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Cake by Cake by Alessandra. Photo credits Kate Osborne.
Last week we brought you An Illustrated History of American Wedding Cake Trends.
This week, as promised, we’re looking at the cake trends you can expect to see in the coming year. We spoke with three local wedding cake experts: Alessandra (Ale) Wortmann from Cake by Alessandra, Cassidy Budge Harrison with Flour and Flourish, and Naomi Brown with Culinary Crafts.
Cakes by Cake by Alessandra. Photo Credits Kate Osborne
Current Wedding Cake Trends
Vintage with a Twist
The biggest recent trend in wedding cakes has been a return to the elegance and sophistication of traditional tiered cakes…but with a twist. Instead of the flavorless fondant and mono-chrome white cakes of the past, modern couples are finding ways to make their cakes colorful, visually stunning, and delicious.
“We’re excited to see 2025 trends bringing back beautiful piping details, vintage-inspired cakes, and timeless buttercream finishes,” says Ale. “Our clients are loving the elegance and charm these styles bring to their events.”
Naomi echoes that sentiment: “Vintage is very in right now. Lots of piping and detail work.” But what we’re seeing now are stunning, original designs that pair classic elegance with personal touches that break away from the norm.
Cakes by Cake by Alessandra. Photo credits Pepper Nix.
Modern Minimalist
“Although vintage is very in right now, with lots of piping and detail work, I’d say the second most popular thing I see is doing a simple finish on the cake and then adding fresh flowers,” says Naomi. “So the two most popular styles are kind of opposites!”
Simple, modern minimalism features sleek, clean lines with minimal decoration, often just a smooth buttercream or fondant finish and a single floral accent or gold leaf.
Photo credits Pepper Nix
Not Too Big; Not Too Small
When it comes to size, we’re getting away from both extremes. Today’s wedding cakes are neither huge, towering monstrosities nor the tiny personal cakes that were popular during the pandemic years.
Naomi points out that the most popular cakes now are “big enough to be noticeable and a showpiece of sorts, but not too big.” She explains, “a very popular trend is to have the cake mostly just for cutting and then having other desserts for guests to enjoy.”
Thousand-Layer Cakes
Another current wedding cake trend is borrowed from the traditional Chilean cake called a milhojas or thousand-layer cake.
“One of the biggest trends I’m seeing right now,” says Cassidy, “are the ‘thousand-layer cakes’ or those giant puff pastry cakes that take up the whole table and are topped with fresh berries. Such a fun and unique idea if you are looking for something a little less traditional than a stacked wedding cake.”
Cake (right) by Cake by Alessandra. Photo credits Pepper Nix and Kate Osborne
Buttercream for the Win!
“Buttercream, in my experience, is infinitely more popular than fondant,” Naomi informed us. “I offer both…[but] people prefer the taste of buttercream, and fondant is much more expensive.”
One thing that Naomi expects to become more popular in the next year is Swiss meringue buttercream. Swiss meringue buttercream is easier to work with because it has more butter, so it solidifies faster. It also has fewer air bubbles, so it’s easier to get a glossy smooth exterior, creating a really beautiful final product.”
Cakes by Cakes by Alessandra. Photo credits Pepper Nix.
Textured Designs
”Cake artists are doing really cool things with texture now,” Naomi told us.
Expect to see 3-D effects and texturing so realistic that you have to fight the urge to reach out and touch it!
Cakes by Flour and Flourish. Photo credits Cassandra Farley and Ashlee Brooke
Hand-Painted and Illustrated Florals
Floral themes are being worked into wedding cakes in fun and unique-looking ways. Hand-painted blossoms, frosting petals, watercolor florals, and custom illustrations make these cakes into unique pieces of edible art.
Often accompanied by real edible or sugar flowers, the smooth, white surface of these cakes is a canvas with infinite possibilities.
Photo credits Ashlee Brooke
Making It Fun!
Cassidy mentioned the giant puff pastry cakes that are trending in 2025. These cakes (known by their Italian name millefoglie) and similar single-tier wedding cakes not only look and taste absolutely delicious, but they bring an element of interactive fun to the celebration.
One of our weddings planned for this summer will feature a giant millefoglie cake with fresh berries and American buttercream frosting. Our chef will assemble the cake in front of the guests, and the final dusting of powdered sugar will be performed by the bride and groom before they share this masterpiece with their guests. This participatory aspect is a delightful wedding cake trend that we hope continues to catch on!
Hi Tech Cakes
Some couples have begun bringing fresh technology to the world of wedding cakes. 3D printing allows decorators to bring a level of unprecedented precision and perfection to create delicate lace patterns, sugar flowers, and customized cake creations. Edible ink printers can print practically anything on the cake, from a favorite photos to a copy of the wedding invitation. But leading the charge of wedding cake technology is projection mapping, a technique for projecting a live video onto the white surface of the cake. Imagine the possibilities!
Trends We’ll Be Happy to See Go
“A viral video can make a wedding cake trend popular overnight,” Naomi points out, but that’s not always a good thing. Here are a couple of current wedding cake trends that we’ll be happy to see run their course and disappear:
Burn-away Cakes have a printed edible image on top of a cake, typically on thin wafer paper. The bride and groom set this image on fire, and it burns away quickly to reveal a hidden image beneath. While this trends looks great on video, it can ruin the cake. The taste of smoke and burnt sugar clashes with the flavors you picked.
Cherries are another very popular fad right now that we aren’t wild about. While the bright color of cherries really pops against the white of a vintage cake, the cherries themselves (usually maraschino) don’t work well with most flavor profiles. Even if you’re a cherry fanatic, the guests who share your cake probably won’t share your enthusiasm and will just scrape the cherries aside.
Cake by Cake by Alessandra. Photo credit Kate Osborne
Summary of Current Wedding Cake Trends
Today, wedding cakes are wildly diverse; you see throwbacks to the naked cakes of last decade and the towering white masterpieces of last century. Couples can personalize their cake styles and flavors to match their theme and personal style. The sheer variety of options is both overwhelming and exciting.
Photo credit Nikki Platt
To discuss your wedding plans with Utah’s top high end caterer, call us at 801-225-6575.
