A pristine white cake, piped with tiny beads around each tier, is sprinkled with a flutter of red rose petals.

A two-dimensional calico print comes to life on a cake with diminutive hand-sculpted flowers, leaves, and fruits; the soft colors are reminiscent of the faded look of a vintage apron. Real rickrack trim bordering clusters of fruit on the middle tier imparts a cheery, homespun feel. Set against ivory fondant, strawberries and cherries grow from stems of piped royal icing, tinted brown. The fruits are shaped from sugar paste painted in delicate shadings and hues. Rickrack trim is secured with royal icing.

Red currants, raspberries, gooseberries, blueberries, and strawberries look beautiful jumbled together on basket-weave tiers.

This red, white, and pink confection would be perfect at a snowy winter wedding. We displayed our whimsical cake among an enchanted forest of peppermint topiaries. Our cake board is a round piece of wood; we coated it with royal icing, wrapped the edge with ribbon, and affixed candies to the edge.

Bright sugar poppies are planted atop a cake iced in blush-colored buttercream.

Marzipan cherries lend a striking touch to this almond cake.

Fauchon's monogrammed pink pastry boxes, or boites roses, are interpreted in tinted white chocolate; the cake itself is vanilla sponge with strawberry syrup and mousse. Almond macaroons in raspberry, chocolate, pistachio, and passion fruit are piled on and around the tiers.

In the Charlotte, featherlight ladyfingers surround a filling of raspberry mousse, raspberries, and fraises des bois, or wild strawberries, on soft almond biscuits.

The classic American layer cake is dressed up with geraniums for an informal wedding.

This classically shaped cake with smooth white layers is circled with bold colors that are anything but conventional: dahlias in red, burgundy, orange, and yellow, and wild rose hips.

Each tier in this cake is frosted with ivory buttercream and alternated with several types of roses, such as "Sabara," shaped in tiers of the same height. The flowers, in varying hues of beige, are anchored in a central core of oasis, which keeps them fresh for hours. The oasis is shielded from the cake by plastic separators and camouflaged by the flowers.

A cake by Selena Wong is topped with a midsummer's-eve mix of flowers, dragonflies, and frogs, all made of sugar.

Sugared ruby fruits make this cake look even richer.

Making fruits confits, or candied fruit, is a slow process in which the water in fruit is gradually replaced by sugar syrup. A cascade of the sweet gems shines against a pure white cake; the fruit calls for a tart counterpart, which comes in a lemon-zest sponge cake with vanilla mousse and pineapple confit. The green stalks are angelica, an edible plant.

This wedding cake was designed by Ron Ben-Israel with help from the groom's sister.

The homespun dessert buffet features a charming three-tier cake (Liesl's sister adapted the recipe from Martha's apple-spice cake using organic ingredients) covered with white-chocolate maple frosting and decorated with organic apples and currants. The cake stand is wrapped in the same veneer that adorns lamp shades and candles.

This wedding cake, with chocolate and vanilla layers and raspberry filling, has dahlias galore.