Baking has a long history in the rural farmlands and historic cities of Pennsylvania, and cakes are no exception. However, if old-fashioned cake doesn't suit your wedding style, the Keystone State is home to many modern bakers who can put a signature twist on a reception confection that will wow your friends and family.

Finding your Wedding Bakery

If you're unsure where to start in your search for a dream wedding cake, look to your local yellow pages, search online or place a call to your local newspaper. Many of the best kept bakery secrets in PA are known only to locals! Your wedding planner, wedding caterer, and friends and family from the area may also have suggestions on where to start.

Wedding Cake FAQ

Once you have found a few promising prospects, place calls to the bakeries. See if they are able to accommodate your potential number of guests, whether they can deliver to your reception location, and how far in advance you need to place your order to make sure of delivery.

If the bakery's answers to these questions sound good, schedule an appointment for a cake tasting to see if these are the bakers who will make your special wedding cake. Any capable bakery will easily be able to answer these and other questions you may have about your sumptuous dessert.

At Your Wedding Cake Tasting Appointment

Most bakeries schedule their tasting appointments in the evenings or on weekends. They often last from a half hour to an hour, and the bakeries will offer you their most popular flavor combinations, show you examples of beautiful cakes they have made for others, and work with you to determine the exact size, flavor and design of the cake that you want for your wedding, from chocolate hazelnut to butter cream frosting. Most Pennsylvania bakeries require a small deposit to secure the order for your wedding date.

Many couples have special requests for their wedding cakes. Your appointment is the proper time to bring up these up. Your requests might include:

• Having a particular flavor combination, such as chocolate macadamia or raspberry lemon tart
• Using your own wedding cake topper
• Building a cake based upon your own design, inspiration or wedding theme
• Having your baker work from a picture of a cake you have found in a magazine
• Working with your florist to add fresh flowers to the cake
• Creating a smaller or larger than usual serving size
• Using different flavors on different tiers of your cake
• Using fondant icing for a smooth, clean look
• Choosing specific colors for frosting and layers

Your baker will also help you determine the proper cake size and type for your reception, and may be able to provide tips for display and other thoughtful advice that will lead to a beautiful wedding cake presentation.

Should We Have a Groom's Cake?

Of course, the perfect wedding cake will be lovely, delicious, and one of the focal points of your wedding reception. If the budget allows, some couples choose to have a groom's cake in addition to their traditional wedding cake. The groom's cake is often a bit more playful and less elegant than a normal wedding cake, but may allow you to have different flavors of cake at your wedding to accommodate the different tastes of your friends and family. Having two cakes also ensures that you will not run out in the event your guests have enormous appetites for these delicious desserts. Groom cakes are often made into fun shapes, animals and sentimental symbols. Anything from a cowboy hat to an armadillo can be made with enough time and a willing, creative bakery.

Pennsylvania-Inspired Confections

The easiest way to make your wedding cake a local PA masterpiece is to add fresh locally-grown flowers to your display. PA's state flower is the mountain laurel, so think about adding these small pink or white flowers to your cake in natural or icing form. A wedding funnel cake or shoo-fly pie (both Pennsylvania Dutch specialties) might be perfect for a whimsical groom's cake. You could even have your cake shaped as a historical PA landmark or symbol, such as a keystone or the Liberty Bell, or you could add twinkling firefly lights (fireflies are the state insect) circling the tiers of your wedding day creation.

Saving the Top Layer of Your Cake for Your First Anniversary

It is a tradition to save the top layer of your cake to eat on your first anniversary. This is said to bring good luck to the marriage, and Pennsylvanians like to be lucky! To save the top layer, you will need to plan ahead a little bit:

• Have an airtight container ready when you cut the cake.
• Place the cake's top layer into the container and seal it right away to keep the air out and the moisture in.
• Put the container in a nearby fridge until you get home, then place in your freezer. As long as it is unopened and kept cool, the cake will be fine.
• Remove your frozen cake from the freezer on your anniversary. It will defrost within hours, ready to be eaten. Expect to stir up some wonderful wedding memories!

Whether you are going with a locally-inspired favorite, a designer cake masterpiece, or a traditional ivory butter cream tiered cake topped with local wildflowers, Pennsylvania bakeries are ready, willing and able to accommodate your wedding day dreams.