just select a different flavour for each tier and if you want to follow traditional rules, choose fruit cake for the top tier and save it until your first anniversary.

Some of the most popular flavour choices include chocolate mud which is a delicious choice for winter weddings, carrot, banana, coffee and tiramisu which can work for any season and orange and poppyseed which is wonderfully refreshing during spring and summer months.

If you want to delight your guests with something a little different and very tasty, you can choose one of the wedding cake alternatives such as a delicious crocquembouche cake made from profiteroles and toffee. A cupcake tower is the most popular cake alternative at weddings because it is less messy than a classical multi-tiered cake and still offers plenty of options for flamboyant decorations. You can even put a small fruitcake on the top and store it away after the wedding if you want to stick to traditional wedding cake rules.

Cutting the cake

Don’t forget that your wedding cake will be one of the most photographed elements of the wedding, so make an effort to choose the one which looks really nice. The cutting of the cake is an important ritual which is why it is nice to have a traditional multi-tiered cake. This magical moment happens right after the bride’s waltz and before the throwing of the bouquet!

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