Crafty cakes
By Amy Richards
Wedding guests look forward to dessert. It is one of the highlights of a reception. Whether you want a traditional cake, a unique cake or a non-cake dessert, why not have it reflect your personality and give guests something to rave about?
Teresa Csizma, co-owner of Sugar Me Desserterie in Chagrin Falls says, “Most of our clients prefer something simple and elegant for their wedding cake. By that, I mean classic flavors such as vanilla or vanilla almond, and simple designs such as a ridged texture or a clean, smooth texture covered in simple rosettes. Our most popular is vanilla almond with raspberry filling and a vanilla buttercream.”
She stresses that “simple cakes can be big on flavor, quality and freshness.”
Although Csizma’s clients tend to request customary flavors, some will choose more intriguing or multiple flavors to help the cake stand out. The bakery’s most popular unique options are lemon blueberry, banana blueberry, red velvet and carrot cake. No matter the flavor, “most choose white icing,” she says.
“We have had a few clients (who) want something less traditional,” she adds. “One client chose ombre shades of muted pale greens and blues with fresh flowers that nicely accented those colors. A client who was into camping and hiking had us paint mountains and a sunset on the side of the cake.”
Sugar Me Desserterie cakes are typically on the more classic side, but they also venture out of the cake box entirely.
“Many of our clients aren’t into having a wedding cake at all … and if they do, it will be very small just for the cutting ceremony,” Csizma says. “Once we did pies for a bride and groom who didn’t care for cake but loved pie. Frequently, clients ask us to make cupcakes or mini pastries to serve to their guests. Our most popular are petit fours, French macarons, ciambelle, linzers, mini brownies, blondies, lemon bars, toffee bars, butter cookies, mini cream puffs and eclairs – everything made by scratch.”
Many couples use Sugar Me Desserterie’s decorated sugar cookies to “add a personal touch to their wedding day.” Although the bakery offers “a nearly endless variety of designs, most stay pretty classic, choosing wedding dresses, cakes and rings. Others get more personal with a favorite pet or hobby or a monogram,” Csizma explains. Oftentimes, these are given out as favors.
And some couples yearn for something a bit less traditional and want to wow their guests with unusual flavors, colors, designs and structure. Haley Vincenza Sferra, owner and cake artist of By Cenza Cake Studio in Cleveland Heights, does just that.
“I think that the first step in designing an eye-catching wedding cake is to totally erase any expectations you have to begin with,” Sferra says. “There is so much that is possible.”
Sferra loves to create unique cakes, she says.
“My favorite thing is to do something unexpected and utilize unique movement, contrasting concepts (like mixing modern with traditional) and not being scared to go a little bold or abstract,” she says. “I often use different tier shapes and sizes to evoke different meaning, and I especially like using floral placement that causes guests to take a second look.
“I don’t think that to be eye catching you have to be busy and loud, but should cause people to want to look closer. It’s fun to have a cake design that from far away seems like a simple traditional stack, but then the longer you look, the more you are rewarded with interesting details and textures, and you realize how it symbolizes the couple and their wedding.”
Sferra also uses flavor to excite guests.
“My flavors read a little outrageous on paper, but I love surprising clients with the subtlety of the flavor profiles and how approachable and delicious they actually are,” she says. “One of my most popular flavors is a coffee and citrus flavor. It is a chocolate-chip cake soaked in a coffee syrup with citrus buttercream and roasted hazelnuts. Another is berry peppercorn. I make a dark chocolate ganache with pink peppercorns steeped in the cream. It adds interesting depth to the flavors of the cake, but I like that at the end of the day, it is just a really good vanilla cake with chocolate and berries.
By Cenza’s most popular cake flavor? Lavender, lemon and blueberry, she notes.
Couples seeking something traditional also walk into her studio, but they often leave with new ideas.
“I find if people come to a consultation with a more subdued vision for their cake, it usually just means we have to have a conversation about what is truly possible,” Sferra says. “I never push outrageous designs on someone who is looking for something simpler, but I do find most people leave really excited to see what I will come up with, knowing that I will always have their best interest in mind and may have a little more up my sleeve than they imagined when they first walked through my door.”
Although By Cenza offers cakes only, they can be nontraditional in terms of how they are presented “to add another fun element to the wedding.” This year, Sferra has done several cake duos – serving two slices of cake with complementary flavor profiles – and even a trio. She’s also done mini cakes, a trend this year where a two-to-three bite layer cake is served. And, she’s done boxed cakes, “where the cake is boxed as favors with individual little forks so guests can take them home and dive right in to enjoy late night.”
One of her favorite “immersive experiences” was serving “individual moss ball cakes” to guests, she adds.
“It was so fun to watch people realize that was their cake course,” Sferra says.
Whether you choose to go traditional or unique, a lot of flavor, beauty and fun can be wrapped up in that delicious bite your guests will go home savoring.