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sweet eats Carefully crafted cakes By Susan McMakin | COUTURE CAKES We have used cakes to celebrate occasions for hundreds of years. We use them to celebrate all of our milestones such as birth- days, graduations, religious ceremonies, and weddings. When planning a wedding there are several occasions that a cake would be appropriate including engagement party, bridal showers, bridal brunch, rehearsal dinner and wedding reception. Groom’s cakes can be served at the wedding reception as a more rich and decadent flavor choice for the guests, but were traditionally served at the rehearsal dinner. Another tra- dition of the groom’s cake was that it was sliced and placed in a box and given to the single ladies in attendance. They were to place it under their pillow that night and dream of their future groom. Perhaps that is where the term sweet dreams comes from. Groom’s Cakes are often decorated to reflect the groom’s hobbies or interests, such as alma mater, favorite games, hunting, or sports. We are all familiar with the famous scene from Steel Magnolias with a red velvet groom’s cake shaped as an armadillo. Cake Pull or Charm Cakes is a Victorian-era tradition. It was traditionally done on the bottom tier of the wed- ding cake but we find it is more common at a bridal shower or bridal brunch now. Each of your single friends and brides- maids take a turn pulling a charm on a ribbon from the cake for a glimpse of what’s to come in their future. The chili pepper charm means a hot romance is on the horizon or a rocking chair charm means you will have a long life. It’s a meaningful keepsake that can also serve as jewelry keepsakes for the bridal party. The pièce de résistance is the wedding cake. Gone are the days of towering tiers of cake separated by plastic columns and water fountains. The term we hear from couples now is simple and elegant. Textured buttercream icing is the most popular. However if planning an outdoor wedding or in the summer in a venue without air-conditioning you may want to consider fondant icing. Pic- tures of your wedding cake sitting outside under a tree or gazebo is very pretty but con- sider the risk. Insects crawling on it, leaves falling on it or worse a pigeon landing on the cake and eating the fruit off of it, it has happened. Your wed- ding cake is not limited to plain vanilla. We allow our couples to choose a different flavor per tier of cake. Make sure your caterer is in charge of cutting the cake. Most caterers will charge a small flat fee to cut your cake. It can be a messy job and making sure you get the correct number of slices is very important. Do you plan on saving your top-tier for your one year anniversary or ordering a fresh one instead? We find most new couples prefer to order a fresh one a year later so that it’s not taking up space in their freezer or fearing the risk of it tasting bad a year later. 24 | TOWN BRIDE SPRING 2020 Greenville has an amazing wedding vendor community. We are all here to help answer any questions you have and help guide you through your planning process.