Sweet Dessert Alternatives to Traditional Wedding Cake


Everyone loves a good cake, of course—but sometimes, it’s fun to shake things up. For your Big Day treats, try a non-traditional dessert: Serve it in addition to your main confection, or even in its place. Photography by Brett Thomas. Styling by Lauren Kozakiewicz.

Dessert Alternatives to Traditional Wedding Cake

Create a sweets bar with a variety of pies and tarts, and partygoers can chose their favorites—or sample them all. Linzer tarts with shortbread crust and seedless raspberry jam filling, $25 each, and sour Bing cherry pie with an all-butter crust, $25, all created by Night Kitchen Bakery. From top: Bernardaud Louvre Blanc cake stand, $215 at Bloomingdale's, multiple locations. Martha Stewart Collection Pie Crust cake stand, $48, and glass Optic cake stand, $36, both at Macy's, multiple locations.

 

Dessert Alternatives to Traditional Wedding Cake

Adorable beachy treats will delight your guests just after dinner—or later on, as a post-dancing late-night snack. Sugar cookies, from $3.75 to $5.25 each (for a minimum order of 12), created by the Flour Pot, Ambler.

 

Dessert Alternatives to Traditional Wedding Cake

Cupcakes: There's a reason they're so popular. Sallie's sour-cream cake with vanilla buttercream frosting and pastel fondant flowers, $3.75 each, created by Brown Betty Dessert Boutique, Philadelphia. From bottom, Pilivuyt cake stand, $65 at Manor Home & Gifts, Philadelphia. Martha Stewart cake stand, $28, and cupcake stand, $29 for a set of two, both at Macy's.

Dessert Alternatives to Traditional Wedding Cake

Can you imagine anything more darling than your nearest-and-dearests being served miniature cakes of their very own? Lemon cake brushed with limoncello, layered with fresh lemon curd and limoncello mousse and covered in light yellow fondant and a fondant daisy, $20 each, created by Cake Art Studio, Paoli. Philippe Deshoulieres Seychelles white bread-and-butter plate, $30 at Manor Home & Gifts. Jean Nouvel dessert fork, $110 for a five-piece plate setting at Home Grown, Haverford.

Dessert Alternatives to Traditional Wedding Cake

If you love the idea of chocolate but don't want a fountain anywhere near The Dress, share trays of decadent treats from Philly's chocolatiers, so guests can get their fix with much less mess. Clockwise from top left: Marcie Blaine Artisinal Chocolates Philly Series and Signature Collection, $49.95 each for a 32-piece box at Verde, Philadelphia, and marcieblaine.com. Éclat Chocolate Hawaiian Rose Hearts, $15 for a four-piece box, and various truffles and caramels, $10 for a four-piece box, all at Éclat Chocolate, West Chester. Clockwise from top left: Square white Martha Sturdy tray, $250 at Home Grown. Bernardaud Fusion White square porcelain salad plate, $86 at the Polished Plate, Haddonfield. Vecchio Ginari Bianco square salad plate, $52 at Manor Home & Gifts.

 

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