Cake, macarons, miniature tiramisus—today’s brides and grooms can truly have it all, at least when it comes to their wedding day menu. Whether it’s a single, over-the-top cake or a lineup of colorful confectioneries, pastry chefs have an opportunity to pull out all the stops.
These three chefs—each marking the completion of their first full year at their respective clubs—are putting their personal stamps on desserts that cap off a special day.
Something Old, Something New
Creating new traditions, as well as adhering to those time-honored, represents the array of wedding cake concepts at The Patriot Golf Club in Owasso, Okla., where Executive Pastry Chef Kristen Mott has spent the last year assessing her clientele’s pastry preferences.
“I’ve worked with brides who want to keep with tradition, but I’ve also worked with brides that are wanting to do something different by adding a dessert bar or other option,” she says. One component that has remained consistent is the cake-cutting moment, something that Mott is able to elevate with the different decorating and design trends.
Patriot’s head pastry chef has been able to tap into her prior experience preparing desserts for a boutique hotel, where high tea and brunch services often require specialized menus. At the Patriot, Mott is embracing vintage-inspired cakes, a decorating style that she believes has true staying power.
“Something about all the piping just makes those cakes look so beautiful,” she says, “even if it’s just a single-tiered cake.”
Also on trend is textured buttercream and colorful florals, which Mott does not reserve for the wedding alone. During consultations with engaged couples, she makes a point of asking if they would like to save the top of their cake or if they would like to return for their one-year anniversary and enjoy a small replica of their original cake instead.
“My most recent couple loved this option because the idea of eating a frozen ‘old’ cake seemed unappealing,” she explains.
In terms of cake service, buffet style remains the most popular and highly requested at the Patriot, where couples prefer to let their guests choose their slices. Mott is also noticing a tremendous surge in dessert bar options, typically requested by those who are not big cake fans. “If they pick macarons or cake balls or even cupcakes, I always let them know these can be customized to match the colors of their wedding,” she notes. Dessert bar options range from simple—brownies, cake balls or donuts—to more elaborate: mini cheesecakes, molded bon bons, chocolate-covered strawberries, macarons, crème brulee and assorted pies.
Offering a wealth of diverse options is something that Mott relishes as a chef. Her love of the science behind baking and pastry making, which entices her to create new flavor combinations, dates back to watching a Food Network cooking show as a kid.
“I wrote down a recipe for chocolate cake, but it had no measurements or instructions,” she recalls. Mott and her grandmother then took to the kitchen and spent the entire day recreating that recipe, and she purportedly fell in love with baking. That passion continues to sustain her as she finds new ways to address an ever-evolving pastry scene.
“I truly feel this has fueled who I am as a chef,” Mott says. “The food industry is constantly changing, and I never want to feel like I’m behind the curve. I never want to stop learning.”
Something Borrowed, Something…Red?
When choosing a wedding cake style, today’s brides at Athens (Ga.) Country Club are crushing on red velvet cake and saying “I do” to mini tiramisus. Head Pastry Chef Sheila Blackburn says that while dessert bar options may have peaked about five years ago, she still gets requests for smaller traditional cakes, along with alternative options: macarons, cookies, brownies and a “large amount of individual banana puddings.”
“We are in the South, after all,” she says.
Blackburn found her calling more than 25 years ago when she left a regional sales position and began designing wedding cakes and other pastries for area bake shops. During her tenure, she has noticed a shift away from simpler concepts and decorating methods, including naked cakes and the horizontal spatula icing. Instead, she is welcoming the resurgence of some old-fashioned techniques that are blanketing the wedding cake scene.
“I am enjoying the return of string work and ruffles, and I have two more cakes on the books with that same type of design,” says Blackburn. “My experience is that most couples still embrace the cake-cutting moment. Many of them still traditionally save the top tier.”
And while she claims that fondant is “so 20 ago,” she does enjoy using it to make gumpaste flowers.
Cake service style at Athens Country Cake has an even split between buffet service and individual plated place settings. Blackburn notes that some brides request an extra sheet cake, but not necessarily with the same flavor profile. This gives her the opportunity to experiment with different concepts, including those that can be incorporated into other pastries. Right now, Backburn is working on a variety of colored powdered caramels to enhance and sprinkle on different desserts prior to baking. It’s another chance to test out a new idea and her staff gets to sample her goods.
“I get another pastry notch on my belt, the client is happy, and my co-workers need bigger pants,” she says.
Eyes on the Prized Pastry
During a recent wedding reception at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md., the happy couple may have been the intended focus, but it arguably was the wedding cake that became the center of attention. A towering six-foot confectionery featuring ruffles in different shades of blue, along with multiple textures of fondant and wafer paper, amounted to a design that was taller than the bride and groom themselves.
It’s all part of a new wave of statement-making cakes that are in demand at the club, where Executive Pastry Chef May Hamoda is at the helm.
“We’re seeing requests for tall, show-stopping designs, as well as wide-format cakes, such as our popular Italian berry vanilla cake,” she notes. “The emphasis has clearly moved toward making the wedding cake a focal point of the event.”
Hamoda is honing her pastry-making skills in the past year-and-a-half at Congressional, drawing upon her previous leadership positions at luxury resort properties where she designed custom wedding cakes for parties of all sizes.
“At Congressional, I continue this passion by collaborating with members to design show-stopping cakes that are as visually stunning as they are delicious—many of which reflect modern trends while honoring timeless design techniques,” she says.
While Hamoda witnessed a preference for small-scale, vintage-inspired cakes last year, now it’s all about size and color. She has been incorporating more seasonal flowers inspired by spring and summer gardens, as per the brides’ requests. In July, she created a wedding cake with hand-painted flowers and roses in blue, orange, pink and green.
When cakes are ready for service, most couples opt for buffet-style—a noticeable shift from plated service in years past. Hamoda attributes this change to a much more guest-focused experience, where they can enjoy a slice of cake at their leisure rather than returning to their seats.
“This approach reflects a broader trend toward personalization, efficiency and guest comfort,” she says, “all while ensuring that the cake remains a special and memorable part of the wedding experience.”
Personalization is also a driving influence in the growing trend of elaborate dessert bars. These range from bite-sized selections of tartlets, eclairs, mini cheesecakes and cream puffs—often displayed alongside small slices of wedding cake—to live action stations, such as build-your-own ice cream sandwich bars and made-to-order crème brulee stations. Themed dessert bars also allow Hamoda to tie in the wedding color palette; a recent event featured a tiered pink-and-white floral cake displayed alongside strawberries-and-cream tarts and chocolate-raspberry mousse. She reports that the dessert area was a reception highlight and remained busy well into the night.
A wide berth of options for dessert bars has enabled Hamoda to expand her repertoire with new flavors and presentation.
“I want each bride and groom to have a unique, personalized cake and dessert selection that reflects their story, their tastes and their vision—something designed just for them,” she explains.
And with interactive stations becoming much more prevalent, Hamoda is paying closer attention to the guest experience as well.
“It’s no longer just about how a dessert tastes or looks,” she adds, “but how it fits into the energy and flow of an event.”
