Is the Pillared Wedding Cake Construction For You?

Pillared wedding cakes are among the most popular of wedding cake construction style. Indeed, this style can be used to create a stunning centerpiece for a wedding reception. The question, though, is whether or not pillared wedding cake construction styles are appropriate for any particular wedding.

To answer this question, it is useful to consider the advantages and disadvantages of the pillared wedding cake style.

Pros

• Added height provides drama - the wedding cake is normally the centerpiece of the design scheme for the wedding reception. A pillared wedding cake construction adds anywhere from a few inches to more than a foot of height to a wedding cake helping it to become the focal point of the wedding reception it is designed to be.


• Particularly useful to make a small wedding cake look bigger – a wedding cake that serves a hundred people or less might not look all that impressive without the added height of a pillared construction.


• Allows more decorations on each tier of the cake – For a bride that wants more surface space for decorations (regardless of whether it is elegant crystal wedding cake jewelry, a series of themed cake toppers, fresh flowers, fruit, or some creation she wants to commission the pastry chef to sculpt) the pillared wedding cake construction is worth considering because it allows space to add decorations on each pillared tier of the cake.

Cons

• Extra surface area means added decorating cost to the wedding cake – Extra decorations means extra labor. Extra flowers or fruit can be expensive and a bride will still have to pay the pastry chef to arrange the flowers or fruit on the cake. Note: Since a pastry chef’s reputation is dependant on the appearance of the wedding cake, do not count on them allowing the florist or the bride’s aunt Jane to add to the cake later – of course, once the pastry chef has gone the cake is yours to do with as you choose… as is the risk.


• Less stable – If there are going to be young children or animals at the wedding, or if the cake will need to be placed in a high traffic area, or if there is a relative famous for drinking way too much, way to early, then a pillared wedding cake construction might not be the right choice. The added height of the pillars makes the cake more liable to collapse and while that might win some money on America’s Funniest Home Videos, most would prefer to avoid it at their wedding.


• Not Normally for Do-It-Yourselfers - Stacking a pillared wedding cake is not terribly difficult, if you know what you are doing. But the placement of each pillar is critical and, depending on the size of the cake, can be unforgiving. If a pillar is placed in the cake that later needs to be changed a hole is punched that will have to be patched and may create instability in the cake. It will, at least, make the decorating process more difficult because a patch is never as smooth as the original icing.

Is a pillared wedding cake construction for your wedding? That is for you to decide. The upside in drama is huge but the risk is large as well. It all depends on the couple’s comfort level with the risk and style choices.