Wedding Cake Flavors

We ended up going with two flavors (red velvet and something similar to strawberry shortcake) both of which we loved. We also thought our guests would enjoy them, as well. We made sure the top tier was the flavor we loved most because that’s the piece the bride & groom get. Then the other two tiers are of each flavor. So I’m guessing the guest will have an option? Hope that makes sense?

We did a simpler cake, red velvet with a cream cheese center, because we both liked it but also knew most of our guests would too. Keep in mind that the more guests you have, the more cake you have and the more expensive the cake becomes (if not included in your package). I will be honest, I've been to weddings that have done flavors like you mentioned and over half of the guests passed over eating it because they didn't like the unique flavor. I like the suggestion of doing two flavors of cake so guests can pick which they like, or if you are really set on the spice cake, maybe do a smaller version of it since you'll have so many other desserts. That way if people don't want it, it doesn't go to waste!

I felt we had to think of our guests--since I'm mostly gluten/dairy-free, I figured our guests wouldn't want to eat a cake like that, so we went with a small cutting cake for us and a dessert bar for the guests. You could see how much more it would be to have multiple flavors--the top and bottom the flavor you want, and then the middle be red velvet or something. Another option I've seen done is having a "fake" cake--only the top layer is the real cake, and then after the cutting, they take it to the back and bring out pieces from a sheet cake with whatever other flavors you want (and from a cheaper place, most likely).

If you have other dessert options, I would not worry about appeasing your guests with your wedding cake flavor and choose something you like. Personally spice cake with apple cinnamon filling sounds way more delicious and exciting than your standard vanilla on vanilla cake. I'm not a huge cake person always gravitate towards the other dessert options at weddings. However, if there was a more unique cake option I would be more tempted to try it!

As long as you have a variety of desserts, guests will be happy and the exact wedding cake flavor won't matter.

I went with something that i felt more people would enjoy or was just safer.

i did strawberry filling for two tiers and a mango filling one for the bottom largest tier

Since your doing a dessert bar for guest do what you want for your cake, just don't make it huge and you won't have left overs.

Spice cake with apple cinnamon sounds AMAZING 😍

We did three different vanilla cakes with raspberry, lemon, and guava, as that's what sounded good to us. We only had like ten people (out of 100) eat cake though, so we ended up with a ton left over.

Definitely focus on what your guests like. That way it will be sure to get eaten. No everyone likes donuts or bananas so make sure there is a crowd pleasing cake option.


The hot spiced cider sounds heavenly!

View Quoted Comment Question for you Liz about doing the dessert bar…did you still give cake to your guests too? If so, do you still order it based on the number of guests or do you do it for much less? I’m planning to do a dessert bar too but want the guests to have the option of cake too but am trying to figure out how much to get.

I'm also getting married on Halloween this year! ♡ I'd say go with what YOU want. What I did was poll my bridesmaids and ask them what flavor they preferred. But if it's a multi-layer cake, you can always do a Bride's Choice layer and a "More For The Guests" layer.

View Quoted Comment I'm gluten-free as well, so I'll have my own little "top tier" separate cake that matches the gluteny cake visually.

View Quoted Comment

If they would like part of our gluten/dairy-free cake, they can have some. We ultimately decided to just have a small cake for our "cake cutting"/opening up the dessert bar, and a dessert bar for the rest of the evening. Assuming not everyone is going to want cake/want your flavor of cake, I would factor the cake into the 2 desserts per guest tip I've seen (sometimes I've seen 2.5, but we stuck with 2 for cost reasons and so we're not stuck with a ton of extra desserts at the end of the night). Once you have a number for 2 desserts/guest, you can split it out to how many dozen cupcakes you would want, how many mini-cupcakes, mini-pies, slices of cake, etc. Most bakeries will tell you how many pieces their cakes can do (our 6" cake I think can do 8 slices, but I can't remember right now). It takes a lot of math, but might be a good route if you want to mix-and-match!

You already have a lot of sweet and strong flavors going on with the candy, bananas foster, apple donuts, ice cream and apple cider. Especially a lot of apple cinnamon, which is a very specific flavor enjoyed only by those who like it. So, to me, having a third item with apple and spice flavor will be overboard. Plus, it sounds like you’ve already gone with your own tastebuds for a lot of that apple flavored items. So you’re probably best off getting a vanilla cake with buttercream just to cut back the many strong dessert flavors that you’re already offering.

We are having a small wedding (30ish people) & although we did sample some flavors "taking into consideration" what others might like ~ ended up LOVING this cinnamon whiskey with vanilla cake & went with that for our entire cake. We will be having white & milk chocolate covered strawberries as well. Also, we have quite a few folks who don't do cake at all ~ so the strawberries will work for those folks. (We did talk about other desserts but ultimately decided against it mostly because of cost & the "non" cake folks)

View Quoted Comment That’s helpful. Thanks!

Any wedding that is more than an elopement (that is, you have guests attending) should have the needs of guests factored into the decision making of things which impact them, such as food and drinks, and including wedding cake.

Given you are already having a number of sweet options, I would play it safe with your wedding cake, particularly as cinnamon is a spice that not everyone loves.

Pick what you like!!

The cake is generally an afterthought for most. And wedding guests are sick of bland boring cake. If someone doesnt like cinnamon - you have other options!

This little detail should be non-stressful and fun for you.

Your choice sounds heavenly.

(Guests that dont like can stop for a donut on way home. Which they might anyway)

None of the flavours on offer were overly adventurous and we do have desserts in addition to the cake so we picked what we liked - we have one layer of banana with cream cheese frosting, and one layer of white cake with strawberry, I'm pretty sure. They were by far the best cakes our cake lady had, so were of course the ones we picked.

We did struggle, as most places here sell mudcakes (which I'm not sure are available in other countries, but are essentially a very heavy, dense cake, almost like the inside of a brownie, but without the crunch on the outside) and I personally find them way too heavy. There wasn't much we could pick that wasn't a mudcake.

It worked out well though, because our strawberry layer ended up happening to also match our colour scheme!