Emma Chamberlain’s Blog: Wedding Trends for 2016

Pastels, sprinkles, sparkles, beautiful flowers, gems and jewels – so much fun can be had when creating a wedding cake based on the current trends and styles.

Top tips for wedding cake success

• Plan ahead! First gather ideas and your thoughts on design, structure and styling. Then sketch out the design. It doesn’t matter how poor of an artist you are. Putting pencil to paper, mapping out your ideas will help you visualise your finished design and a handy reference tool to have when creating the cake. It can also help to develop different ideas and is great for testing colours you’d like to try. Keep these designs in a portfolio, they will come in useful when you are looking for ideas.
• Source all equipment, boards and ribbon boxes well in advance.
• Practice any new techniques you would like to try. You will feel more confident when it comes to applying it to the cake.
• Complete any decorations that need to dry or have to be done in stages a couple of weeks in advance. That way you leave plenty of time to concentrate on the cake when the time comes.
• Use Renshaw Ready to Roll Icing on the cake for a professional and neat finish.
• Use Renshaw Flower and Modelling Paste for fine details and decoration, such as flowers and other items that require strength or structure. This paste is also great for modelling by mixing it 50:50 with Renshaw Ready to Roll Icing.

Below are 3 of my favourite styles and techniques you could use to dream up a cake fit for a fairy tale.

Bold and romantic silhouettes

With this style of wedding cake you are able to paint a picture of happily ever after.

You can create this style using the silhouettes cutter range from Patchwork Cutters and Renshaw Dahlia Black flower and modelling paste. They are quick and easy to use together but very effective, especially when placed against a contrasting background.

Keep it simple by sticking with black and white, it looks contemporary and you can add an extra pop by using a key colour here and there. I really like the stand-out red umbrella on Galyna Harb’s cake, and the simplistic but lovely heart addition to Laura Jane Cake Design’s engagement cake.

Alternatively you can go all out by adding colour to the base of the cake. You can do this by using coloured Ready to Roll Icing to cover the cake, creating different shades of the same colour by paling down white fondant icing to create an ombre effect. You could also apply colour by using an airbrush or painting on the colour.

L-R: Galyna Harb, Laura Jane Cake Design

Dreamy painted cakes

Add painted detail directly onto the icing surface by first diluting food colour with cooled boiled water and mixing with Rainbow Dust Snow Drift. A paint palette is handy to use when using a variety of colours. Just be sure it is only used for cake decorating.

You can also mix the diluted paste food colours with a white lustre dust for a different effect.

Painting your wedding cake is the perfect opportunity to create something completely unique. You could add meaningful verses or a mix of the couple’s favourite designs, and the extra time and detail you put into it will be worth it when you see the final result.

Find tips on painting your cakes here.

Floral decorations

Peonies, avalanche roses and hydrangeas are still on trend. They give a classic finish to tall cakes. Keep the design of the cake simple to allow maximum time to allow to make the flowers. Keep the top tier small and the flowers large for maximum coverage. The smaller the flowers the more you have to make.

Are you planning or working on a wedding cake? Tell us about it on Facebook and Twitter.