Question 1

What Size Is the Top Tier of a Wedding Cake?

Accepted Answer

Tiers

Most brides want some sort of tiered wedding cake, and typically, it's made from sponge cake. You can always have larger tiers for more guests or smaller tiers if you have fewer guests. Dummy tiers are also great, especially if you want a three or four-tiered cake, but it's just too much cake for the number of guests you'll have. These tiers are decorated just like the rest of the cake, but they're not edible.

Sponge Cake

Sponge cake will serve fewer individuals than a fruit cake, so you'll need a larger cake for the same number of guests. A typical 3-tiered sponge cake with a 10-inch bottom layer, 8-inch middle layer, and 6-inch top layer will serve around 72 guests. If you're having closer to 150 guests, a cake with four tiers is closer to what you'll need, and those tier sizes should be 14-inch, 12-inch, 10-inch and an 8-inch top tier.

Backup Cake

If you order a cake and you're simply not sure whether you'll have enough (especially if you're serving the wedding cake as dessert), then you can have a sheet cake made as backup and keep it in the kitchen of your venue. Then, your guests won't know whether they're not getting the actual tiered wedding cake, and you'll be sure to have enough to serve all of your guests.

Question 2

How Do You Save the Top of Your Wedding Cake?

Accepted Answer

Remove All Flowers and Adornments from the Wedding Cake.

This is primarily a rule for fresh flowers on cakes (as is the trend), but even the sugar or fondant flowers will spoil quickly. So to remove them all just to be safe!

Chill the Wedding Cake in the Refrigerator.

Shortly after the wedding, place the top tier of your cake in your refrigerator to chill. This will only take a few hours, but it will harden the icing and make it easier to prepare the cake for freezing, and prevent the plastic wrap from sticking.

Wrap the Cake in Plastic Wrap and Place it in Your Freezer Inside an Airtight Container.

After the cake is chilled, it should be simple to wrap it in several layers of the plastic wrap without the icing sticking too badly. Then, put the wrapped cake in an airtight container or freezer bag, and set it in your freezer. Make sure you mark the cake with a quick label, so you'll remember what that giant lump in your freezer is!

Thaw the Cake in the Refrigerator for About 24 Hours.

A day before you plan to eat the top tier of your cake, take the entire parcel from your freezer and place it directly in the refrigerator.

Remove the Wedding Cake from Its Packaging, and Let it Sit Out for a Few Hours.

Take the top tier out of the container or freezer bag, remove all the plastic wrap, and place it on a plate on your counter for a few hours. This will bring the cake up to room temperature, which is ideal for eating.

One Year Later, Remove and Enjoy!

Remember, the cake will still be stale — it is a year old, after all! But if you've taken steps to preserve it properly, it won't taste too bad to share a few bites with your spouse. Also, certain types of cake — like chocolate, almond or carrot — will last longer and taste better than a white, fruit-filled or whipped cream-topped cake.

Question 3

What Is the Most Popular Wedding Cake Flavour?

Accepted Answer

The 1960s

Starting in the 1960s, the go-to cake was vanilla (37.5 per cent), locally made (94 per cent), three-tiered (65 per cent), and less than $100 (56 per cent). Interestingly, the '60s look like the decade with the tallest cakes—more than 23 per cent of couples had four tiers or more, including 3 per cent who had a whopping seven tiers. Plus, a trailblazing 2 per cent of couples bucked tradition to go with confetti as their cake flavour.

The 1970s

In the 1970s, vanilla was even more popular (45 per cent), followed by yellow (18 per cent), though by then, approximately 60 per cent of couples paid more than $100 for their cakes, including nearly 2 per cent who paid $1,000 (that's about $6,500 in today's value). More than 77 per cent went with a tiered wedding cake, of which 72 per cent went with the classic three. Only 36 per cent of weddings offered desserts besides cake at this point, but cookies were the most popular choice and would remain the favourite non-cake dessert until at least 2009, the year of the cupcake.

The 1980s

By the 1980s, though nearly half of all couples went for vanilla (48 per cent), followed by yellow (15 per cent) and chocolate (13 per cent), more than a third (35 per cent) began incorporating multiple flavours into their cakes. In addition, 81 per cent went for a tiered cake, including more than 10 per cent who got four tiers or more.

The 1990s

Though you can guess the top three flavours for the next decade (hi, still vanilla, yellow, and chocolate), it was in the '90s that the needle began moving, if just the tiniest bit, toward unconventional cake flavours like spice, angel food, and banana (all one per cent), strawberry (two per cent), and red velvet (three per cent). By then, more than a quarter (26 per cent) of couples had a single-tiered wedding cake.

The 2000s

Finally, by the 2000s, there was a shift in the cake trinity when chocolate moved to second place (17 per cent) after vanilla (a stable 40 per cent); red velvet took third at 11 per cent, relegating yellowcake to fourth place (9 per cent). Elsewhere on the dessert table, cookies (44 per cent) and cupcakes (31 per cent) supplemented the dessert menu for the 40 per cent of couples who offered something beyond cake.

The 2010s

That leads us to the current decade, in which the top three flavours are still vanilla (26 per cent), chocolate (20 per cent), and red velvet (14 per cent). However, in the modern wedding landscape, yellow cake, once a reliable third-place pick, is requested as much as strawberry (5 per cent), while 3 per cent went with coconut or "a different fruit flavour."

Question 4

How Much Should You Order for a Wedding Cake?

Accepted Answer

Guest List

One of the first questions your wedding cake baker will ask you is how many servings you'd like for your guests. There are plenty of people who attend a wedding and never take a slice of cake, so you can usually get away with ordering enough cake for 77 to 85 per cent of guests. And since your venue and baker may have different ideas about what constitutes a "slice," you may still have more than enough cake to go around.

Budget and Aesthetics

Some couples love the look of a large wedding cake but don't need the number of servings that come with it. If you think you'd like a five-tier cake, chat with your baker about creative ways to keep it small but still accomplish the look you're going for. Some couples opt to have a layer or two of "fake cake" so they can cut into a multi-layer cake but can still offer other desserts to guests.

Additional Desserts

If you plan to have a dessert display or serve a plated dessert at the dinner table, you'll need much less cake. You can probably order about 50 per cent cake in this case and fill in with the other desserts for everyone else.

Service Style

In the rare instance that you may be planning to serve slices of wedding cake while guests are seated at the dinner table, you'll, of course, need to order enough cake for each guest. But as most wedding cakes are served while guests are mingling and dancing, it's usually not necessary to account for each individual.

Importance

Since the cost of a wedding cake ranges from $3 to $20 per slice or more, this bill can add up quickly. It's often helpful to come up with a total you're comfortable spending on the wedding cake and work backwards from there to determine the right size, style, and serving amount. If the cake isn't a big priority, allocating that money toward desserts you love may be a better option for you.

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