A wedding cake should be two things: delicious and beautiful. While you should choose cake flavors and fillings that speak to your dessert preferences, the exterior of your dessert can be just about anything you’d like. Sure, a classic white wedding cake is always in style, but that’s far from your only option. According to pastry chef Emily Lael Aumiller, there are so many different routes couples can take when choosing their dessert design; wherever you land should speak to you two in some capacity, either as a nod to your wedding day or love story. “Whether the cake is naturally iced, adorned with fresh fruit, decorated with intricate sugar work or fresh, edible flowers, I strive to create a dessert that tells a story,” Aumiller explains.
Meet the Expert
Emily Lael Aumiller is a pastry chef with over a decade of experience creating custom cakes with bespoke ingredients that cater to a wide variety of dietary needs. Aumiller is the owner of Brooklyn-based Lāel Cakes and author of Pure Artistry: Extraordinary Vegan and Gluten-Free Cakes.
If you’re open to putting your confection’s final design in your barker’s hands, Aumiller says this is a great way to wind up with something absolutely beautiful. “It’s your wedding, your cake, your day,” she notes, but adds that giving your expert creative freedom can pay off in spades. “Focus on the dream cake you’ll want to devour for your celebration. Let your baker determine what designs will be the safest based on external circumstances.”
Another option is to find a wedding cake look your love and share that with your pro as inspiration; if that’s the route you’re interested in taking, we’re here to help. We rounded up 65 stunning wedding cakes—to suit all different big-day styles—that are guaranteed to inspire. Whether you want something simple and white, a confection topped with fresh or sugar flowers, a modern dessert, a treat that’s bold and colorful, or something else entirely, you’ll find a beautiful, creative idea here.
Ahead, 65 breathtaking wedding cakes guaranteed to turn heads at your reception.
Dining and Cooking