Stacked Wedding Cakes

If you’re like most brides to be you’ve thought a lot about your wedding cake. But have you thought about your wedding cake construction options? In short, besides for appearance, why choose a stacked wedding cake over one with separator plates and pillars, or a cake stand?

When we talk about a stacked wedding cake we mean the traditional tiered wedding cake with each tier placed directly atop the next largest one with the smallest tier resting on the top. This style is popular for many reasons:

• A stacked wedding cake can be beautiful. It offers an opportunity for continuity from on tier to the next that is unmatched by any other options for constructing your wedding cake. Imagine a trailing floral pattern snaking up the side of the wedding cake from one tier around to the next. Or perhaps a forest glen themed cake with the image of a water fall cascading from one level to the next. If the cake wasn’t stacked this opportunity would not normally exist.


• If your pastry chef knows their business it is one of the most stable styles of wedding cake display.


• A stacked wedding cake offers perhaps more room for creativity than most other construction styles. Imagine a stack of cakes that resemble a pile of gifts. Imagine an octagonal tier atop a paisley shaped tier. The direct connection between tiers allows the structural stability for your pastry chef to go wild with your design ideas.


• A stacked wedding cake is better suited for the use of crystal wedding cake jewelry decorations that are designed to accent the entire cake than other styles of wedding cake display.
  

Cons

• A stacked wedding cake is only as tall as the combined height of the cake itself. Thus, if the guest count (number of servings) is small the wedding cake might be limited in its dramatic effect.


• It is difficult to assemble – really! Just setting one cake on top of the next largest will usually result in disaster. There are techniques involved in both the creating of the stability and in the actual act of stacking the cakes without destroying the beauty of the icing. And yes, believe it or not some bakeries do not provide set up. If a bride chooses to use a bakery that does not a provide set up and the person in charge of the cake does not have experience doing so then the stacked wedding cake option is probably not a good choice.
  

A stacked wedding cake is a wonderful choice if the selection fits the brides’ specific situation. If it does not… no worries. There are other forms of wedding cake construction that will serve just fine.