At Cakes in Bloom, the importance is not only on how show-stopping your cake is, but also how delicious it is for you and your guests.
We want your guests to talk about the cake for years to come, and for you to have those incredibly romantic cake-cutting photos on the big day.
For this to all come together, recipe development is a big part of the process at Cakes in Bloom, specially as we are always excited to make custom flavours for cakes and fillings.
However, we have noticed over the years that no matter how often we change the menu, or how many flavours we offer, there are some that simply never go out of style.
Here are the top 5 flavours from the 2022 menu
1. Lemon
In 2021, the lemon flavour on the menu was simply lemon sponge with lemon curd and vanilla buttercream. This was still the best-selling flavour for 2021, but we still had lots of requests to add elderflower to the mix, so we thought we'd bring it back.
This was a flavour that boomed in popularity after the Royal Wedding of 2018, and it is tangy, fresh, and fragrant.
Our lemon sponge is infused with elderflower cordial, and the vanilla buttercream has been replaced with elderflower. So now every bite has that sharpness of lemon curd and the sweetness of the elderflower.
This is definitely a crowd-pleasing flavour, which we would recommend for a bottom or middle tier. This means that a good portion of your guests are able to take a slice of something they're sure to enjoy.
Whether it's lemon&elderflower, simply lemon, lemon&poppy seed, lemon&lime, or any other variation that we put on the menu, this is our best seller every year.
2. Double Chocolate
Another crowd favourite, this one is extra decadent. Instead of filling our chocolate fudge cake with vanilla buttercream as in previous years, in 2022 we are filling it with chocolate ganache.
This is for 2 reasons:
Chocolate ganache holds up better in summer months than buttercream. If you think of a block of butter and a bar of chocolate left on the side during a summer day, the chocolate is more likely to stay solid for longer. This is also why I don't recommend semi-naked buttercream designs in the summer. I have a whole post coming up about that!
Chocolate sponge needs the extras support that ganache offers. Because ganache sets firmer than buttercream, the chocolate sponge is more likely to stand proud all day and be cut into neater slices. Because of the extra moisture that goes in chocolate fudge cake, a sturdier filling is best.
Another crowdpleaser, this is perfect for a bottom tier: you'll get plenty of slices, and who doesn't love rich chocolate cake?
3. Carrot Cake
The best compliment I ever received was from A&D who were married in September at Southend Barns. They said that even though they don't routinely like carrot cake, ours was the best they'd ever had, and they chose it for their top tier.
Because of food safety rules, we cannot have cream cheese frosting as the filling for our carrot cake. This is because cream cheese is qualified as a high risk dairy product under Environmental Health regulations, so your cake would have to be refrigerated until you want to eat it. Which sort of ruins the idea of displaying your cake all day for your guests.
We decided instead to stick to a classic vanilla buttercream, but throw in some home made caramel for good measure.
We do put cinnamon in our carrot cake, but no nuts or raisins, and our home made caramel is a great complementary flavour to the sweetness of the carrot, and adds a depth and contrast to an otherwise plain flavour.
4. Coffee
This one is a new addition for 2022.
Coffee & Walnut has never been in our regular rotation. This is because the chunks of walnut make it difficult to achieve neat slices to be handed out to your guests. It's also difficult to slice into even layers without losing chunks of cake in the process. Overall, we have never felt like it was worth adding to the menu.
We have done it happily as a custom flavour though, because at the end of the day what's paramount is that you get cake that you love both in looks and taste.
However, whenever we have had a coffee flavour on it is always well received and this has been no different.
Instead of our chocolate cake with cappuccino buttercream from 2021, in 2022 we have opted for a stronger coffee flavour by incorporating coffee straight into our sponge recipe. Complemented by a slightly sweet milk chocolate ganache, this is a delicious combination that is almost like Mocha.
Maybe we should rename it.
5. Tropical
This one always surprises us. Every year, this is one of our best selling flavours. And every year, I am surprised.
The delicious white chocolate sponge is filled with tropical fruit curd and white chocolate ganache with white chocolate chips by Montezuma.
Mango and passionfruit curd by local Zest for Taste is so delicious we could eat it with a spoon.
Overall, 10/10.
We love seeing what you pick for your big day. It's always fun to make flavour combinations that we wouldn't expect, and although many people choose a vanilla or chocolate sponge for their bottom tier, I love a bold choice that's bound to impress your guests.
And if our menu doesn't inspire you, I'm always happy to make a bespoke flavour and push myself creatively. White chocolate and raspberry has been a favourite special request, but we've made anything from Gin & Tonic to Guinness.
So get in touch to chat about your perfect cake.