Kirsty Page takes a look at some recent wedding cake trends - McVitie's biscuit cake anyone?
With the recent announcement of the Royal couple’s wedding cake, some (us included) may have been surprised at their request for a McVitie’s chocolate biscuit cake.
They opted for a more traditional fruit cake as well – they are the future King and Queen of England after all, but this quirky touch is becoming quite common in the wedding world.
When lovefood.com spoke to Master Patissier, Eric Lanlard, he said Big Wills and Waity Katie’s choice for a biscuit cake was a reflection of the couple’s young, fun side. “The cake embodies the whole idea of the Royal couple. They are a young, down to earth pair and the McVitie’s cake mirrors this.
“I made a bet that they would chose something fun and different and I was spot on!” he added.
Retail giant, Marks and Spencer, has seen such a change in demand for wedding cakes, that they are revamping their entire range in time for next month. A spokesperson for M&S said, “people are looking for different, quirky or more modern alternatives to the wedding cake. The whole formality has changed, and we’ve seen a real switch in how people operate.”
So, with unusual cakes becoming increasingly cool, lovefood.com takes a look at some of the most popular new wedding cake trends out there.
Flavoured cakes
For many people, traditional fruit cake can seem a bit outdated and is not everyone’s cup of tea. There has been a huge surge in different flavours of cake, namely chocolate, lemon and vanilla.
What is common these days is for different tiers to be different flavours. This not only adds a bit of variety but also means there’s more chance of satisfying everyone’s tastebuds.
A great example of this is kimboscakes who offer a range of wedding cakes in flavours such as Belgian chocolate, carrot and cherry and Amaretto.
Marks and Spencer also offers some fancy chocolate wedding cakes for £200, such this ‘white chocolate curls’ cake and this four-tier ‘daisy pearl’ cake. Meanwhile, LemonSkyCakes can whip you up any number of flavours from almond and chocolate through to orange and lemon. They offer a range of fillings such as espresso coffee buttercream, dark chocolate ganache and vanilla buttercream with raspberry preserve. Mmmm...
Trendy cupcakes
You can’t have failed to notice the cupcake craze that has swept the nation. They sit proudly in the windows of bakeries up and down the county with their perfectly coiffed icing and sprinkled with flowers, glitter and any number of other things.
It has become popular in recent years to have a stack of cupcakes instead of a traditional wedding cake. This trend lends itself to creativity; each cupcake can be a different flavour or colour with endless options for decoration.
They are neat, easy to eat and can be a light alternative to a slab of dense fruitcake.
The Vanilla Pod Bakery offers an extensive range of wedding cupcakes, all of which are made to order. They offer a complimentary tasting session where you can try out a range of flavours as well as helping you with colour, design and quantity.
Other good places to look are Cakes 4 Fun, Crumbs and Dollies and Heavenly Cupcakes, as well as M&S.
Creamy deserts
Chatting to Eric Lanlard, we were surprised to hear that in his native France, the idea of icing is quite alien!
Across the Channel, people tend to opt for a selection of fresh deserts, so lots of cream, pastry, fresh fruit and chocolate. This is a common practice across Europe and one that is beginning to take off here in the UK.
When we saw Eric’s tower of deserts (pictured above), it wasn’t hard to see why, with mountains of nuts, raspberries and chocolate stacked to the rafters.
Visit Eric Lanlard’s website for details. Also worth a look are the English Cheescake Company who offer deserts in an array of mouth watering flavours
If you’re struggling to decide what to go for, Perfect Wedding Day has hundreds of ideas that are sure to help you on your way. Planet Cake also has an extensive range of cupcakes, miniature cakes as well as cakes made out of real cheese!
What’s your dream cake?
All this talk of cake has made us hungry here at lovefood.com! Are you about to get married? If so, what cake have you chosen and why? Or maybe you were blown away by the cake at a friend’s wedding – we want to know! Use the comments box below to share your thoughts.
Also worth your attention
Claudia Roden’s orange and almond cake
Eric Lanlard’s hot chocolate fondant