The Anatomy of the Modern Wedding Cake
The wedding cake can be traced way back to Ancient Rome where it was customary to break wheat or barley cake over the bride’s head to bring good fortune to the couple. The modern wedding cake as we know it now would originate at the 1882 wedding of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany; his wedding cake was the first to actually be completely edible. In the mid-19th century aristocrats and wealthy families would add pillars as a status symbol. As the wedding caked evolved, so did the decorations. Sugar was transformed into fondant for covering the cakes, gumpaste to make elegant flowers, and eventually pearls and dragees for added elegance.
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Poly-Dowels®
The modern wedding cake has elements of tradition combined with elements of practicality.
While cakes sometimes do have pillars, dowels are a much more common choice. BakeDeco is a proud seller of the Poly-Dowels® brand, a female-owned company that has patented the best dowels in the market. Poly-Dowels® have interior ridges to provide maximum support for the heaviest weight of multi-tiered cakes.
Weather Proof Fondant
In the 19th, century wedding cakes featured hardened fondant to ensure the cake didn’t fall apart. A more appetizing option would be weatherproof fondant. A revolutionary product, Satin Ice’s Tropical Fondant is formulated for optimum performance in hot and humid conditions and won’t sweat. Phew! A melted cake is a wedding caker’s worst nightmare.
Fondant Art
Have you ever seen a bride match her cake to her gown? Karen Padilla of Sweetville Cake Shop in NJ did just that! And check out those details!
Fondant work takes hours and hours of molding and sculpting. Want the look without the work? Enter fondant molds! From lace and ruffles to flowers and elegant damask patterns, silicone fondant mats will save you HOURS of decorating time. Make sure to dust the molds with a bit of corn starch or powdered sugar for easy removal.
Gumpaste Flowers
Gumpaste flowers are another beautiful but time-consuming decorative element. Making your own flowers is definitely the aspiration, but if you don’t have the time or the know-how, using ready-made sugar flowers on your cakes may be something you should sleep on. We drop new gumpaste flowers every year, in every shade and size. Another option is personalizing ready-made white flowers with petal dust. Justin Ellen from @everythingjustbaked demonstrates how in the video below.
Pearls, Pearls, Pearls
From the gown to the shoes to the wedding cake, this year pearls are trending!
Add pearls to your cake in addition to the other elements or make a pearl cake like the iconic wedding baker Ron Ben Isreal of @rbicakes. Pearls are another sugar-based decoration that can be made from scratch (Ron Ben Isreal’s cakes are all entirely made by him and his pastry staff) but you can also save time and use the O’Creme Sugar Pearls sold on our site. The unique thing about these pearls is that no two are alike, just like real pearls!
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