CAKE RESEARCH:
Finely formed ruffles and bows, sleek silk binding, and impeccable pleats--these are the special touches that set apart an elegant custom-made dress or suit. The same details, formed from sugar paste, make a wedding cake to remember. When you work closely with your baker, you can tailor not only its shape and flavor, but the frills that embellish the layers. Choose elements you love: the quilting of a classic coat or the blossoms on your grandmother's handkerchief, for example. Then interpret them as baubles and ornaments composed of icing. It all adds up to a cake that is perfectly suited for your wedding.
Pin Tucks and Ruffles:
Pin tucks and ruffles encircle the layers of this formal cake, which resembles the bib of a classic tuxedo shirt. Tiny sugar-paste pearls, like fabric-covered buttons, punctuate the center of each frilly sugar-paste band. Ivory taffeta ribbon trims the cake board; its picot edging alludes to the black of the suit. The interior is white layers filled and frosted with vanilla Swiss-meringue buttercream and then covered with fondant.
Appliqués:
Appliqués of sugar-paste flowers, inspired by the design on a vintage blouse, seem to be sewn onto a small cake; piped royal-icing blossoms suggest embroidered accents.
Buttons:
Buttons transform a traditional fondant-covered wedding cake into an altogether whimsical one; they are made from sugar paste and tinted an ivory shade. The buttons also top petit-four favors, which are set on cupcake papers, then nestled into glassine-lined black and white boxes, their lids swapped. Double-sided tape secures the ends of aqua ribbon underneath calligraphed labels.
Ribbons and Bows:
Made of sugar paste and trimmed with "stitching" along the edges, ribbons and bows decorate the top and each tier of this pretty, ladylike cake. A clever use of a perforation wheel makes it appear as if they have been stitched onto the fondant. The natty outlining of black food coloring, which helps define the white-on-white shapes, was painted on by hand. Aqua paper and vintage black-and-white ribbon wrap the extra-thick cake board.
Silk-Corded Closures:
Rolled sugar paste forms silk-corded closures; a brushing of luster dust imparts the characteristic sheen. They decorate the tiers of a square cake, its quilting design created by running a perforation wheel along the fondant.
2.) China Cakes:
Fine china and wedding cakes have much in common: Both are beautiful and functional, both are products of centuries-old traditions of honed and studied craftsmanship, and both preoccupy the minds of brides. Adornments derived from traditional china patterns look right at home on these elegant wedding cakes.
Transferware Cake: 
The nineteenth-century English pottery that inspired this cake was known for intricate scenes and border patterns. Here, a border detail is repeatedly piped in chocolate.
Lustreware Cake: 
The sweet, shimmery details of lustreware plates—often used to serve dessert in the nineteenth century—were typically painted in silver, copper, and pink. The playful motifs encircling the tops of the four tiers of this cake were created with powdered food colorings and a sable paintbrush—the best tool to match the brush strokes of the originals.
Wedding Band Cake:
In the nineteenth century, this fine white china was shipped plain from France and trimmed with gold paint once it reached the United States. These white tiers were dressed with metallic ribbons; sprigs of olive branches symbolize fertility.
Creamware Cake:
The reticulated pattern of this eighteenth-century English china is emulated in the multitiered cake by rolled fondant cut with aspic and eyelet-embroidery cutters. Sugar paste was used for the "embroidered" flowers on top and base.
Ironstone Cake:
The subtle aesthetic of ironstone made it popular in nineteenth-century England. This confection takes on the quietly raised pattern and charm of the original.
Wedgewood Cake:
The icing-like trim on jasperware, developed in England in 1775, translates well to a wedding cake—piped here in royal icing. This cake and base were covered with fondant; gum-paste leaves adorn the base and top.
3.) Couture Cakes:
A cake that takes its cue from the bride’s dress is always impressive, and it’s an easy way to unify the look of a wedding.
Button Cake:
The tops of these three stacked boxes are covered with fondant and marzipan buttons. Some buttons are painted with a pale shimmery coloring to simulate a pearly finish. At the base of each box is a fondant ribbon, made by pressing strips of fondant into ribbed elastic to simulate the look of grosgrain. A gum-paste bow serves as the cake topper. For the cake table, grosgrain ribbons are woven together to cover a board.
Primrose Cake:
This four-tiered cake takes its fanciful spirit from gowns created by some of fashion’s most daring designers, who adorn necklines, bustles, and hems with clusters of colorful silk flowers. The cake’s flowers and leaves appear to support the weight of the tiers but are actually hiding the dowels that do the work.
Scrollwork Cake:
These lighthearted scrolls were inspired by fabric-coiled appliqués used to embellish dress bodices. To make these decorations, gum paste is sent through a pasta machine, then rolled into curls and attached to the fondant-covered cake with water. The finished cake resembles a fabulous hat, one that Audrey Hepburn might have worn.
Swag Cake: 
The swags, which start and finish with a bow, ripple and flow like fabric; delicate dots of buttercream icing imitate dotted swiss.
Pulled-Sugar Ribbon Cake:
These shimmering platinum-blue ribbon bands and this triple-loop bow were pulled and formed from sugar. The rectangular, fondant-covered cake is displayed on a hotel-silver tray with a traditional ribbon-and-cross border.
Grosgrain Ribbon Cake: 
Sleek, oval tiers enrobed in fondant are at once classic and modern. A band of grosgrain ribbon encircles each layer, secured with piped royal icing. A vintage bisque bride-and-groom cake topper stands on top.
3.) Fruit Cakes:
The season’s best fruit—fresh, sugared, or glacéed—can provide the most sumptuous embellishments for an otherwise simple cake.
Berry Basket Cake:
Perfect for early summer, this cake is piled with the freshest and most varied assortment of the season’s most delicious berries—tiny strawberries, red currants, gooseberries, raspberries, and blueberries all jumbled together on a basket-weave tier (created using an oversize leaf tip). The three tiers of pound cake are supported by wooden dowels; the berries are arranged before the dowels are inserted, which helps hide the supports.
Cherry Cheesecake:
Bands of white chocolate wrap around a creamy cheesecake. White cherries, such as Rainier or Queen Anne, are dipped in sugar and used to fill the moats created by the bands.
Chocolate Chesnut Cake:
This cake is as rich and dignified as an Italian Renaissance still life. It boasts four tiers filled with chocolate ganache and is garnished with sugared Seckel pears, crab apples, candied chestnuts, and other seasonal fruits.
Grape Arbor Cake:
Sealed with white fondant and layered with fresh Concord-grape jam and mascarpone filling, this cake has royal-icing trellises, which are applied to the cake when dry to create the illusion of a larger cake and to hide the supporting dowels. White-chocolate grapes and gum-paste leaves provide extra adornments; the arbor at the top could shelter a bride and groom beautifully.
Citus Basket Cake:
A slice of this three-tiered creation would reveal an orange-chiffon cake layered with three different citrus curds, served in blood-orange sauce with candied orange peel adorning the plate. The decorative elements of the cake include sugared fresh kumquats and their leaves, as well as realistic gum-paste orange blossoms in variously open stages. Constructed with hexagonal tiers, the cake is supported by a central pedestal, then covered with “wicker-work” piping in buttercream.
Applesauce Cake:
Caramel-dipped lady and crab apples glisten atop a moist, spiced applesauce cake with cream-cheese filling. The top tier is supported with walnut dowels; apple-tree branches fill the space between the tiers.
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