When you get married at the beach, part of the fun is that you can have as elegant and formal or as unconventional and casual a wedding theme as you would like.
Black tie weddings or sarongs and bikinis are equally at home on the sand.
The same idea applies to beach wedding cakes!
While your cake should fit in with the general theme of your wedding style and decorations, there are numerous ideas you can use to make beach wedding cakes unique.
Ideas For Beach Wedding Cakes
1. The first thing you think about for a beach wedding cake’s decoration is sea shells and starfish! You can find edible seashells made of chocolate, sugar, or gum paste for purchase online or you can make your own if you have the desire. To do so, look for seashell molds or starfish molds on Amazon or Ebay and follow these instructions. Hint: you can use extras for table favors or place name holders.
2. Just the same way you can purchase or make edible starfish and seashells, you can do the same with pearls. Made of fondant, they come in a variety of colors online and there are lots of recipes and instructions available to guide you if you want to make your own.
3. Fresh or silk tropical flowers make stunning decorations for beach wedding cakes. Their vibrant colors really pop against the white of the sand and the blue of the sky. The nice thing about fresh tropical flowers is that many types will stand up to the heat of the beach. Did you know that some flowers are edible? Consider hibiscus, jasmine, and mimosa flowers if you wish to be able to eat them! Since eating flowers may make your guests cringe, however, realistic flowers can be made of sugar paste or fondant.
4. Consider putting tropical flavors in the fillings between cake layers to make your beach wedding cake unique. Flavors like guava, lemon, pineapple, and coconut will give your guests a taste of the tropics and will tie in nicely with your beach wedding.
5. Instead of a traditional wedding cake, think about having a “cake” made of tiers of individual cupcakes. These cupcakes can be flavored with lemon or other tropical flavors or can be in more traditional flavors, such as vanilla or chocolate. You can also use tiers of petit fours in various flavors. To make these treats fit your beach themed wedding, dust them with brown sugar “sand” and decorate them each with chocolate shells, set-sugar seashells, gum paste flip flops, fondant flowers, or edible palm trees. Get whimsical with set-sugar seahorses and tropical fish, brown sugar starfish, or marzipan sand dollars. You can find all of these for purchase through Amazon, Etsy, or Ebay, or from other online companies.
6. If you don’t want flowers on your dessert, you can make or order elegant beach wedding cakes with cake toppers made of shells, starfish, or even adorable beach wedding couples. We have seen cakes that are beautifully decorated with fondant surfboards and beach chairs and cute tiki-themed wedding cakes. Due to the popularity of beach weddings, there are tons of cake toppers to choose from both in stores and online. We think the hardest thing you’ll have to do is try to narrow down your selection after looking at all the great cake decorations you can choose from!
7. Want a really unique twist on a wedding cake? You can use bright colors of frosting on your entire cake – tropical oranges, yellows, or fuchsias will really stand out or you can use bright blues or greens to take advantage of the ocean side setting. Either way, your cake will be memorable!
Tips About Beach Wedding Cakes
1. Have your wedding cake frosted and decorated with an icing that won’t melt in the heat at the beach. Fondant icing will hold up much better than butter cream icing.
2. Keep your cake out of the sun! This seems like a no-brainer, but when you are worrying about other wedding details, keeping the cake in the shade can be easily overlooked.
3. Put the cake in an area of the reception site where it won’t get damaged by wind or sand. While it will look beautiful out in the open, you don’t want it to topple over on a breezy day.
4. If you choose flowers to decorate the cake, choose a type that won’t wilt in the sun or the heat you may find at the beach. Tropical flowers are great choices for holding up in the seaside humidity.
5. If possible, drape beach wedding cakes in tulle or netting to keep birds and bugs away from the cake.
Let us help you plan the perfect Destin, FL beach wedding! If you have questions about beach wedding cakes and all of the other details that make a wedding extra-special, call Sugar Beach Weddings at 850-650-1515 or email us today.