Wedding desserts taking on a life of its own
By Jenn Hall
Taking (or leaving) the cake – What are couples doing to add a little sweetness to the reception? It’s not just cakes anymore. Check with bakers to see what’s being ordered for weddings. And if couples DO choose a cake, what flavors and décor are they going with?
Wedding trends come and go every year but one thing that remains constant – the dessert table, or tables if you look at recent trends.
With the guest experience becoming the main focus for many couples, it’s no wonder sweets become elevated.
From dozens of pies covering an entire table and cupcake towers to stacks of doughnuts and individual dessert tables, Rosalie Bishop has seen it all.
“Nothing really surprises me anymore,” she said. “Brides in particular are getting very creative. I think social media has driven that aspect.”
Bishop, who has been baking cakes in Northwest Missouri for more than three decades, has honed in her abilities to include everything sweet. She’s had to.
In the last few years, she has seen a lot more requests for allergy-friendly items as well as individual-sized portions. This, she said, carries over into full spreads of dessert tables.
“I’ll still bake a beautiful two or three-tiered cake as the centerpiece but then they order a bunch of mini cupcakes, pies or other desserts like Danishes,” she said. “I don’t know the reasoning behind it but it’s a trend that’s been going for the last several years.”
There are new things, however.
Wedding cake designs resemble art pieces with pressed dried flowers, tone-on-tone stenciling and metallic accents.
“I genuinely love the orders that come in every year,” she said. “It definitely gives me a challenge at times. I don’t mind learning new techniques at all though. And I definitely love the flavors.”
Trinity Beamer absolutely loves her coffee so much; she thought it would be fun to have a coffee flavored cake.
“I wanted to incorporate a coffee bar into our reception,” she said. “Some of my wedding party are baristas so I thought it would be fun, since that’s how we met years ago.”
So Fulsom and her now-husband, Matt, began trying out coffee and dessert pairings. There was the obvious doughnuts and coffee cake but the couple also loved Tiramisu, brownies and fruit tarts. They added those to their order but asked for one last thing, a coffee flavored cake.
“I wasn’t sure how many guests would actually like that, so we opted for a few mini cakes,” she said. “It turned out amazing. Those who wanted to try a piece, could, and those who wanted traditional cake got that, too.”
