They say good things come in small packages, and when it comes to petite treats with panache we tend to agree! Intimate weddings with guest numbers from around 10-50 are ever-popular, with more and more couples choosing to celebrate with only their closest loved ones. As your guest numbers reduce, so too does the amount of cake you’ll need to feed everyone. But that doesn’t mean your wedding cake has to be any less impactful. At Bluebell Kitchen we are all about creating small wedding cakes with big ‘wow’ factor, and we want to show you three ways we can make yours little, yet luxurious.
Tiers of Joy
When it comes to small wedding cakes, you can opt for a single or two tier design just dripping with detail. Whether you’re having one tier or six we believe your wedding cake should be spectacularly stylish, and small showstoppers are the perfect opportunity to really dive into a bit of drama with your cake design and truly make a statement. You won’t want to hide your mini morsels in a corner, we promise!
Working with a smaller cake means you can get creative with its decoration. We love amazing, oversized sugar flowers for this, and these can be designed to work in harmony with your wedding colour scheme and other florals. Another lovely option is to play with texture, which can be overwhelming on a larger cake but is incredibly effective when added to one or two tiers. For example, beautiful bas relief designs are elegant and romantic, and make such a statement even when used sparingly.
Illusions of Grandeur
Another way to bring big impact to small wedding cakes is to make them appear larger and more extravagant, whilst keeping the quantity of actual cake to the required amount. One way to do this is by displaying your cake on a beautiful pedestal stand, adding height quickly and simply. This is exactly what Zahra and Philip did with their three-tier wedding cake at 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, and we have to be honest and say this is one of our favourite wedding cakes we’ve ever made! They really made their wedding cake an integral part of the day and even invited friends just for the cake cutting moment, which of course we love!
You can read all about Zahra and Phillip’s stunning London wedding at Carlton House Terrace here.
If you decide that just one or two tiers is perfect for your guest numbers but you want to give the appearance of a larger cake, we can use acrylic separators to magically turn two tiers into three! We have lots of little tricks and treats up our sleeve to help make small wedding cakes shine, so just ask us and we’ll be happy to advise you.
Dramatic Displays: How to Bring Your Small Wedding Cake into the Spotlight
Finally, the most transformative way to bring your small wedding cake into the spotlight is to really consider how it will be displayed. We encourage all our couples to consider this no matter the size of the cake, but it’s especially important when talking about your little luxury. Bear in mind that most wedding venues have cake stands available for you to use, but these are likely to be very large, traditional silver ones. These are perfectly fine for a large three or four tier wedding cake, but they completely swamp a smaller one and can totally change how it looks. We know your wedding cake is likely to be the most expensive sweet treat you’ve ever bought, and we’ll have spent time together designing the perfect showstopper for you…it deserves to be centre stage for everyone to admire, and displayed in a way that really does it justice!
For some quick inspiration, have a look at our tips for displaying your wedding cake to really show it off. We particularly love the Landmark Hotel in London, at which we are a recommended supplier, for its ideas about how your cake can be displayed. For smaller weddings this venue offers the feel of an intimate dining room, and we often make small wedding cakes for couples marrying there. Their relaxed, dinner party style dining room includes the cake set up as a real feature of the room – see how it looks!
Click here for 8 wedding cake display ideas and how to choose your wedding table set up
Small but Mighty Wedding Cakes
So there you have it…three ways to give small wedding cakes a big dollop of style. We firmly believe that small doesn’t have to mean simple, and intimate guest numbers don’t mean you have to pare things back. In fact, it’s the perfect opportunity to go all-out and make every detail of your day amazing.
We can’t wait to hear from you, and help you make your wedding cake small but very mighty!
Photos: Fiona Kelly Photography, Rebecca Douglas Photography, The Unbridled
Fresh Flowers and Styling: Stag Cottage Flowers
Bluebell Kitchen are mother and daughter team, Erica and Charlie Bell. We’re Kent based cake makers and sugar flower specialists, creating bespoke wedding cakes and macarons in Kent, London and the South East. Get in touch to see if we can help you bring your cake design dreams to life! Join The Cake List to be the first to know more.
