Sunday Sweets: Modern Marvels

Today we're spotlighting wedding cakes with a modern twist. Unusual shapes, clean lines, bold colors - these aren't your grandmothers' wedding cakes. (Unless your grandma was really, really cool.)

Let's start with what I first thought was a stack of brilliant dishware:

By Baking Arts

Wowee - check out that color! And it's actually striped modeling chocolate, not fondant. Amazing.

I love it when bakers experiment with a wedding cake's shape and height. You know, like this:

Submitted by Elizabeth H. and made by Maggie Austin Cake

Formal, but still fun. Love it.

Extra tall bottom tiers are a neat way to liven up more traditional round cakes, too:

By Rouvelee's Creations

Plus that graphic black and white pattern manages to be both modern and timeless all at once.

This next one is also by Rouvelee, because I couldn't pick just one of her amazing cakes:

By Rouvelee's Creations

Look at those swirls! Totally swoon-worthy.

If you asked an artist for an extremely abstract, minimalistic interpretation of sea foam and crashing waves, you might get something like this:

By Gateaux Inc.

Kinda cool, right?

I had to zoom in on this one before I realized the ribbons weren't real ribbons:

Sub'd by Jennifer H., made by Salt Cake City

Sharp corners, crisp lines - just perfect.

Here's another that might fool you into thinking it's wrapped in real ribbon:

Submitted by Kaitlin M., photo by Lisa Lefkowitz, baker unknown

And those graduated colors! I literally gasped the first time I saw this - such great girly goodness.

There's something about sunny yellow accents with black and white that always makes me smile:
Photo by photoARTworks, cake by Something Sweet Cake Studio

Beauuutiful. And I was delighted when I realized this is by the baker who made our very first cake at our very first book tour stop here in Orlando. (Love ya, Johnnie!)

We've seen our fair share of peacock wedding cakes, but here's a more modern twist on all that beautiful plumage:

Submitted by Heidi T.; By Betty Crocker Recipes

So...would you call that shade Norwegian Blue? [innocent smile]

Have a Sweet to nominate? Then send it to Sunday Sweets (at) Cake Wrecks (dot) com.

Comments

[Anonymous]

How gorgeous they all were :D

[zoomom]

Beautiful. Cake number four, the one with the swirls, is my favourite. I could sit back and gaze at that all day.

[The Pink Drink Ladies]

They are all beautiful. My favorite, the Swirls. That cake looked perfect.

Jackie

[Anonymous]

I'm pining for that peacock cake.

[Sara]

I need one of these cakes before I shuffle off this mortal coil.

[Amazing Cakes By Vanessa!]

That first one with the chocolate stripes is inspired by an instructional video that I haven't been able to afford yet. The video's version is in blue but just as cool.

[Anonymous]

Wow. Especially like the 'sea foam and crashing waves' cake - you're absolutely right, that's an artists' interpretation, and I want to see it in a museum, stat!

Or at least the museum's high-class restaurant. :D

[Dawn]

beautiful plumage!

[Anonymous]

I love the first cake- getting the lines perfectly straight is so difficult. Truly a skilled baker

Monty Python reference...lol

[Laura]

I'm always super impressed with bakers who can deal with geometric shapes in their decorations and pull it off. It seems like it could be hours and hours with a ruler and a protractor.

[Acrimoniously agreeable]

I <3 Cake Wrecks even more with those Monty Python references! But i don't think the cake is an ex-parrot ;)

[Jean Burke]

Norwegian Blue? Beautiful plumage.....

[Melissa]

those cakes are just amazing! I loved the seafoam one, blue ribbons, yellow & black sunflowers and peacock ones the best!

[Nichols]

You certainly have the knack for finding the finest! Thanks for a beautiful post.

[Maria]

All gorgeous! The peacock cake is my favorite though...but then there is the ocean one...

[mouse]

The sea foam is absolutely cool. (But I shudder to think of the wrecks it could inspire!)

[Jan]

I think the daisy cake is my favourite; the contrast is just so vivid. But they're all truly gorgeous.

