Increasingly, couples are opting for non-traditional wedding desserts like donuts, churros and ice cream stations, and even pie but these Vancouver bakeries make a strong argument for keeping the cake.
The older generation of wedding guests love a cake-cutting moment and, according to a local wedding planner, most people are sticking with the status quo and having at least a small wedding cake in addition to other options. She says out of the 27 weddings she's had so far this year, eight did something different like a gelato cart, candy stations, and a charcuterie cake.
When it comes to weddings, cakes need to be more than just delicious. That part is a given, but the couple's emphasis placed on aesthetics and photography will also dictate how elaborate it needs to be. Although be warned with each tier you add, dollar signs follow.
These local confectioners, pastry chefs, and bakeries run the gamut from simplistic homely wedding cakes to grand art pieces, with plenty of middle ground. Here are some of the best places to find wedding cakes in Vancouver.
Jenny Bakes
It's an old tradition to freeze the top tier of your wedding cake to have on your first anniversary, something that Jenny Bakes couples have done with great success. In fact, she'll tell you to do this with the leftover mini cakes from a tasting with her. Jenny offers 15 different cake flavours ranging from fruity delights like passionfruit (my favourite) and raspberry lemonade to indulgent salted caramel and S'mores.
The base cake, which starts at five inches and has three layers, can be zhuzhed up with gold leaf, edible flowers, macarons, or even mini donuts and the finished product can be as decked out or minimal as the couple wants.
Jenny offers also offers custom cupcakes and cookies for events.
The Cake and the Giraffe
Dalana Flemming of The Cake and the Giraffe makes showstopping wedding cakes masquerading as decor pieces. Some of her previous cakes have even defied gravity and lit up.
A lot of the time when cakes look spectacular the flavours inside don't keep pace with the outside but Flemming has over 20 flavours to choose from in categories like classic, "Tea Time," "Fruit Stand," and sweet and savoury. Her menu is also one of the most imaginative and culturally diverse with tropical influences like pandan buttercream and matcha cake with white chocolate honey and red bean custard.
Flemming plays around with combinations and comes up with intriguing delights such as peanut butter with dark chocolate bacon ganache, maple buttercream, vanilla bean custard and bacon bits, and salted caramel with pineapple curd. Salted caramel banana and matcha coconut also sound good.
The Stubborn Baker
Jessica Kruger is a quadriplegic baker making incredible custom confections. If you can think of it she will find a way to make it happen - though she does specialize in events for 150 people or less.
Her basic flavours are chocolate, vanilla, funfetti, lemon, coconut, and carrot cake but recently she put together a box of cupcakes inspired by Bertie Botts's every flavour beans from Harry Potter so if there's something you have in mind, it's worth starting a conversation. Her quote form is really a box for people to describe their vision.
Kruger loves being imaginative and finding creative ways to bring something to life so her designs also reflect the diversity of her client's asks. She does custom cakes, cookies, macarons, cake pops, meringue pops, squares and more so the Stubborn Baker is a great option for people who want to build a dessert table from the ground up.
Cadeaux Bakery
Cadeaux Bakery is known for its pastries, including croissants, but they also do fabulous wedding cakes. Cadeaux cakes start at nine layers with five layers of cake and 4 layers of buttercream and a soaking of flavoured syrup; they are also super reasonably priced at $45 for a six-inch.
Flavours include familiar favourites like black tie, black forest, London fog, and lemon meringue plus a few unexpected ones like the newly added Rubyberry which consists of vanilla cake, lemon syrup, alternating layers of raspberry ruby mousse, strawberry compote, and vanilla buttercream with a ruby chocolate drip.
I personally have my eye on the raspberry latte cake which is a chocolate cake with alternating layers of raspberry mousse and espresso ganache, a Kahlua soak, raspberry glaze and finished in chocolate mousse. But people who like lighter flavours might want to opt for the tropical cloud which has vanilla cake with layers of Chantilly cream and passion fruit custard swirled with white chocolate mousse, coconut soaking syrup, and toasted coconut.
Looks-wise, the cakes are less showy but fans of the bakery will tell you that it's what's on the inside that counts.
Ganache Patisserie
Ordering a wedding cake from Ganache Patisserie in Yaletown is no joke and starts with an hour-long consultation. Pastry chef Peter Fong walks couples through a tasting of signature cake flavours and other desserts, the design of the cake, and answers any questions the couple may have. The patisserie specializes in large-scale frame cakes though there are options for six to ten inches too.
There are over 18 flavours to choose from all with a touch of French influence. Ganache also has some of the most variety when it comes to flavours and textures. Couples can opt for a cheesecake, mousse, meringue, or chiffon cake instead of a standard sponge.
However since they are one of the premier wedding bakeries in Vancouver, expect the price to reflect that. Six-inch cakes which typically serve up to eight people start at $52.
