Sweet Spot

New trends in cake design lets you personalize your wedding day dessert

Personal, elegant and in tune with the ambience of the special day. This is the current trend in wedding cakes, say wedding cake designers. “It’s definitely about personalization these days,” says Tracii Reardon, the Village Cake Lady of Oxford Mills. “More and more people are adding things in terms of decoration that have a little more meaning for them. Sometimes, it’s their pets. Sometimes, it’s a private joke, inside story or about family — something of special importance to them.”

Phillippa Baran of Arnprior agrees that personalizing the cakes she designs is particularly important to her clients. Some requests are quite simple, she says. For example, one bride asked for a black and white cake to match her wedding colours. “Sometimes, you go with the client’s colours or their flowers,” says Phillippa, a former student of Nicholas Lodge, the pastry chef who made Princess Diana’s wedding cake. “Sometimes, it’s the venue or the kind of people they are. I have been lucky enough to have a number of wonderful clients who have given me free rein to be creative.”

“Last summer, for instance, I was engaged to make a three-tiered wedding cake for a couple who were married at the family’s summer cottage. It had a pair of squirrels on top exchanging golden nuts instead of rings and was decorated with white (icing) branches and pine cones.” Another of her personalized designs celebrated the union of a Polish bride and Canadian groom with a red and white motif (the colours of the Polish and Canadian flags) and multi-coloured ribbons, reminiscent of Polish folk dancing, floating down the stacked tiers. Ribbons or flowers, particularly orchids, are very popular, agrees Sabine Herrmann, the wedding cake designer for Swiss Pastries.

“Customers often bring their own ribbons to go around the cake base.” In general, she says, the trend is for elegance and simplicity, with a preference for stacked cakes (tiers not separated by pillars). The uncomplicated look also leans that cake toppers, such as the traditional figures of bride and groom, are used less frequently. Monogrammed initials or flowers are often used instead. “When toppers are used, they are very personalized,” says Sabine, recalling a recent design for a couple of motorcyclists, who asked for motorcycles on their cake.

Flavour choices, as well as designs, also focus on individual preferences. Raspberry flavouring is very popular, says Sabine. “A vanilla sponge with raspberry butter cream and fresh fruit inside is a current favourite.”

Anything goes

“Anything goes with wedding cakes today,” says Tracii, noting that while white and ivory icing remain popular, bright colours are also in vogue. “Fruit cakes are very few and far between.” At some weddings, cupcakes or several single-layer cakes are used in place of even the least traditional form of wedding cake. Tracii adds that groom’s cakes, often sculpted to recall a sport and frequently made of chocolate inside, are popular in the southern U.S.

“That’s a trend that’s making its way to Canada big time.” In general, the trend is for gourmet flavours for wedding cakes, particularly coffee, chocolate, lemon, hazelnut and ginger — and it is not unusual for each layer to have a different flavour. Also added to the mix is the time of year, say designers, with heavier cakes for fall and winter weddings and more delicate styles in the spring and summer. The choice of type of wedding cake, like the style of wedding, is entirely personal.

For further information:

Phillippa Baran 613 623-6702

Tracii Reardon 613 258-0777

Sabine Hermann (via Connie) 613 749-2389

By Iris Winston