30 Rustic Wedding Cakes We're Loving

By Lyndsey Matthews
November 23, 2015
Lavender and Twine

See our favorites, from naked cakes to faux bois-frosted beauties.

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Lavender and Twine
Get the Best of Wedding Cakes and Toppers

Whether you're getting married outdoors in the spring or summer, at a barn during the fall, or up in the mountains this winter, complement the vibe of your celebration by adding a rustic touch to your wedding cake. Even city venues can benefit from the look, which is sure to warm up any space. The style draws inspiration from the natural world, and will give your dessert table a homey, welcoming, outdoorsy vibe.

A rustic design can be achieved in a number of pretty ways. Your baker can create a rugged, nature-inspired look with naked layers or imperfect frosting. Or, you can opt for an organic feel, made using earthy colors (like brown and green) or botanical accents (we love leaves and berries). Simple, modest cakes are also considered rustic—their humble style evokes visions of peaceful country life. And supplements to the dessert itself (think: wooden cake stands and animal toppers) only add to the appeal. Whatever the case, rustic-chic is an adjective for a reason—your cake is bound to look good.

The following confections are great examples of all you can do with a rustic theme for your wedding cake. Whether they were served at a rural venue or baked in contrast to a more industrial setting, they're charming, wedding-worthy, and tasty, too. Traditional treats, seasonal sweets, and alternative pies are just some of what you'll see, meaning this inspiration is as lovely as it is diverse. Go ahead and click through for our favorite ideas—your mouth will be watering and your creative wheels will be turning after viewing these delicious picks.

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Naked Wedding Cake

Shannon Von Eschen
Go Inside This Rustic Wedding

This lemon-chiffon cake with Swiss buttercream had a natural look, which fit the wedding's Montana mountain setting.

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Scenic Wedding Cake

Simply Sarah Photography

This sweet dessert was pretty as a picture—and baked by DeClare Cakes. The scene featured a bird on branches and 3D butterflies.

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Traditional Wedding Cake

Natalie Watson Photography
Go Inside This Farm Wedding

As a nod to the bride's Southern roots, guests at this wedding were served apple stack cake, a traditional Appalachian dessert. It was topped with powdered sugar.

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Berry Wedding Pie

Rebecca Yale Photography
See More Wedding Pies

This wedding featured pies, rather than cakes, which have more of a country feel.

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Chocolate Wedding Cake

Jeremiah and Rachel Photography
Get More Inspiration for Fall Wedding Cakes

This simple chocolate cake had a tree-trunk stand. It also included dog toppers and was styled on top of fur.

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Leafy Wedding Cake

D'Arcy Benincosa
Go Inside This Elopement-Style Wedding

Goyas made this confection for a wedding on a small Irish island. The yellow cake had raspberry icing inside.   

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Apple Wedding Cake

Love & Light Photographs
Make Your Own Apple Dessert

A juicy red apple topped this naked cake.

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Simple Wedding Cake

We Are Origami Photography
See More Simple Wedding Cakes

This beautiful cake was charmingly simple, and it looked as though it was blooming.   

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Dusty-Rose Wedding Cake

Connie Whitlock

Lush, dusty-hued roses and other flowers topped this one-tiered cake from Whole Foods Market.   

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Wedding Cake with Greenery

Jordan Brittley

The Sticky Spatula baked the cake for this wedding, which was decorated with foliage.  

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Succulent Wedding Cake

Rachel Solomon
Get More Succulent Wedding Inspiration

This cake's light coating of icing gave it a wood-like design. Fresh blooms and succulents made for interesting décor.

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Pretty Wedding Cake

Christine Clark Photography
See More Tropical Wedding Details

Tropical ferns gave this Kona Sweets cake an outdoorsy vibe.

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Textured Wedding Cake

Averyhouse

A faux-bois exterior proved that this Blue Plate cake was nature-inspired.  

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Bird Cake Topper

Elena Wolfe
See More Milk Bar Cakes

This dessert, from Momofuku Milk Bar, was apple pie-flavored. Plush birds topped it off.   

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Small Wedding Cake

Max & Friends
Get More Inspiration for Small Wedding Cakes

To reference the California desert-locale of their wedding, this couple topped their small wedding cake, by BabyCakes, with an air plant and small sticks wrapped in embroidery floss as a nod to Navajo walking sticks.

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Canoe Cake Topper

Nina Westervelt
See Summer Camp Wedding Venues

To reference their summer camp wedding venue, this couple decorated their lemon-ricotta pound cake with fresh greenery and wildflowers and a tiny hand-carved canoe topper.

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Faux-Bois Wedding Cake

Elizabeth Messina Photography

Sam Godfrey, the owner of California's Perfect Endings, bakery gave the frosting of this genoise wedding cake a faux-bois finish to look like wood.

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Carrot Wedding Cake

Get More Inspiration for Naked Wedding Cakes

To add to the rustic Americana charm of this barn wedding, this carrot cake, by Scootabaker, was glazed with caramel, layered with caramel buttercream, and adorned with cherries and garden roses.

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Fall Wedding Cake

Aaron Delesie
See More Fresh Floral Wedding Cakes

This small, square wedding cake was frosted in buttercream and topped with pistachio foliage and dahlias at this Texas wedding.

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Scrabble-Tile Cake Topper

You Look Nice Today

To top off his three-tiered lemon chiffon cake, the groom fashioned a "Just Hitched" garland out of Scrabble tiles, twine, a drill with a tiny bit, and sticks.

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Wintry Wedding Cake

Erin Kate Photography

This couple brought the outdoors inside at this winter wedding in Utah, by topping their dulce de leche cake with pinecones.

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Swiss-Dot Wedding Cake

Ryan Ray

Placed on an old stove-turned cake stand, this carrot cake was frosted in a Swiss dot pattern and finished with a rustic bird topper.

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Coconut Wedding Cake

Erin Kunkel

The cream cheese–frosted coconut cake was topped by dancing bears that baker Robin Redding gilded with 18-karat gold leaf. It was placed on a "cake stand" (now a side table in the newlyweds' home) that the baker's boyfriend fashioned from a fallen Monterey Pine.

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Fern Wedding Cake

Thayer Allyson Gowdy

Keeping with the verdant décor of this coastal wedding in California, this carrot cake was finished with cream cheese frosting and coconut shavings, and decorated with three types of ferns.

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Monogrammed Wedding Cake

Jade + Matthew Take Pictures
See More Monogrammed Wedding Cakes

The wedding cake at this rustic formal wedding in Georgia featured four tiers, faux bois-printed fondant, and a gold monogram.

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Rosemary Wedding Cake

KT Merry

Sprigs of sugared rosemary decorated this five-tiered wedding cake by The Caketeria at this rustic barn wedding in Pennsylvania.

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Basic Wedding Cake

Annabella Charles Photography

With a homemade look, the cake by Dessert Designs at this farm wedding was covered in rustic swoops of fluffy cream cheese frosting.

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Macaron-Topped Wedding Cake

Gary Ashley for Les Loups
See More Spring Wedding Cakes

This olive oil cake with fresh strawberries and French macarons was part of a trio of small cakes from Beach Plum Bakery Café served at an easy-going backyard wedding in Massachusetts.

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