The edible pleats here recall the crinolines beneath a cream puff of a wedding dress. White wafer papers, cut with scallop scissors and folded, were painted with gold luster dust and petal dust in pinks and greens. They were then piped with white royal icing and attached to the mint-green fondant-covered tiers with more royal icing. The fluted pastry cups, filled with pillow mints, complete the pleated theme.

Flecks of vanilla bean in buttercream icing give this cake the appearance of one of the most enchanting harbingers of spring: a delicate robin's egg. The cloudlike creamy zigzag flourishes were piped with a large petal tip. The white dragees, joined with royal icing and tied with thin gold cord, along with the blue ones ringing the base of the cake stand, echo the scalloped edge and the picot trim of the ribbon.

The fondant-covered box "lids" are the actual cake here, and the bottoms, also wrapped in fondant, are cake risers. The whole package is tied together with a taffeta ribbon, while each tier is edged with gold luster dust and matching royal-icing dots. The surrounding gumdrops, mint "lentils," sugar wafers, dragees, and pillow mints are treats you might find inside these packages, were they not made of cake.

Here, we put the notion of icing on ice, relying instead on unadorned pastel layers for graphic appeal. Coconut pound cake, tinted with gel-paste food coloring, serves as the foundation, while white fondant and passion-fruit curd rests on top (the curd is also between each layer). Sorbets in mango, passion fruit, lychee nut, and coconut are paired with strawberry sugar wafers that mimic the look of the cakes.

A majestic design turns a bit coquettish when it's festooned with macaroons -- the quintessential French treats -- and dressed up in flirty pink. Homemade marshmallows cut into rounds echo the shape of the raspberry macaroons, as does the pattern on the fondant, which was embossed with a rubber stamp. Gold papers under the marshmallows mirror the ribbon at the base of the custom wooden cake stand. At the top, a single macaroon rests in a miniature compote.