This riff on lemon pie is actually a white cake with buttercream frosting and alternating layers of lemon curd and buttercream filling inside. It's finished with delicate meringue flowers.

Sugar-paste daisies drift down a fondant-covered cake, by Gail Watson of New York City. This effect is created by covering the top tier entirely with the blooms, and placing fewer and fewer on the bottom tiers. The choice of daisies, a decidedly old-fashioned flower, gives the simple, modern design a retro appeal.

In a cheerful tower of a cake, five deep hexagonal layers are iced with buttercream; the tiers are piped with a star tip in opposite directions for a patchwork effect. The initials are made of air-dried meringue.

Uniquely-shaped tiers add whimsy to an otherwise traditional golden almond cake.

Royal-icing latticework gives this grand cake a summery feel, but the year-round appeal of citrus fruit makes it right for any season. The lemons are actually tinted white chocolate, the blossoms gum paste, and the leaves are white fondant.

Inspired by van Gogh's famous painting, the floral motif on this cake will brighten any reception—from the eclectic to the more traditional in style. A golden color palette (both inside and out) and oven-dried piped meringue petals channel van Gogh's cheerful blossoms. To mimic his textured brush strokes, buttercream frosting was painted on with a brush.

The delicate and elegant detail of a circa-1900 French silk fabric looks every bit as gorgeous at the dawn of our century in cake form. Ron Ben-Israel meticulously re-created the fabric by pressing the fondant with a rubber stamp to mimic the weave, then piping on petite mimosa blossoms and stems, and applying sugar-paste leaves. The flowers were painted with powdered yellow food coloring mixed with luster dust for a silk-like shimmer.

Give your cake a splash of whimsy. Order up a fondant cake, plus a bucket of fondant, from a bakery. Add food coloring to the fondant to get the right hues, and roll out into a thin sheet. Cut with various teardrop-shaped cookie cutters, let dry, and attach to the front of the cake with gum paste mixed with hot water.

As a symbol, rings are stunningly simple yet monumental in their meaning. More than a promise cast in platinum or gold, they represent the eternity you and your husband will spend together: The band itself has no beginning and no end. Here, New York City baker Mark Joseph uses an abundance of precisely applied sugar-paste rings to create a stylish, mod-inspired pattern. A base of unexpected yellow makes the rings pop and completes the fresh, contemporary effect.

This patterned lemon cake features piped flowers where every band meets. The floral topper is an added bonus—but you can sub in a traditional topper, too.

The lively architectural flourishes of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries inspired the design of this romantic cake. Buildings of that era were characterized by a dynamic interplay of color and ornamentation. Here, swags, friezes, and cartouches in fondant and gilded royal icing bring life to an otherwise static structure.

Swiss meringue buttercream icing, piped through a petal tip with a slight wiggle of the wrist, is the medium for the squiggles enveloping the cake. Buttercream is soft, free form, relaxed -- and very delicious. Each buoyant, cushiony tier of this peach-tinted powder puff of a cake is almost imperceptibly elevated above the preceding layer.

As fun to make as it is to eat, our sparkling marmalade-candy cake takes a little muscle—and that's about it. Buy your favorite hard candies, place them in a large resealable plastic bag, get a rolling pin, and have a blast pounding away your prewedding jitters. Then press the glittering crushed pieces to the sides of a buttercream cake.

If your mouth waters at the thought of refreshing citrus mixed with silky cream, then this cake—dreamed up by Emily Lael Aumiller of Lael Cakes—is for you. To re-create the colors of the ice cream pop, attached marbled gum-paste appliques to blush-orange fondant with royal icing. The 3-D effect is striking on its own, so you can display it sans topper. Inside, opt for orange blossom cake layered with orange curd and vanilla buttercream.

To construct our irresistible lemon icebox cake, with its layers of scalloped lemon cookies and honey mascarpone cream, we simply built from the bottom up. Top it with candied lemon slices for a tangy-sweet cookie cake that will appeal to fickle kids and grown-up foodies alike.