We all love watching videos of wedding cake disasters. They're hilarious - as long as the cake that crashes was someone else's. The memory can be painful, however, if the wedding cake disaster was your own. Such an event has reduced many brides to tears and, in the minds of many, ruined a good wedding day.
What leads to wedding cake disasters? There can be a lot of explanations, some of them beyond our control, but here are three factors that can set a big day up for a catastrophe:
High Traffic Areas
This should be obvious. It should be, but it's apparently not. Some time back I designed a cake for a celebration in one of the areas most prestigious wedding locations. The ownership of the facility both hosted and catered the reception. They should have known better, but they put the cake in one of the highest traffic areas in the room. Children were running around and even ducking under the table to reach their goal all evening. Fortunately, that four tiered cake never made it onto America's Funniest Home Videos, but eventually that set up will lead to a wedding cake disaster even if only because some adult wasn't paying attention.
The solution is simple: You can minimize your risk of disaster by having your cake placed in a location that is low traffic while still being the wedding reception centerpiece you that commissioned.
Heat
More specifically, it's the icing that doesn't like the heat. The type of icing you choose will determine how much heat the pastry can withstand, but eventually too much heat can cause the icing to sweat, soften, run, and eventually melt away causing the proverbial wedding cake disaster.
So as picturesque as it may be, don't ask to have your cake placed next to the roaring fire in the fireplace or next to a window with the summer sun beating down on your it. That's a recipe for a wedding cake disaster. If you are having an outdoor wedding, rent a tent or at least a good patio umbrella to provide protection from the sun. You commissioned the cake. Protect your investment.
Flimsy Tables
If you did your homework when you ordered your wedding cake, you one that is moist and flavorful. Who wants to eat dry cake? A moist cake however, is not a light cake, especially when you factor in the size of an average tiered creation that will serve one hundred fifty people or more. Choose a sturdy table that won't wobble when you bump it or place something heavy upon it. Avoid the trap of "this is good enough". Don't tarnish your wedding memories with a wedding cake disaster.