To cake or to cupcake, that is the question. Whether it is better to pass out delectable slices or individually iced cake servings is a question that has been floating in the wedding culture for longer than you'd think. Wedding cupcakes are a creative, quirky, and often surprisingly beautiful option when planning for cake at your wedding. But which is the better choice? When is the right time to choose a wedding cake or wedding cupcakes?
More importantly, can you have both? Here at Sunflour Baking Company, we're here to answer all your cake-related questions, including the essential question of wedding cake or wedding cupcakes for your timeless nuptials?
To Cake or Cupcake? What is the Difference?
The biggest difference between a wedding cake and a vast display of wedding cupcakes is cutting the cake. A traditional wedding cake is a single baked item iced from top to bottom and shared among family and friends the same way a couple shares their newfound joy with their entire circle of loved ones.
Wedding cupcakes, however, don't need a cutting ceremony or a shared platter with distributed plates. Wedding cupcakes can be iced together to form a single beautiful display, while also allowing guests to pick up their own "piece" of mini cakes in it's own cupcake liners of little paper or foil wrapper.
The Classic Wedding Cake
Most weddings are centered around two big reveals: the bride's dress and the traditional wedding cake. After your guests have wept during the vows, thrown rice at the church, and gathered for the reception dinner, a cake cutting and sharing of the slices is a symbolic way to share your love. It is also the centerpiece of a lifetime, worthy of many breathtaking photographs before being cut and shared.
If your wedding is a gathering of loved ones who can share an immunity bubble without worry, a wedding cake is a beautiful tradition that you likely don't want to leave behind, especially if you choose custom cakes. Unless, of course, you want a cupcake cake.
The Wedding Cupcake Cake
One of the most interesting innovations on the classic wedding cake is the cupcake cake. This is a tier cake display of tightly packed cupcakes iced together into a contiguous wedding cake design. If you wanted creeping ivy, blooming roses, or a custom tableau of your courtship adventures together, you can have it painted in icing over dozens of cupcakes which looks like one large cake but is really multiple mini cakes instead of over a single tiered cake.
Quirky couples planning a freestyle reception have set the example for some truly incredible cupcake cake ideas. If the idea feels right to you, a cupcake wedding cake could be the perfect signature to a fun and festive wedding.
When are Wedding Cupcakes a Good Choice?
Picnic Weddings
Wedding cupcakes are absolutely perfect for picnic weddings where guests frolic outdoors between game stations and lemonade pitchers. Everyone knows that cupcake platters go hand in hand with outdoor family picnics, barbecues, and reunion-style gatherings. You can bring that nostalgia and rustic charm to your picnic-style wedding with wedding cupcakes or a platter of cupcakes in addition to the cake.
Viral-Safe Weddings
Wedding cupcakes saw a huge boost in popularity in the last three years when viral safety has been paramount. If there are guests at your wedding who are immune-compromised or unvaccinated, individual servings are the safer choice compared to communal dishes - from the wedding cake to the potato salad. This makes wedding cupcakes the ideal way to ensure everyone shares in your wedding cake without slicing from the same cake for every guest.
Food Allergies
Wedding cupcakes are also more flexible than a single cake. If you have guests - especially multiple guests - with food allergies that might interfere with a wedding cake everyone can share, opt for cupcakes instead. Wedding cupcakes can be organized and icing-encoded for gluten-free, nut-free, or just provide for people who like different flavors of cake.
Remote and Hybrid Weddings
Are you planning a wedding where many of the guests will be attending online via live stream? While you can't send them a freshly sliced piece of cake, you can send them a box of cupcakes - or cake in a jar - to share in the sweet delight of your nuptial joy from a distance.
Cake or Cupcake? Why Not Both?
Can you have a wedding cake and wedding cupcakes? Absolutely! You certainly wouldn't be the first couple to realize that you can share symbolic slices of a breathtaking cake and set out delectable platters of variety cupcakes in your wedding celebrations. You can allow for food allergies, flavor preferences, and keep your dancers fueled on sugar through the night on cupcakes after cutting your legendary wedding cake at the reception dinner.
If you are planning your wedding near Charlotte, North Carolina, then Sunflour Baking Company would be honored to help you create an incredible wedding cake and a beautiful display of wedding cupcakes for your upcoming nuptials. Contact us today to taste our best cake flavors and begin designing your wedding cakes, cupcakes or both!