There are so many wedding cake designs to choose from, it can be very overwhelming – and who needs extra wedding stress? Especially stress caused by a cake? To help you choose your dream wedding cake, looking ahead, here are the top trends in wedding cakes…

1. Lace Cake Accents

   Lace is not going anywhere for weddings. It’s getting even more beautiful in wedding gown fashions, with antique lace all the rage, and now it’s a top trend to let your wedding gown inspire the design of your cake. And cake designers can do lace in so many pretty ways, from Brush Embroidery, a royal icing technique that creates a textured lace finish; to Appliqued Lace, in which the cake baker applies individually-molded sugar pieces in lace designs directly to a fondant-covered cake, and even Edible Lace using a special mat that creates a flexible, edible lace design that has a lace-like texture. Edible lace can be draped, fit, or used as a border for the effect of a lace overlay on your cake.

2. Ruffled Cakes

   The design of the cake’s frosting looks like ruffled fabric, and again can match the design of your wedding cake. It’s fashion-forward and romantic, a soft and flowing cake design.

3. Vintage Cakes

   Vintage cakes are not always lace cakes. This trend in wedding cakes will be very soft-shaded, romantic and textured, including lace and brocade, and subtle pattern layers. The palette is neutral, most often in in ivory and pink, and icing pearls create pretty rings around cake tiers.

4. Tall Cakes

   The days of “get a smaller cake to save money” are over. Now, cakes are reaching new heights in design, often extending up four, five, six, seven, or more tiers for a dramatic focal point in your wedding ballroom and an opulent effect.

5. Multiple Cakes

   An alternative to the one tall wedding cake is the display of several different, coordinating styles of wedding cakes, set up on a grand cake table and perhaps surrounded by mini sweets, florals and candles. These may be one- or two-tier cakes, or a multitier cake surrounded by since-tier “satellite” cakes, or you might do a main cake surrounded by cupcakes.

6. Bold Color Cakes

   While white wedding cakes will always be on-trend, wedding cakes are also being designed in bold, bright colors such as red, orange, yellow and other vibrant shades. The cake may be an all-over bright color, or a white or pastel cake might be accented by flowers and piping in bold, vivid shades, standing out even more with bold-color ribbons at the base of each tier.

7. Damask Cakes

   As an offshoot of the lace cake design, the pattern on alternating cake layers may be created in a damask pattern, again pulling from top fashion trends. Your cake, then, might coordinate with the design of your invitations, not your gown.

8. Dotted Cakes

   Swiss dots spaced close together create an intricacy and soft beauty that may mirror a Swiss-dot design of your wedding dress. Think tiny dots, not polka dots, for this leading trend in wedding cakes.

9. Statement Accent Cakes

   A frosted or fondant cake gets bursts of Wow Factor with just a few oversized “statement” blooms made of sugar paste. A talented cake artist can make realistic-looking lilies, roses, peonies, hydrangeas and other stand-out floral designs, rather than covering the cake in swaths of many iced flowers or even fresh flowers. Supersized statement flowers are a big trend, especially when done in bright colors, and it’s a surprisingly low-cost option for a budget wedding.

10. Blinged-Out Cakes

    Wedding cakes get some sparkle of their own, and 2015 wedding cake trends will see an elegant ‘dressing’ of the cake with a sparkling, jewel brooch effect on the front of a tier or on alternating tiers, rhinestone “necklaces” around alternating tiers, or both. Go subtle with the sparkle, or go bright and blingy depending on how much dazzle you want on your cake.

11. Soft, Smooth Frosting

While you’re seeing some fondant cakes here – fondant will always be popular – Anne Heap, owner of Pink Cake Box in Denville, says, “Buttercream is back!” Soft, smooth frosting takes the cake as a top trend  for wedding cakes, bridal shower cakes, engagement party cakes, and other celebration cakes. As you search for your dream wedding cake, remember that the prettiest cake has to taste amazing, so choose your baker well, taste samples, and have fun choosing delectable flavor combinations for each of your wedding cakes or layers.  [All images by www.pinkcakebox.com]