* What themes are you seeing popular with brides?
Vintage is an enduring theme, with brides asking for vintage-inspired delicate filigree and pearl details on their cakes and cupcakes to complement their weddings. We are getting more requests for classic glamour cakes (think 1950’s old school glamour) as well as simple, elegant cakes where less is most definitely more.

* What is different about Tempting Cake?
Tempting Cake is proud to offer a top of the range service for discerning brides. We always freshly bake to order and pay strict attention to detail, so our brides can rest assured that when they order a Tempting Cake wedding cake, cupcakes or cookies that they will taste as good as they look.

* What advice would you give to brides when choosing their cake?
As with most things to do with your wedding day, the options for your wedding cake are endless. It’s helpful to have some basic information in mind when deciding on a cake, such as the number of wedding guests, your budget and some design ideas (either of cakes you like or alternatively some key details of your day such as colour scheme, theme, venue and a picture of your dress). This will help your cake maker to advise you on some fabulous designs for your big day. Give yourself and your cake maker time to plan your cake and be decisive as changes close to the wedding day can be costly. Choosing your wedding cake should be a pleasure not a chore, so my final piece of advice would be to enjoy it!

* How long have you been creating these fabulous cakes and what made you want to set the company up?
I’ve always had a passion for baking and design so making beautiful cakes is the perfect way to combine them both! Tempting Cake started off many years ago as a hobby, which grew into a side line while I still had an office based job. I’m now delighted to be able to devote 100% of my time and energy to Tempting Cake.

Its amazing to feature small british companies that have a real passion for something and are doing so well. Make sure to check out the website, Tempting Cake, and show Emily some love in the form of comments below or even better getting in touch with her about an order! Love to hear what you all think about these cookies and cakes!

Well good luck to you all @ Creperie Nicolas – I have to say I am slightly jealous of your business idea. I’ve tried the wholewheat savoury crepes and they’re delicious and healthy, so I can imagine this really taking off. Check out their website Creperie Nicolas for information on hiring. What does everyone else think? Surely a coffee and crepe is the ideal pick me up for guests after all the dancing and booze!

1. GET A WEDDING CAKE WITH FLAVOUR
There is no point having an amazing looking wedding cake that tastes like cardboard. Your cake designer should be able to provide you with freshly made samples so be sure to taste the wedding cakes available and if you have a specific cake centre in mind, don’t be afraid to ask your cake designer if they are able to make it.  These days you can have practically any flavour you like for your wedding cake, from chocolate to carrot, however I believe that it is a good idea to have at least one tier oftraditional fruit cake to offer your more traditional guests.

2. WORK OUT YOUR BUDGET
From a good designer, a 3 tiered wedding cake can cost anything upwards of £500. The more sugar modeling that is required and the more intricate the design the higher the cost will be; so set a realistic budget for the wedding cake design you would like and choose a designer that will be able to realise your dreams within it.

3. CHOOSE THE RIGHT DESIGNER
Look around for a designer who meets your needs. Different designers specialise in different types of cake. If you want a very ornate wedding cake covered with royal icing and intricate piping, don’t choose a designer who specialises in sugarpaste novelty cakes and vice versa.  You should also choose a designer who listens to what you want rather than pushing their ideas on to you. It’s obviously a cake designers job to offer suggestions but the final decision should be yours and if after a few design tweaks the wedding cake still doesn’t match your dream it might be worth looking for a new designer.

4. TIME IS A CAKE DESIGNERS FRIEND
Give the designer as much notice as possible. Most cake designers need a minimum of 3 months notice to make a wedding cake but remember that this is a minimum! If you require a rich fruit cake or large amounts of sugar modeling, whether it be flowers or people, the more notice you can give the designer the better. This allows for fruit to be soaked, the design to be tweaked and models to be exquisitely made and not rushed.

5. REMEMBER THAT THERE ARE ALTERNATIVES TO A TRADITIONAL WEDDING CAKE
If you are not keen on having a traditional wedding cake there are plenty of other alternatives.
• Individual miniature cakes -these are covered in marzipan and icing and decorated as though it were a big cake.
• Cupcakes -these are very popular at the moment and can be topped with either sugarpaste or buttercream and decorated to match your theme. If you choose to have cupcakes, I recommend also having a small top tier cake for the traditional cutting of the cake photographs. Boxed cupcakes and cookies also make very good favours.
• Cheese. For those who are not very keen on sweet cakes, Cheese Celebration Cakes are the perfect alternative. Stacked rounds of cheddar, stilton and a host of other cheese varieties can be decorated with fruit and/or flowers to match your wedding theme. Cheese Celebration Cakes are also a fabulous idea as a centre-piece for your evening buffet. This way you could have the traditional sweet wedding cake during your daytime reception and a savoury cheese cake in the evening keeping everyone happy!

Make sure that you check out Janet Mohapi-Banks site for more information on her and her wedding cake designs. Its great to have someone as talented as Janet guest blogging on here because I like to showcase the best wedding suppliers and unique wedding ideas on LMW. Thanks so much for those delicious looking cakes.

Personally I love the idea of cupcakes and brownies as these are easy to make, serve and always a favourite with everyone. In fact if you are looking to save pennies this is a great thing that you can delegate to your girlfriends or family and I am sure that they will love to help. Its traditional for a good friend of mine and her 5 friends to do the cupcakes at each others weddings which is so lovely as its something fun that they can all enjoy doing together and obviously a help to the bride.

I have been to a couple of weddings recently where the couple have chosen to have a big tower of cheeses as their wedding cake, which are great to tuck in to during the dancing. Another alternative is to do what I did and have a cake that can double up as pudding – we had Eton Mess and cut it during the reception so that the caterers could plate it up for pudding – it was absolutely delicious, it all got eaten and was great for me as I was on a tight budget. Still if I had the choice (and the budget) I think that I might have gone for one of those wondrous chocie woccky do da creations that I keep seeing in magazines.

In this section we will be reviewing not only some of the top wedding cake makers and some of their exquisite creations but we will also be looking at fun and creative alternatives and cakes that are easy to make yourself, or delegate to friends and family.