Choosing a Cake Decorator

First things first – make sure they are available for your wedding date.

Ask to see a portfolio of past wedding cakes – keeping in mind that each cake has usually been designed for the specific Bride & Groom- this will give you an idea if you like the decorators style.

Book a consultation to discuss your ideas

Request a tasting of some different cake flavours. (this could be teamed up with the consultation if you give them enough notice to get some baked).

Designing your cake...

Collect some pictures of cakes that you like the look of, a good decorator will be able to see an overall picture of what you might like in regards to shape, icing finish, decoration etc.

Is the cake going to be served with coffee after the meal? Or as dessert? This will affect the size of the portion. It may pay to check with the reception venue to see if they are happy for you to use the cake as dessert. They may be able to reduce the price per head for you if they are just providing some cream and fruit to go with the cake.

What style of wedding are you having? Will it be an elegant affair? Or a beautiful garden wedding? The cake needs to reflect the style of the wedding décor.

What colours are in the wedding party, and at the reception? It can be quite nice to have the colour theme flow through.

Are you going to save the top tier for a future occasion? (anniversary, christening etc) if so then that needs to be taken into account for servings.

Flavours...

There are so many different flavours available these days – gone are the traditional fruit cakes!! It is usually possible to have a different flavour for each tier, and some decorators may offer fillings as well.

You need to take into account the menu when planning your cake flavours – for example, if you are serving the cake with coffee and your dessert is a rich chocolate one, then you probably want to avoid chocolate cake and go for something a bit more refreshing to end the evening, like lemon cake.

Take the weather into account when designing your cake – an elaborate chocolate creation may not be the best choice for an outdoor wedding in February- you may come back to a puddle of chocolate in the marquee.

You will also need to avoid soft fillings as your icing may bulge, and the layers slip. I would recommend staying clear of fresh cream or anything else that may spoil in the heat – a cake shouldn't be refrigerated once covered in the rolled fondant as it will sweat when it is taken out of the fridge.

Booking...

You need to plan ahead with your cake, just like most other aspects of a wedding. The good decorators generally get booked well in advance, so if you are not on the ball you may miss out on your first choice of decorator.

Even if this is just booking consultations and having tastings to decide who you would like to use, then paying a deposit to secure their services. You can always then spend some time thinking about design and finalise this at a later date.

When booking check to see if there are any other costs that may come up, ie hireage of equipment or delivery costs, and that the price quoted includes everything required for you cake (boards, dowels, ribbon) so that you don't have anything unexpected crop up the week of the wedding

There are a lot more things to discuss than what I have outlined here, so start collecting pictures and ideas and contact a cake decorator to start bouncing ideas around.

Happy planning!!

Visit Utopia Cakes or call direct

0800 utopia (0800 886 742)