Wedding Cakes

One of the most important creations a pastry chef will ever compose

Without question, a wedding cake is one of the most important creations a pastry chef will ever compose. An elaborate wedding cake is truly a work of art; some cakes require days, or even weeks, of advance planning and preparation. With the multitude of potential combinations of cake flavor, filling, icing, decoration, and assembly style to choose from, a selection of recipes for specific decorated wedding cakes can, and certainly do, fill a book by themselves. Furthermore, as a wedding cake is a personal choice for each bride and groom, I feel that the experienced pastry chef, whenever possible, should create a unique cake for each couple — one that reflects their taste, the style of the reception, their budget, and the season. With this in mind, instead of a recipe and assembly instructions for a set cake — a five-tier, stacked, square-layer devil’s food chocolate cake filled with fresh raspberries and white chocolate mousse, iced with vanilla buttercream, and decorated with marzipan roses, for example — what you will find here, instead, are what I call wedding cake logistics — what you need to know to take recipes for cake bases, fillings, buttercream, and decorations from other chapters in this book and put them together to create a spectacular wedding cake.