Sugar Blossom Symphony
$18 per slice
Sugar flowers are incredibly lifelike and certainly up the “wow” factor. They’re also one of the priciest ways to decorate a cake. “Each flower—especially varieties with lots of petals, like roses and peonies—can take up to thirty minutes to create,” explains Lauri Ditunno, of Cake Alchemy, in New York City. “And it would take hundreds of flowers to create a lush cascade.” —Heather Lee
Sugar Blossom Symphony
$10 per slice
For a similar look that’s easier on the wallet, Lauri suggests swapping the blooms for butterflies. “Each butterfly is fashioned from just one piece of sugar paste, so they are much less labor-intensive to create,” she says. “But the finished look is just as dramatic.”
Embroidered Cake
$15 per slice
“Many of my brides ask me to replicate the lace on their gowns,” says Nina Asadoorian, of Truli Confectionary Arts, in Philadelphia. To mimic the look of lace, Nina hand-paints royal icing onto fondant-covered tiers, often adding gum-paste flowers.
Embroidered Cake
$9 per slice
For a more budget-friendly take, Nina painted just one side of the cake, to make it appear as if she’d narrowed the focus to the back of a wedding gown. “Position the cake so just this side is on display,” she says. “And a fondant bow is a much less expensive decorative option than individual sugar flowers.
Pretty in Pinks Cake
$9 per slice
Cutting circles from sheets of colored fondant by hand takes time and becomes pricey. To create a less expensive but equally dramatic look, Zoë Lukas, of Whipped Bakeshop, in Philadelphia, created the graphic pattern using paper.
Pretty in Pinks Cake
$7 per slice
She used a paper punch to create the starbursts, which she affixed to the tiers with pearl-head pins. “The resulting look is much more affordable and is still very graphic and modern,” she says.
Floral Appliqué Cake
$20 per slice
“Sugar-paste appliqués are a gorgeous decorating technique,” says Vedika Webb, of Lotus Cake Studio, in Philadelphia. “But they’re also a pricey one: Cutting the appliqués by hand would take hours.”
Floral Appliqué Cake
$9 per slice
Instead, Vedika adorned each charcoal-colored tier with lengths of fabric trim and ribbon in a similar floral design and hue, and sprinkled graphite-colored luster dust over the entire confection.
Romantic Cosmos Cake
$15 per slice
Hand-painted cakes are edible works of art, but they require hours of meticulous detail work to become so.
Romantic Cosmos Cake
$12 per slice
Instead of an allover design, Michelle Doll, of Michelle Doll Cakes, in Brooklyn, hand-painted scrolls and flowers onto bands of fondant, and then wrapped these around the base of each tier. “It’s still visually interesting, and you get a similar effect to an allover design, without as much labor and cost,” says Michelle.
