How to Choose the Right Wedding Cake & Bakery

Art Eats Bakery

Greenville, SC

The cake is such a uniquely challenging part of planning any wedding, since it has to both look wonderful and taste great. As you make your selection, learn the characteristics you should seek out (as well as the ones you need to avoid).  Visit us at Art Eats Bakery

Do: Your Homework


Look at tons of wedding cake photos so you know your options. If you have a custom style in mind, cut out pictures, snip fabric swatches, and pull from other resources. Before you start sketching out cake plans, learn about a few basic terms, such as fondant and buttercream. Bought fondant makes for a very neat, put-together design but has a taste and texture that some brides may not prefer, alternatively there is buttercream; which tastes great but can’t be molded or colored in the same way as fondant. We make our fondant fresh from natural ingredients over real buttercream, so you can get the best of both worlds. With each icing there is limitations but your baker can help you chose what is best for you design. Schedule a consultation and be sure to taste the cakes, fillings, icings and fondant. If they are separate you can mix and match each of the flavors to find which combination you prefer.


HINT: While fondant is normally draped over a cake that’s been frosted with buttercream, a high-end baker can roll out the fondant in a thin layer. That way, the fondant looks superb while buttercream dominates your taste buds.


Do: Customize Your Wedding Cake Breaking away from the traditional look for a wedding cake a couple whose wedding was beach themed chose a three tier square sandcastle wedding cake with white chocolate seashells with some blue pearl dust and sugar handcrafted sandcastle topper. The cake has butter cream covered in edible sand and the gold accents are edible. The sugar flag has their initial. If the topper is kept dry, it can be a keepsake. 


One of the first things guests notice when they enter the wedding reception is the cake, so make sure it fits the décor and suits your style. You can use any inspiration point to start with, from your wedding colors to your reception space – even the lace on your gown. Bring photos, ribbons, or anything that will help convey the theme and colors you are using. Now there is no standard for wedding cakes. It can be traditional or something sculpted that looks like art. One that tastes great that isn’t the traditional white cake with vanilla is a chocolate fudge cake covered with buttercream and accented with crushed peanuts or peanut butter candies.

HINT: An easy way to personalize your cake is to monogram it. Having you wedding monogram written in scroll-like royal icing on the middle tier or onto an oval piece of fondant and framed with sugar pearls on the bottom tier.

Do: Book Your Wedding Cake Bakery Early

Cake bakers should be booked four to six months before your wedding, though some reputable bakers are hired up to a year in advance. If you have someone in mind, don’t wait. Secure their services now then nail down the specifics later. They will allow a save the date deposit for this purpose. Some reception sites may require you to use their catering services, but stringent cake rules are less common.

One of our bride’s ideas was a four tier square fondant wedding cake with royal icing designs, purple ribbons, and hydrangeas. The fondant is off white and the royal icing is white, so the designs show up more. The ribbons and flowers are not edible. (Pictured below)

Do: Schedule a Time to Cut the Wedding Cake

Traditionally, the cake cutting signifies that the end of the reception is near (and cues the elder attendees that they can politely slip out), so couples typically wait until an hour before the party ends to cut it. If you don’t want to interrupt your dance party, entrance while everyone’s eyes are on you.

HINT: If you cut the cake toward the end of the evening, you could opt to serve an additional dessert with the cake slices. Choose something light, like sorbet for a summertime wedding or chocolate mousse in the fall or winter.

Do: Get Wedding Cake Baker References

Find a cake baker who can deliver precisely what you want within your budget. Do some research. Ask recent brides whose cakes you liked for suggestions and check bakers’ websites to see if there’s a cake similar to what you’re seeking or ask if the can make a custom cake design for you. Check out their reviews.

HINT: Before you place an order, your cake contract should include contact info for the vendor; wedding date, time, and delivery location; delivery and setup fees; total amount due; cake design specifications and flavors; plus their cancellation and refund policies.

Do: Eat a Piece of Your Wedding Cake

Couples often don’t get a chance to eat their own wedding cake. Ask your caterer to save some for you. Share it with your new spouse as a snack that night or taste it at the post wedding brunch. You deserve to enjoy the cake you worked so hard to help create.

HINT: If you’re planning to keep your top tier for your one-year anniversary, make sure that your caterer wraps it in tin foil and packs it into a tight storage container for the freezer.

Another of our bride’s chose a three tier round fondant wedding cake with embossed diamonds and sugar pearls. (Pictured below)

Don’t: Overdo the Wedding Cake Add-Ons

Flowers and other additions like polka dots and stripes are great, but use them in moderation. Whether you’re going for large sugar flowers like tulips or small ones like baby violets, don’t overwhelm the cake. Make sure your cake design allows for breathing room on the top or bottom tiers so your cake doesn’t look smothered. Remember that simplicity can be beautiful.

HINT: Sugar flowers can be beautiful whether molded into something small and dainty or large and lush. When it come to fresh flower, stick with the heartier blooms like roses, dahlias, and calla lilies, which are less likely to wilt and more likely to hold up during the evening.

