Galaxy Wedding Cake

I don't think there's visually much of a difference, but the taste will definitely be off. I think I agree with your baker, but we went with all light colors for our buttercream. I would personally go with fondant for that dark color - as a general rule I hate when my teeth are stained! - but I get where you're coming from. Can you possibly do a tier that dark color and one a lighter color?

Have you spoken to more than one baker? I feel like that's a strange thing to say (the staining of teeth). I agree with you that fondant is yucky (visually and tasting) - I'd vet out a few more people to try to get what you want!

I Think You Should Get A 2nd Opinion From Another Baker Before Deciding. It Would Look Great Either Way Though

I didn’t have a dark wedding cake, but I agree with your baker, anything requiring that much food coloring tastes gross. I would just peel the fondant off before eating.

I've made many cakes with dark icing. Yes, they will definitely stain mouths and teeth. But I've never had an issue with the flavor of the icing changing because I colored it. She may want to reconsider what type of food coloring she's using, I always use Wilton icing colors and never had a problem.

I agree with you that fondant is gross! That was one of my fiancé’s few requests, no fondant! Visually, I also prefer the buttercream. But ultimately, I’m inclined to defer to the professional.

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I was curious how the frosting ones are made and it looks like a common way to make them is with thin color layers and a white base. So right under the dark layer (which I assume is quite thin to allow the colors to show through), are lighter colors. I wonder if that would actually cause much, if any, teeth/mouth staining since the majority of the frosting is going to be the white/lighter colors underneath? I will discuss it with the baker. Maybe they are thinking of doing a different method.

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I did reach out to more than one baker. The first to respond back didn't bring up any concerns about what we were wanting. We have a cake tasting scheduled with them next week so I will ask about it then. Glad we are not alone in our dislike for fondant!

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I hope so! We have a cake tasting with another baker next weekend so we will see what they say.

The frosting LOOKS better to me but I agree I’ve had frosting that was dark and it does stain

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That has been one of my fiance's few requests as well. We have a cake tasting with another baker next weekend so I will see what they say. But if they advise we do fondant too, I will likely (sadly) defer to them. They are the experts, after all!

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That is good to know that it is possible for the frosting not to taste weird/bad. The sheet cakes from grocery stores that were at birthday parties when I was kid always had bad tasting frosting. I have had colored frosting cakes as an adult though that tasted fine. I just don't recall ever having a piece from a cake colored this darkly.

What about a mirror glazed cake? I've never personally tried one myself, but could be another option to ask about.

I would find a baker that will glaze the cake. They can do awesome galaxy glazed cakes. Then they will cover the cake with frosting normally white and then pour glaze over the cake to create the galaxy look.

I’m a pretty experienced amateur baker and have done some cakes and desserts for small-medium sizes events. I’ve made black buttercream icing several times and while it will certainly stain your mouth, I use chocolate buttercream and dye it black so it doesn’t take nearly as much food coloring as a vanilla buttercream and it’s never affected flavor.
I would suggest getting more opinions from other bakeries, and, if possible, sampling their black buttercream for yourself. I was also going to suggest a mirror glaze galaxy cake as well like pp mentioned.
Good luck!

I bake a lot, but am far from a professional. I personally hate the taste of fondant, but our entire cake was covered in fondant since it was the only way we could achieve the look we wanted. The fondant is easily peeled away so you just eat the cake and frosting. If you are using enough very dark frosting to fully cover your cake, it will alter the taste. Some people probably wouldn't notice, but I wouldn't eat a cake covered in dark frosting.

I had a top hat cake and fondant was used i just picked off the fondant and didnt eat it .

They should be able to do buttercream underneath the fondant

Find a different baker. Don't settle for fondant unless you don't care that it goes in the trash. You can have colored frosting easily without it being bitter.