Wedding Cake

Theme weddings can launch some truly creative wedding cake ideas -- ones that delight the eye and mind as well as the tastebuds.

For some brides, it's just not a wedding cake without a cake topper. And while it's true that many of today's cakes go bare, that simply means that a topper's now your personal choice, not a matter of following fashion.

Almost every day, someone asks me about the groom's cake. What is it? Where did the tradition start, and why do today's couples keep it going? Should the groom's cake show up at the rehearsal dinner, or the wedding? Is it supposed to be made of chocolate?

When my son and daughter-in-law held a knife and cut the first slice out of their all traditional, butter-cream frosted, lavish, and very expensive wedding cake, I couldn't help smiling. If we had been in the early Roman times, the wedding cake would not be one huge, tasty, decorative creation, but many small, possibly cupcake-sized, salty wheat cakes.

Why do wedding cakes cost so much? They're made out of flour, not gold. Do you suspect you're being gouged? Here is the quick and dirty on wedding cake prices.

Do you want fondant, royal, or buttercream? Walk in to the bakery and look like a pro, armed with your dictionary of wedding cake terms.