A vanilla or chocolate cake with some sort of fruit filling and a crown of buttercream or fondant. That describes just about every wedding cake in America, right? Well, pastry chef and cake artist Marina Sousa of Just Cake gives us the lowdown on non-traditional takes on wedding desserts from around the globe. Perhaps a Croquembouche would make your guests go “wow”?
• Fruitcakes: Often a standard dessert at weddings in Great Britain, Ireland, Scotland and other countries with English heritage. To spice up the fruitcake, bourbon, brandy, whiskey or cognac is often infused into the cake.
• Kransekake: A tradition known in Scandinavian cultures, kransakake is comprised of ring-shaped almond pastries that are stacked to form a steep cone shape.
• Sękacz/Šakotis: Polish and Lithuanian cultures often honor celebrations with the popular dessert which closely resembles a pine tree in looks. The unique dessert is baked by painting layers of dough onto a rotating spit, which allows the dough to drip and form branches.
• Millefoglie: The traditional Italian wedding dessert features layers of light puff pastry with chocolate and vanilla creams.
• Mexican Wedding Cake: Contrary to the title, the traditional Mexican wedding dessert is actually a cookie that closely resembles shortbread shaped into crescents and covered in powdered sugar.
• Croquembouche (pictured): This traditional French dessert features light and fluffy cream-filled pastries piled high into a pyramid shape, and bound together with caramel. The dessert is often a statement piece on dessert tables and can be decorated with chocolate, flowers or ribbons.
Wedding Cakes of the World
