Wedding Cakes by Theme

If you're traditional at heart, stay true to your roots with a cake that's as Audrey in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" as it gets. Contributing editor Wendy Kromer, of Wendy Kromer Confections in Sandusky, Ohio, gave each tier the floral treatment with rolled fondant vines and gum-paste blossoms. And while any flavor would be divine, she suggests a tried-and-true favorite like white butter cake with almond-cream filling.

Pale pink and undeniably dreamy, this buttercream creation couldn't be more enchanting if it were sprinkled with Love Potion No. 9. To make the magnolia blossoms, Kromer shaped them from gum paste and rendered them lifelike with edible paint. Then she attached them with cloth-coated wire. (The real blooms are actually too delicate to use as cake decor.) For guaranteed love at first bite, choose vanilla-bean cake with praline filling.

It starts out fairly standard: five round tiers and crisp white icing. But this dessert takes a turn for the unexpected with a contemporary geometric pattern (courtesy of a custom stencil from designerstencils.com) and a shock of hot pink. The eye-catching glaze gets its vivid hue from cactus-pear puree, which also happens to be delicious in margaritas (consider them for signature cocktails). Inside, Kromer proposes pairing vanilla cake with lime-curd filling.

This beauty, frosted with brown-sugar buttercream, is just begging to be sliced, served, and devoured. Tiny crab apples and petite Seckel pears coated in caramel drive home the harvest-time feel, while fresh bay leaves and eucalyptus berries add touches of greenery. Ask your baker for apple cake with caramel-apple buttercream inside, and it will taste every bit as scrumptious as it looks. Need a favor idea? Mini crates of apples will let friends and family know you love them a bushel and a peck.

Wow your guests with a playful take on the French croquembouche that features the latest trend to take the pastry world by storm: cake balls. Kromer formed these from crumbled white cake and buttercream, and then rolled each in white chocolate and desiccated coconut (an extra-dry version sold at most grocery stores). She secured them to seven fondant-covered foam cylinders. You can let guests pluck them right off, or have your caterer serve a few on each plate, with or without a slice of sheet cake of the same flavors. If you want them attached to a sliceable cake, stick to three tiers or fewer.