Wedding cakes have come a long way over the years. From the Lambeth cake glory days of the 1930s all the way up to the Great Cupcake Phenomenon of the 2000s – with a pretty long love affair with fruit cake and lots of icing somewhere in the middle. Any or all of these styles might influence your idea of a classic wedding cake, but at Bluebell Kitchen, we’re here to tell you something…everything you’ve heard about ‘the done thing’ for your big-day dessert? Ditch it! In 2025 it’s all about transcending the trend and embracing contemporary, non traditional wedding cakes, from macaron towers to hand painted edible designs. We’re going to bust a few myths to prove that the past is in the past, and the possibilities for modern wedding cakes are ‘tierrificly’ exciting.
What do we mean by non traditional wedding cakes?
Most couples know that the design options on modern wedding cakes are rather fabulous, but there are still some lingering myths and old wives’ tales that perpetuate – much like with every other aspect of a wedding! When we talk about non traditional wedding cakes, we mean anything that would seem like a totally foreign concept to your granny who got married in the 60s…what do you mean, you’re not having fruit cake?
Seriously though, the only rule about your wedding cake is that it should be everything you can imagine and so much more. That means beautiful and unique in design and absolutely full of the most exciting flavours you can imagine, with none of the ties of tradition from years gone by.
5 myths to ditch to swap the classics for non traditional wedding cakes:
We’re going to tackle five common misconceptions about wedding cakes, ingrained in us through decades of traditional bakes. Turning these customs on their heads and giving them their marching orders is what elevates your wedding cake from vintage to Vogue-worthy, and we’re starting with that persistent rumour about fruit cake…
Myth 1: All wedding cakes have to have at least one fruit cake layer
Fruit wedding cakes started to become popular in the 60s and 70s, and lots of couples still believe that even non traditional wedding cakes should involve at least one fruity layer. This is probably because fruit cake is very densely packed with raisins, currants and sultanas, making it strong and heavy and so good for structure. It also keeps well for a long time, which makes it an attractive choice for that anniversary bite you’re saving.
Don’t get us wrong, we love a boozy fruit cake (we lovingly soak ours in 3 year aged brandy and finish with sweet marzipan) and lots of our couples love it! However, the vast majority of our couples choose from our range of sumptuous sponge cake flavours.
In case we haven’t made it clear by now, you absolutely do not have to have a fruit tier in your wedding cake, so don’t spare a single thought more for soaked sultanas!
Indulge in our top 10 innovative gourmet sponge cake flavours for foodie couples here.
Myth 2: Wedding cakes are covered in thick, sickly fondant icing
Our non traditional wedding cakes don’t always involve fondant icing (we do love buttercream too) but we actually think it’s one of the best and most versatile finishes. Unfortunately the supermarkets are complicit in making us think that fondant icing is horrible stuff. This couldn’t be further from the truth!
Fondant gets a bad name. This is because of the super thick, mass-produced layer of gummy gloop you often see on pre-packaged cakes. The icing we use for our cakes is something else entirely, it’s gossamer thin and delicately sweet. We layer it onto our decadent homemade Belgian chocolate ganache – the result is a flawless base for the delicate design work on your non traditional wedding cake.
Enjoy browsing the wild versatility of our fondant wedding cakes here.
Myth 3: No-one eats the wedding cake anyway
To be honest, if the first two myths were true and wedding cakes were all full of fruit cake topped with shop-bought fondant, it would probably be completely factual (and understandable) that no-one ate the thing…but our couples have a very different experience!
We regularly hear from our couples that every last morsel was devoured, and even that they didn’t get a look in at their own wedding cake because guests thought it was so delicious. This is the result of crafting non traditional wedding cakes that taste absolutely amazing.
“Ollie and I just want to say we were absolutely blown away by this cake….we could not have asked for more and we received so many comments on how fantastic it looked; and tasted just as good, we had no leftovers!!!!”
Deborah and Ollie, Mount Ephraim Gardens
If you’d like to really get into detail about this topic, we’ve written a whole blog on whether your guests will eat the cake, how much cake you should have in order to suit the sweet teeth, and how to improve the chances of your guests tucking into it when it’s time. If they’re not eating it, something has gone wrong somewhere!
Does anyone eat the wedding cake? Find out more here.
Myth 4: Wedding cakes don’t keep well
This one is just a hangover from a traditional wedding cake that wasn’t treated right. It’s the belief that they dry out quickly and don’t keep well. If there’s one thing we’re sure our non traditional wedding cakes are not, it’s dry!
It takes a few days to make your wedding cake, baking and stacking and finishing and designing and topping with sugar flowers. We make sure to time it all to perfection so it won’t lose any of its moisture or flavour along the way. We cover your cake in a generous layer of homemade chocolate ganache to seal in the goodness. This is what ensures it still tastes spectacular when you cut and serve it.
If you want to save a slice of your wedding cake it keeps really well in the freezer if wrapped correctly. We recommend saving a piece of every flavour tier to enjoy on your one month anniversary. To all the naysayers who think wedding cake doesn’t ‘keep’, we say it’s just because you can’t resist eating it sooner…
Myth 5: Having dummy cake tiers reduces the cost of your non traditional wedding cake
Ahh, that old chestnut. This one is and always has been a myth, we’re sorry to say! When making your non traditional wedding cakes it’s possible that we’ll sometimes recommend using a fake or ‘dummy’ tier. This may be to increase the height and scale of your cake without making extra that will go to waste. This ensures it has impact and stands out at your wedding venue.
However, many couples mistakenly believe that using dummy tiers can be a cost-saving measure. Most of the cost of any wedding cake actually lies in the design and decoration. Whether we are working with real cake or a faux bake, the time, attention and skill don’t differ at this stage.
The use of dummy tiers can really elevate non traditional wedding cakes and add another level of spectacle and style. We have written a whole guide to fake cake if you’d like to know more.
Are you ready to say ‘out with the old’ to these traditions and myths, and hello to innovative, contemporary non traditional wedding cakes that are everything you want them to be? Well, us too! We specialise in completely bespoke wedding cake designs in Kent and London. Each piece of edible artwork that leaves our kitchen is one of a kind. Our charming blend of lovingly home-baked taste and high-end aesthetic is ready and waiting to make your dream wedding cake.
Contact us here to get started! or join The Cake List to be the first to know more.
Photographers: Fiona Kelly Photography, Rebecca Douglas Photography,
