Ever wondered what kind of cake you should get for your wedding? What flavor? What kind of frosting? Will you like it and will the guests appreciate it? Do you want a gourmet cake that actually tastes good, with frosting that isn’t like glue? But how could you pay for a cake of this quality for all the guests? The answer is simple. Go with cupcakes for all the guests. Though this is not quite as traditional, it is exceptionally efficient.
I recently went to two weddings where the bride and groom used this cupcake technique for their ‘cake’. Instead of having a stacked cake covered in decorative (and hence disgusting) frosting, they had tiers of cupcakes, topped with their own small wedding cake. This worked very well because they could both ‘cut the cake’ and keep that tradition, while deviating from the tradition of a huge cake for all. At both weddings they had different options for flavors and frostings; they had strawberry, yellow, and chocolate cupcakes with vanilla and chocolate frosting. This enabled the guests to pick and choose what they preferred. In this way there was no need for someone to stand there meticulously cutting each piece of cake for each guest. People could also avoid the necessity of being polite and eating the decorative frosting that most cake decorators use, that is like a thick past with an unpleasant flavor. Believe me, I have tried to eat this kind of frosting and can’t, even though it does look pretty. At both these weddings, the guests were happy and the married couple picked a gourmet cake with nice frosting.
Even though this may not look as beautiful as a real tiered cake, it certainly does work well. A cakes purpose is to please the pallet, not necessarily the eye. Hence most guests care more about the flavor of the cake than how it looks, and the flavor is the memory they take away with them. So by going the cupcake route instead of the tiered cake route, one is ensuring the pleasure of the guests, the freedom to easily take one cupcake instead of waiting to be served a slice of cake, and the ability to actually provide yourself with the gourmet cake you deserve on your wedding day. Not traditional, but easier and more effective. Traditional isn’t always the better choice.
