Yesterday, talking with a client about her wedding cake, she said that she wanted a more plain less "wedding cake" looking cake...nothing piped or frilly. She said she wanted it less "girly" for her fiance' since this is his cake too.

So this made me wonder...are American cakes getting less intricate because of the male influence in weddings now? I did my first wedding cake about 15 years ago and the grooms then didn't even attend the meeting, now about 8 times out of 10 the grooms are there with input too.

So what do you think and what's your experience with this?

thanx!
Cat

Interesting but true...
I have been making cakes for 15 years and it seems that in the last 5 years nobody wants frills, lace, strings etc. on the wedding cakes.. Not only because of the man wanting to be involved but because of the drastic changes in decorating style.. You can't even make a cake anymore, everyone wants a work of art ..lol .. I say Bring It On !

Kim

Reality TV strikes again. Guys don't really care any more than they used to, but they THINK they must have input because everyone on television tells them they should.
As mentioned, decorating styles have changed. The old Wilton books showed cakes covered in "carpal tunnel stars" (I wish I could remember who coined that phrase because I love it, and got carpal tunnel, too!). Fondant was not seen on American cakes until relatively recently.
I'd love to see intricately piped Lambeth-type cakes return with a vengeance.

This may be just because I'm in the South, but the brides have their fancy tiered wedding cake, and the grooms have their own cake reflecting their hobbies or whatnot.
My husband had Krispy Kreme doughnuts for his "groom's cake" It was a big hit.

Cat, To answer your question about the "work of art" prices versus "too much cake"..
I'm in CA. too and in my opinion the brides out here are willing to pay thousands on flowers and don't want to pay more than a couple hundred on their cake... But forbid it look like it was worth a couple hundred.. Consumers don't get that we spend days on the cake... Also there is allways too much cake left over, I have never had anyone call and say they ran out, but they have told me there was at least a tier left over..
Anyway, I was willing to give my sister in-law a free grooms cake and she said no thanks.. I think it has to do with how she wanted the wedding to look, she didn't want some Angels Baseball cake sitting next to her beautiful cake.. I get it, Beauty is what its about.. I don't even offer a grooms cake unless the man says something about it..
Kim

I can't really voice my opinion based on experience, but I personally like the clean, simple, elegant cakes more than the very detailed ones. I think what you all have said have a lot to do with it, but I also think it's a "contemporary" thing. Think about modern decoration and style. Clean, simple looks. That's what gets my attention. I notice and appreciate the beautiful pipe work and detail of older cakes, but when I think wedding cake, I think clean, simple (looking anyway). May just be me though.

Here, traditionally, the bride's family pays for the wedding cake, and the groom's family pays for the groom's cake. The weddings I've been to have a whole area/room dedicated to the groom's cake and decorations for that area accordingly. The cakes are considerably smaller than the wedding cake, and is often a different flavor than the bride's.

At the venue my little brother got married at, they had a "groom's room" where it was decorated in red, white, and blue because that's Ole Miss's colors, and he had a cake in the shape of the Ole Miss 'M'.

I guess it's just about where you're from and what your traditions are.

My DD's wedding is in April, she would like her wedding cake to be fairly simple but elegant,(4 tiers) but my future SIL - he's another story! He wants his grooms cake to be 3 tiers and fairly elaborate!

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is the ability to have different flavored tiers. Being able to have his and hers flavorings on the same cake seems to like it would be a bigger reason to forgo the separate cake especially in regions where it's not custom.

All of these different takes are fascinating! I'd love to hear from those in all the different countries as well as from more parts of the US!

Cat

well, in Wyoming, it seems that everyone is terrified of any other cake but white! I'd say 90% of my orders are white cake. My last wedding cake was the exception and was all red velvet and there was a groom's cake, as the groom likes carrot cake. I don't think that it's masculine influence that are spear heading the simple designs but just the fashion now-a-days. It's like home decoration: My mother's home (which was the absolute height of style in the 80's and 90's) is by todays standards overdone, too frilly, and garrish. My own home, is clean simple and modern. Lol, and lord knows in 10 years when my daughter has a home of her own, the "style pendulum" will have swung back to fancy, frilly, silk flowery clutter again.
I predict the demise of fondant covered cakes and the rise of "old school" decorating techniques and tasty BC in the next ten years. So far, the Wyomingites, although entranced by the idea and look of fondant covered cakes are scared to eat the fondant and refer to it as "that icing you have to peel off before you eat the cake? I had that at a friend's wedding and do not want that!" Also, another odd WY thing is nobody likes filling either! I've mostly worked in bakeries in CO and that's all everyone wanted there was fancy cake with fancier fillings! Just funny how tastes differ by crossing a state line.