Let them look at the cake.

I’ve spent most of today working on a wedding cake commission.

You pay all that money, and usually invest considerable heartache in the design and working out or fending off who’s going to actually make and ice it. Then it’s cut into tiny pieces and that’s it, it’s gone.

‘Zinging’ the cake is a fun way of making it last forever.

The cake I was working on today was fairly straightforward and traditional as you can see from the picture here. Also quite restrained – only two tiers. Apparently the idea of a tall cake grew out of customs reaching back hundreds of years, to a time when each guest would bring a small cake and the bride and groom would attempt a good luck kiss over the top of the mound. Cakes were also thrown at the bride – supposedly an extension of throwing rice grains, then wheat grains, to signify hopes for fertility.

Fashions in cakes change just as in wedding dresses; people want their favourite flavours, so ways have to be found to support a heavy tiered structure on a lighter base than the traditional fruitcake. Cheesecake, chocolate cake, Baked Alaska are all popular. Earlier this year I worked on a 3-tiered pavlova, complete with forest berry topping, ingeniously put together by a creative Mother of the Bride.

A French alternative to the traditional iced cake is rapidly gaining popularity. The croquembouche is a pyramid of delicious profiteroles, smothered with fresh cream and decorated with caramel, peanut brittle and a veil of spun sugar. Although the cutting of the cake by the bride and groom is an important part of traditional wedding ceremonial, signifying the first task they carry out jointly as a married couple, it’s impossible to cut the croquembouche. Instead the bride and groom attack the brittle with a hammer. Not so auspicious.

You can see more of my wedding cakes at www.zingpictures.com