Will you marry “moi” ?

We have all heard of Destination Weddings, but how about Destination Wedding Cakes? …

Once in awhile brides deciding on a destination wedding to France or Italy will ask us for a traditional American wedding cake as they are accustomed to seeing in the U.S.A. So we say, “ when in Rome, do as the Romans”… what we mean by that is simply that to duplicate a three-tier traditional American wedding cake with fondant icing is not impossible, it’s just very seldom done in France or Italy. The few caterers who will do this for you are generally located in major cities and far away from most destination wedding venues; and they will charge you a fortune compared to the U.S.!

So instead of spending all that money on a three-tier wedding cake with icing, why not go all the way with your French destination wedding and have a French Wedding cake instead…

A croquembouche is the traditional wedding cake of France. It is a pièce montée, formed in a pyramid shape consisting of a mass of tiny cakes, profiteroles to be exact (choux filled with pastry cream) bound with caramel, and usually decorated with threads of caramel, sugared almonds, chocolate, flowers, or ribbons. The name comes from the French words “Croque en bouche” meaning “’crunch in the mouth”. The choux buns can also be made with savory fillings and the cake can be designed to your wishes in all kinds of different shapes.

Below are three different croquembouches which the bride decided on instead of the one large pyramid, the theme was a Chateau Wedding in the Loire Valley. The pastry chef duplicated the castle below the cakes and added sparklers for a more dramatic effect.

Just before the cutting of the cake, the bride and groom filled a Champagne glass pyramid, toasted to each others health and happiness and lit up the cake; sparkles ignited and were perfectly coordinated with the start of a dazzling firework show alongside the Loire River which lasted a whole ten minutes. Truly French and truly spectacular!

As for Italy, the custom is to serve a “ Mille-Foglia”, which is an Italian cake made from many layers of light filo pastry, chocolate and vanilla creams, topped with fresh strawberries.

Depending on where you are in Italy, wedding traditions can defer from one region to the other, for instance in Sicily, the wedding dessert course is often presented as a Venetian Table. This is a dazzling array of pastries, fruit, scrumptious coffee and cakes, presented in great quantities. This is called the Venetian Hour.

To sum all of this up, when in France, do as the French! When in Italy, do as the Italians!!! When Catherine-Zeta-Jones married Michael Douglas her wedding cake rose 12 tiers high, a mix of dense chocolate cake layered with creamy ganache, yellow butter cake with a taste of blood oranges and Key Lime, bitter sweet expresso tiers made of hazelnut filling, all enrobed with white sugar flowers, tulips, lilies, lilly of the valley and baby’s breath, wow!!! Can you imagine eating that cake after a 4 star wedding reception in France or Italy, no way! But of course this was in Hollywood… Stick with what your host country knows best, a croquembouche or a Mille-Foglia…

Till another time…

References: www.wikipedia.org, googleimages.org, Instyleweddings.com, marthastewart.com