You have read Wedding Cakes part one, right?

There are so many ways to put together a wedding cake. Some are more complex, while others are simple, but honestly, with some attention to detail you can do this.

Wedding cakes come in all shapes and sizes, so the first thing is to decide how many guests you plan to have. If it is going to be a small, intimate gathering then perhaps you will just want to do a large sheet cake, cupcakes, or a layer cake. Even with these types, there will still be shapes to decide on.

I suggest you look at the theme of your wedding. For example, is it country-simple? Contemporary? Elegant? What is your gown like?

Take these things in to consideration when deciding on a shape for your cake but don’t be afraid to break out of the expected and serve 500 lime green polka dotted cupcakes at a very elegant reception!

There are tons of pan shapes but here are some of the ones you will most frequently see:

• round
• square
• hexagon
• oval
• heart

Wilton also has a set of petal pans, which have a daisy shape to them, as well as a set of paisley pans, which are shaped like a curved tear drop. Expect to pay $35.00-45.00 for the pan sets unless you have enough time to find them on ebay for less.

Once you have decided on a shape then you need to decide if you will stack it, tier it, or use a cake stand.

A wedding cake stand is easiest of all, because you just put the individual layers on their proper places on the stand and you are done! The can be very elegant and if you are uncomfortable with the idea of tiers or stacks this is the way to go. Some of the stands even mimic the tier type cakes. One of my favorites is this Wilton Garden Cake Stand But there are several more styles you can choose from. If you are looking for a more traditional looking tiered cake stand check out Wilton Tall Tier Cake Stand Set. It is a bit less than the garden cake stand, but very elegant.

Here are some cakes that are made using the cake stands:

• Garden Cake Stand
• Floating tiers cake stand
• Tall tiers cake stand
• Simple cake stand

Next is the stacked wedding cake.  In this there are several layers stacked, one upon another.  Usually you don’t use more than three or four levels for this type of cake.  Dowels are pushed down into the baked cake to help support the tiers. The cakes rest on plastic separator plates at each level. They can be any shape.

Remember that the top cake is usually saved for the first anniversary, and so do not count that cake in figuring servings.  Here are some examples of stacked cakes:

• Four layer stack
  
• Unusual stacked cake
• Oval stacked cake
• Elegant stacked Cake

Finally we come to the tiered wedding cake.  These are a little more involved, as they are usually a combination of a stacked cake with one or more layers held up by columns of some sort.  They also use dowels for support, and are really not that much more complex than a stacked cake.  Because of the space between tiers you have room for creative decorations of many types.  There are many types of columns and separators as well.  Look at some of these tiered  cakes:

• Tiered gazebo cake
  
• Tiers using cake separators
• Tier stack combo
• Some of my favorite wedding cakes are here

You can see how many different looks you can get in each type.  Once you do one, you will be surprised at how easy it is.  Next we will get into the looks of the individually shaped pans.

Image: Morguefile 

Post from: Baking Delights