Flower Cakes

Neatly tailored tiers draped in pale-pink fondant and trimmed with braids of royal icing serve as the backdrop for a few artfully placed gum-paste camellias. Cake maker Wendy Kromer took a cue from Coco Chanel, who chose the lush flower as her signature bloom. Both elegant and exuberant, it's always in fashion.

A rose is a rose is a rose. But the bloom is charmingly unconventional when it's done as a two-dimensional motif in rolled white fondant. Kromer used custom rubber stamps (from Stampworx 2000) and a sharp blade to form the flowers, meant to recall appliques you might find on a gown, and imprinted the shorter tiers with a reversed set of stamps. The piped royal icing takes its cue from dotted-Swiss fabric and picot-edge ribbon.

The scale and shape of this cake suggest a gorgeous Victorian hat, so it's appropriate that the decorations adorning it are millinery flowers -- fabric blossoms that are traditionally used by hatmakers. Kromer's royal-icing "string work," a stenciled top, and icing flocked with shimmery sanding sugar all add to the romantic feel. Favor boxes, by Denise Sharp, ornamented with fabric calla lilies are covered in custom paper.

Setting vivid (and long-lasting) orchids against spring-green fondant-covered tiers results in a look that's fresh and utterly modern. There are hundreds of orchids to choose from; we used (from left) cattleya, dendrobium, lady's slipper, and "Japhet' cattleya.

From left, we used phalaenopsis, cymbidium, and 'Japhet' (we also hung them from the ceiling) to decorate these cakes. Added bonus: Groups of small cakes like these serve as table decor as well as dessert.

Cheery poppies don't have to be in season for you to make this pretty, fondant-covered cake. If you're the kind of bride who bookmarks etsy.com, fashion crepe-paper ones yourself, or look for similar ones at crafts stores. Either way you slice it, you've got a cake with flower power that lasts all day.

A tisket, a tasket, a cake that's just fantastic. Chamomile, jasmine, aster, roses, scented geranium, and wax flowers dress up this classic cake topped with piped buttercream in a basket-weave pattern. White hyacinth forms the wreath (hyacinth is not food-safe, so it's used only in the topper, which sits on a foam disk to keep it away from the cake). A particularly sweet choice for a garden wedding, this cake definitely weaves a spell.

Shrinking violets? Not the riotous ones piped in luscious buttercream on the winningly old-fashioned four-tier cake by Kromer, which also features sugary pansies and sweetpeas.