Don’t: Choose an Inedible Wedding Cake Color

You want your wedding cake to coordinate with your wedding day colors, but remember it’s a dessert that your guests will be eating. Instead of a bold red cake with gold accents, go for a white or chocolate cake with a few red and gold accents so it will taste better. If you’re having a blue and green wedding, for the best flavor, get a white cake with blue ribbon trim, or ask your baker for green-frosted accents or flowers. Darker colors can still be achieved by airbrush techniques that use less color.

HINT: Consider your frosting options when choosing a color. Both buttercream and fondant can be dyed just about any basic shade, but you’ll get a wider color spectrum with fondant.

Don’t: Make the Wedding Cake Yourself

Unless you’re a pastry chef – and even if you are – think twice about making you own cake. You’ll have enough to handle without having to worry about whether the cake is moist enough or decorated just right. Even if you want a very basic cake with simple trim or dots, it‘s best to stick with the DIY to escort cards and favors and hire an experienced baker, if only to give yourself some peace of mind. Be sure to see if they have liability insurance, a business license and a DHEC license.

HINT: A relative or friend may offer to make the cake for your wedding, but be wary. It’s better to politely decline the offer up front than to be disappointed with the cake later. Unless you’ve seen your friend’s or relative’s work and are absolutely certain that you like it, think twice before taking them up on their offer.


Don’t: Choose a Generic Wedding Cake Topper


Consider your cake a great piece of art. Just like you wouldn’t put a Picasso in a plastic frame, you should avoid completing your cake with a generic bride and groom topper. Instead, pick something that’s “you.” If you have an heirloom piece – say, an antique brooch – work with your baker to incorporate it into your top tier. You can also consider using your mom and dad’s (or even grandparents’) cake topper as your “something old.” Look to your locale as well. A cluster of white chocolate coral can look stunning for a beachside celebration, or try a fondant snowflake for a winter wedding. Some other potential ideas: having a cascade of icing ribbons or using sugar letters to reveal your new monogram. We can design an edible topper or a crystal and wire topper.

HINT: Still not into the cake topper idea? Simply don’t use one at all. Some cake designs look great without a topper. Do it this way and you won’t distract from the pattern on the cake.

Don’t: Ignore Your Wedding Cake Flavor

What’s inside the cake counts too. Nix the standard chocolate-and-vanilla idea and have fun with your cake flavors. Some of the most popular flavors are chocolate fudge, strawberry, lemon, and fudge marble for the cake. Icings and fillings have greatly changed as well; ranging from the classic vanilla to amaretto, and a wide variety in between. A full listing of our flavors can be found at flavors. There’s a flavor to pleas virtually every couple’s taste buds.


While most bakers using the expensive ingredients involved in making couture concoctions as well as alternating layers of flavors will potentially up your price per slice considerably, we don’t charge anything extra for most of these perks.

Save on cost and get more flavors for large weddings. Consider adding a sheet cake(s) if you are having a rather large amount of people attending your celebration. Sheet cakes can be done in the same flavor as the main cake or can be varied depending on the couple’s preference.

Don’t: Forget About Transportation

Most bakeries offer either pick-up or delivery, some offer both. When picking up a cake consider the type of vehicle used to transport the cake, SUV’s and vans work the best. We provide a non slip mat to place under your cake to prevent movement. Remember that the speed you go is not so much the issue; braking and taking turns at a high speed are the main concerns in transporting a cake.

A wedding cake can be used to reflect on moments captured in pictures throughout your courtship and/or your lives. In this five tier fondant cake edible black and white images surround all tiers of this cake. The pictures are of the Bride and Groom from the time they were babies until the present. The boarders of each tier are hand rolled fondant pearls. The pictures are framed with sugar pearls and the topper is handcrafted from fondant and silver wires. The photo was taken at the reception in the Hilton Hotel on orchard Park Road.

   Thank you for reading. Visit us at Art Eats Bakery
Our main service area includes these cities and towns in South Carolina :
Greenville, Greer, Spartanburg,Pacolet, Simpsonville, Mauldin, Belton, Clemson, Easley, Seneca, Hartwell, Donalds, Ware Shoals, Greenwood, Newberry, Prosperity, Winnsboro, Irmo, Lexington, Columbia, lugoff, Camden, Kershaw, Rock Hill,York, Gaffney, Saluda, Calhoun Falls, Williamston, Fork Shoals, Princeton, Gray Court, Fountain Inn, Woodruff, Pelham, Duncun, Lyman, Welford, Taylors, Inman, Gramling, Campobello, Landrum, Travelers Rest, Tigerville, Cleveland, Caesar's Head, Slater-Marietta, Pickens, Powdersville, Conestee, Clinton, Liberty, Anderson, Pelzer, Westminster, Chapin, Honea Path,

North Carolina : Shellby, Charlotte, Harrisburg, Concord, Lincolnton, Hendersonville, Ashville, Weaverville, Marion, Clayton, Highlands, Frankland,


Georgia : Atlanta, Gainsville, Maysville, Jefferson, Elberton, Royston, Toccoa, Clarksville