Wedding Cake Alternatives?

Why not just do some kind of dessert bar? You could dress up the table really nice and then put all kinds of desserts on it.

Then, you and your fiance can get a small cake for you guys to cut in front of all your guests.

Then you can have cheesecake, sheet cakes, brownies, cookies, mousse, etc.

There is a way to dress up the table to make it all look very appealing and presentable.

You have a few alternatives....

* Go and talk to a different baker. You can get a smaller display cake for MUCH less than $550--this can serve as your display in that room and you can either serve something else later on or serve sheet cakes instead to guests.

* Try a cupcake tower. You can display this in a variety of ways and can be incredibly creative with it.

http://www.yumsugar.com/223612

http://www.cakes4fun.co.uk/weddings/towers.php

* You can have a croque en bouche displayed--this is the traditional French wedding cake and can be quite dramatic...not to mention different.

http://www.brides.com/images/editorial/2006_brides...

* Create a dessert display. To do this, choose several desserts and arrange them--remember to add height and drama to the arrangement.

I've heard of fake display cakes - you can have it as a show piece, and have regular sheet cake to cut up and serve the guests. There are also tower cheesecakes. I'm not sure what your requirements are for a cake, and why you only like those that cost $550. A wedding cake is a wedding cake, every store or bakery can make you one. Without knowing why you don't like the run-of-the-mill options, it's hard to give advice on the alternatives.

Here are some alternatives to cake:

Tiered Puddings and Mousses

Pre-chill wine or champagne glasses, and fill with:

Chocolate, chocolate orange, lemon mousse

Rice, coconut rice or wild rice pudding

Raspberry, hazelnut or regular tiramisu

White chocolate, key lime, blackberry or biscotti parfaits

Heavy whipped cream, topped with sweet in-season berries

If your budget's ample, you can also stack up individual-sized

Caramel, anise, pumpkin flan

Crme brulee--regular, eggnog, blueberry, espresso, coconut

Tiered Pastries

Cream puffs are king--and for good reason. Remember that cream puffs don't have to be round; you can use cookie cutters to fashion them into lots of creative shapes. You can also go beyond them and stack up:

Gooey cinnamon rolls

Funnel cakes

Baklava

Souffls served in individual custard cups

Cream horns, clairs, St. Joseph's pastries, sfogliatelle, cannoli, napoleons, baba rum

Straight from the Shelf

You won't be the first bride to try this. Stack those tiers high and proud or create an entire freestanding "cake" with:

Sno Balls, Suzy Qs, HoHos, Ding Dongs, Twinkies

Krispy Kreme donuts, Moon Pies

Other Options

Chocolate-dipped fruit

Chocolate truffles

A chocolate fountain

Sugar cookies or brownies with your initials in cellophane wrappers

Fancy pies: key lime, lemon, chocolate pecan, coconut custard, cranberry apple, macadamia nut, peanut butter and white chocolate cream.

Whatever you choose, try to retain the cake-cutting part of your ceremony. The cutting of the cake is an ancient ritual and a powerful symbol of unity between the couple and their guests. It doesn't matter if you're really digging into a lemon meringue pie--your guests will still want to ooh and ahh as you cut it together and feed each other.

Here are some Ideas:

-Stack up glazed Krispy Kreme Doughnuts so it makes a cake, and to incoorporate the blue color, make little paper flowers (that are that Tiffany blue color) and stick them in a few of the crevices between the doughnuts.

-Get a beautiful chocolate fountain, and arange fruit and angel food cake squares on a tri-level platter, that way, guests can have their pick of which chocolate dipped delight they want.

-Go to a baker, and see if you can get a teir cake, but upside down! The smallest tear will be on the bottom! If they cant do that, see if they can make an irregular teir cake, where the order of the teirs is messed up (meaning instead of going biggest, medium, smallest, it will got biggest smallest medium.). Guests will get a kick out of it because its a traditional cake with a twist!

A great alternative is a cupcake tower. Since your fiance wants a cake, have a smaller cake and a cupcake tower situated next to it. Be creative with how you set up the design.

http://weddings.theknot.com/ODB/themes/realwedding...

Also, a candy buffet is an idea that is quite popular.

I've been to a wedding where they served a chocolate cup with strawberries in it, which was quite good and a unique touch to have as an alternative to cake.

This is going to be very untraditional, but I think with your whole South African theme, this could work very well. Instead of cake, how about a chocolate fountain. It's almost like fondue, but the chocolate spills over like a fountain. I am not sure where you could rent one in your area, but most catering places have them for rent. You could serve all types of fruit with these. Fruit bouquets would be nice or fruit on skewers. You can do all sorts of colors that way. You can also add flowers and ribbons to the table to spruce it up. I have seen it done before. It was elegant and beautiful. Plus, all chocolate loving guests will appreciate it. Good luck!

My fiance doesnt want a groom's cake because he isnt the biggest fan. We've decided to serve ice cream instead. We bought tiny glass bowls from Old Time Pottery (about two and a half inches in diameter) and are filling them with vanilla ice cream. They will be displayed on mirrors in layers in the shape of a cake (looks like a cupcake tower) and we will have a buffet of toppings to go with it.

Cupcakes are really hot right now or instead of one large cake, you can try to find a baker that will make tiny individual wedding cakes or cookies for all your guests which will cut your costs significantly because they can double or triple as your favour, your cake AND your table/place marker. Another idea I've suggested to my bridal clients is croquembouche which is a french pastry made of tiny balls of dough (think donuts) stacked into a tower and decorated with spun sugar or flowers. It's gorgeous, inexpensive and is outside the ordinary. See the link below for a picture!!! Good Luck and Congratulations.

http://www.candiceandrich.com/photos/wedding-plans...

I'd shop around for cake prices. Mine fed 75 people and cost about $200

You can always have a very small display cake and use sheet cake to make up the difference in # of pieces.