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Just as bridal and groom fashion has become more and more reliant on layering interesting textures and incorporating lots of color this year, so have our wedding cakes. The latest and greatest is the delicious yet mesmerizing look of ruffled and frilled fondant – embellished even more by the strategic use of colors.

The semi-soft and super smooth texture of fondant ruffles can be oriented upward, downward, spiraled, and sideways, which is part of what makes this technique so interesting. Each look is so different from the next, the ruffled fondant can mimic florals, fabrics, and even beautiful spectacles found in Mother Nature.

It's been tremendously popular to incorporate gradient, subtly fading coloring, known as ombre, to these delicately textured fondant frill effects. But ombre is being used with fondant just as much as buttercream, the creamy, dreamy frosting that has a sweet, buttery flavor that guests love and a light and fluffy texture.

But ombre coloring and frills or ruffles are not the only places we are seeing weddings cakes mimic the runway. Mixed-matched patterns such as Chevron, stripes, and dots are all taking center stage on our cake stands.

The Swiss Dot is a pattern that can appear on both fondant and buttercream cakes, and lace overlays are taking the stage as well. Both have a sweet and vintage, yet indulgent, expression that is so popular in the Great Gatsby throwback wedding season.

Metallic effects are blowing up Pinterest as it pertains to all things wedding, from table linens to invitation ink to makeup, and wedding cakes are no exception. Whether in silver, bronze, gold, or simply more of a shimmer, it adds an element of decadence and glory that's returning big in today's weddings.

And we'll take the concept of the wedding cake being a piece of art one step further with the interesting emergence just last year of hand painted wedding cakes. They are incredibly unique to each and every wedding; they are meticulously artisanal; and when it comes to wowing guests, they never fail.

But it's not just the appearance of the wedding cakes that are taking bold steps forward this year. Couples are also thinking outside the box when it comes to flavors. One of our favorite Denver shops is Leaf & Crumb, who is infusing their flour with tea flavors for unique wedding cake combinations such as rooibos strawberry or ginger chai. And coffee infused cakes are starting to gain in popularity over traditional flavors such as amoretto. (And not to fret – both of these types of cake have about the caffeine equivalent of a single sip of coffee or tea.)

And what's filling these fresh and dicing cake flavors? If lemon curd was once the king of filling delicious white wedding cake, we may have a new boss in town! More and more we are seeing the traditional lemon get upstaged by other citrus, such as key lime or orange curd.

And who says it needs to be a three-tiered cake anyway? Cupcakes started the bite-sized, multi-choice and crowd-pleasing trends for wedding sweets several years ago, and they're still just as popular as ever. We are also seeing other bite-sized desserts such as cake pops and macarons showing up more and more frequently. The macaron brings a bit of French je ne sais quoi to the dessert table because they look chic, they can be made in a variety of flavors, and are so easily created with any color palette in mind.

Needless to say, we think that the wedding cake trends are really sweet, and we hope they like like honey!

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Source by Nell Roberts