6 ways to decorate a plain wedding cake

Make a statement at your wedding with these creative wedding cake decorations 

Having a plain wedding cake can provide the perfect blank canvas for decorating. No matter if you prefer a shiny gold foil motif or a wholesome topper of your beloved pets, let your wedding cake tell your story with these creative ideas.  

Wording  

A neutral wedding cake can still make a statement with a large wedding topper, like Jodie and Stephen’s wood effect, two-tier cake with stencilling detail. Image: Danielle Leslie Photography

Wording and lettering can be the perfect addition to your wedding cake, whether it's incorporated by your cake topper or in the design of the cake. Include your initials or choose to simply have you and your partner’s titles such as ‘Mr and Mrs’, ‘Mr and Mr’ or ‘Mrs and Mrs’. Alternatively, if you had to postpone your wedding date, you could have ‘finally’ written in icing on your cake or have the word as your wedding topper. 

Go the sentimental route by choosing toppers with phrases such as ‘for the rest of our lives’ or ‘always’. Including wording in your cake design is a classic and elegant decoration that complements a myriad of wedding themes.  

You could even ask your cake maker if they are able to include the monogram from your wedding invitations and stationery into your cake design.  

Keep it simple with your married name as your wedding topper, like this DIY wedding cake, decorated with white chocolate feathers and a pair of swans. Image: Steve Davis at Classic Photography

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Characters 

Two fondant dogs take pride of place on Jan and Emily’s autumnal wedding cake. 

Inject some personality into your wedding cake by including toppers of your family. No matter if this is a sweet topper of your children or your beloved family pet, these kinds of decorations can add more significance to a simplistic wedding cake design.  

You could also ask your cake maker to create miniatures of yourself and your partner to dress your wedding cake. Look for a non-edible and non-perishable wedding topper that you can keep as a memento of your special day for years to come.  

Spot the wholesome Kate and Luke cake toppers from their festive winter wedding in London. Image: Wildly in Love

Chloe and Harry's wedding cake included their beloved dog, Yoshi. Image: Sam Box Photography

Flowers 

Image: Getty Images

Try incorporating fresh flowers into your wedding cake design. This is ideal for tying together different elements of your wedding day, especially when you use the same florals in your bouquet, wedding décor and your wedding cake. Use fresh flowers to add a pop of colour to a rustic-style naked wedding cake or make a minimalistic white cake look pretty and delicate with soft, muted-tone flowers.  

Use foliage to add depth to your floral decorations and break up the colour palette, like Jade and Stuart's wedding cake at their beautiful destination wedding in Greece. Image: Ebourne Images

You can also use dried flowers if you are after a romantic, boho-feel for your plain white wedding cake.  

Caitlin and Carl’s three-tiered wedding cake features soft, bronze floral designs. Image: Lucy Henzell Photography

Fresh fruit  

Image: Alexandra Gorna via Unsplash

If your wedding cake is fruit-flavoured, carry this theme into the decorating. Add fresh fruit to naked-style wedding cakes as a decoration for a soft touch of colour. Or, decorate your wedding cake with vibrant blueberries, strawberries and deep pink figs.  

Gold foil

Image: Mark Tattersall Photography

Make a statement with your wedding cake by decorating with gold foiling. You could ask your cake maker to add tasteful gold foil patterns and shapes to your tiered wedding cake or go all out with a completely gold design, like this real wedding in Suffolk.  

Incorporate gold leaves on a white wedding cake for an elegant design. Pair it with minimal floral decorations or a worded cake topper for a timeless, sophisticated look.  

Festival-style bunting  

Image: Wildly in Love

Add a rustic, authentic feel to your wedding cake by using festival-style bunting for your cake topper. This decoration is ideal for an outdoor country wedding celebration. Have letter bunting with your names or simply ‘just married’ like Emma and Alexander’s limoncello, espresso martini and amaretto flavoured wedding cake (above) or Katie and Richard’s simplistic vegan wedding cake. 

You could also have bunting icing incorporated around the layers of your cake for a true festival feel with wording, patterns or blocks of colour.