Cake Toppers For The Cowboy In You
When I got married 12 years ago, my husband-to-be and I fought over the china patterns and the design of the western wedding cake toppers. Our parents worried about the number of people, the menu and whether to have our names printed on little pastel after-dinner mints. But choosing the wedding cake was a breeze. The caterer asked, "Vanilla or chocolate?" and we said, "How about a tier or two of each." That was that. Today's couples have more to worry about.
Instead of vanilla and chocolate as western wedding cake toppers, it's strawberry/Grand Marnier, chocolate/raspberry gateau, lemon torte, mocha, fudge mousse and amaretto cheesecake. There's buttercream (with real butter or with shortening), whipped cream, chocolate ganache and rolled fondant frostings. And designs range from the traditional, to the offbeat, to the down-right bizarre. Thank Martha Stewart, "the person you love to hate," for making bride's aware of a wealth of choices, says Tim Kennedy, co-owner of Pastry Art in Central Falls. "Brides are a lot more interactive," Kennedy says. "They want to be involved in the process and not just say, 'Give me whatever.' " Wonder where the tradition of wedding cakes came from? According to several sources, modern multi-tiered wedding cakes are descendants of an ancient Roman-ritual that involved pelting the bride and groom with grains of wheat to encourage a fertile union. At some point, the tradition was changed; the groom would break a small wheat cake over the bride's head, letting guests nibble the crumbs to share in their fortune. During the middle ages, sweet buns replaced the wheat cakes. In England, wedding guests would pile these buns into a tall pyramid and encourage the couple to kiss over the top of the stack. A French baker decided the pyramid needed sugar frosting, and the multi-tiered wedding cake was born. Today's wedding cakes come in all different shapes and sizes. The white wedding cake with round tiers and soft, pink buttercream roses is still here, but it's taking a back seat to fondant-wrapped cakes with fresh flowers and square-tiered cakes wrapped up to look like stacks of gift packages. According to Felicia Pritchett, a pastry chef and an associate professor at Johnson & Wales University, rolled fondant, while is rolled out like pie crust and fitted onto the cake in a smooth layer, is increasingly popular, along with a new product - rolled buttercream. Rolled buttercream is shinier than fondant and comes in white chocolate, vanilla and peanut butter flavors. |