@Dawn - my Dad often remarks "beautiful plumage" when he picks up one of his cats to stroke. I'm so used to it, despite it making no sense in that context, that I'd forgotten where it came from in the first place! Off to YouTube now I think...

[Wendy]

I bet my daughter five bucks that in the first twenty comments some lovely Cake Wrecks reader would note the same thing I did. Hidden Mickeys in two of those gorgeous cakes! Sooooo, since no one else noted it already, here it is. There are Hidden Mickeys there. I said it first, but I'll bet I'm not the only Disney nut that thought it...

[HannaSolo]

The pink one reminds me of Kaylee's ballgown in Firefly!

[Anonymous]

I can't even begin to pick my fav. They are so beautiful!

[Anonymous]

Wow... that sea foam/waves cake is absolutely amazing. Reminds me of a Japanese room screen. Maybe in a pale blue/dark green, it could be seaweed too. But either way, gorgeous. Now I'm babbling.

WV: pyromi: Who set the house on fire? Pyro mi!

[mickeyp415]

omg, these are just all so gorgeous! i really can't pick one favorite!!! (tho those butterflies and the peacock feathers rank quite high. and so is the black & white one. and... and... and...)

[Miss Didi]

Irrelevant to cakes, but nerdtastic nonetheless: did you know that Norwegian Blue parrots existed once?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-566600/Norwegian-Blue-parrot-really-DID-exist--stiff-bereft-life-ex-parrots.html

[Mizkit]

I must have me some peacock cake before I have ceased to be...

wv: mirets - Mirets have been burned by some of the wrecks on this site.

[BADKarma!]

That last cake would be pushin' up the daisies if it weren't wired to the perch. Just sayin'. (not-so-innocent smile).

[jeni]

The plumage don't enter into it. It's stone dead.

[furpurrson]

Just breathtaking. (Does the I'm-Not-Worthy bow...)

[Anonymous]

wow fantastic choice of beautiful cakes. thanks for sharing

Sarah UK

[Kelli]

The one cake that you don't know, it's by this lady: http://blog.cakecoquette.com/ (http://www.cakecoquette.com/) If you go down about six posts on the blog, you can see where the ribbon cake was featured in Brides magazine.
I LOVE her stuff! She does some great designs.

[Alison]

I love the daisy cake...and I love Johnnie too! Something Sweet Cake Studio is my favorite bakery in the world. Johnnie is wonderful to work with and makes the most amazing treats! I hope her cakes are never on a WRECK post!

[Arlene]

Gorgeous! All of them!

[Anonymous]

Did anyone else see "Modern Marvels" and expect Marvel Comics-inspired cakes?

[lisabear]

I always enjoy perusing the cakes on your site. Usually just for the sake of a good laugh, but sometimes for some good ideas as well. Admittedly, I was a bit disappointed after reading the title "Modern Marvels" and then seeing wedding cakes. I was hoping for Marvel Comic cakes, but that's the geek in me. These are quite lovely, but now I have a hankering to see some good Marvel Comics cakes. Do you think that might come along some time soon?

[Jenna]

If that second cake was oriented to the left it would totally be the state of Utah. Which is appropriate. We *are* the beehive state. :)

[Anonymous]

All these gorgeous cakes make me think of the Cakegirls. I miss seeing their beautiful work.

[Anonymous]

my favorite is the first one. looks sort of like those dish ware sets from crate and barrel.

[KidsCakes]

I've taken a couple of classes from Richard of Baking Arts (the first cake shown) and the second class I took was learning to work with modeling chocolate - no easy task. He is an incredibly skilled artist!

[archersangel]

really interesting.

[Craig]

The penultimate cake really is pushing up the daisies (note the 3-D effect).

"The plumage don't enter into it."

[Marnie]

That last one is beautiful! Now I'm pining for the fiords.:-)

[Anonymous]

All are very beautiful, my favorites are the Daisy and the Peacock. Great work!

[katsukhan]

Elegant! Elegant! Elegant! Terrific stuff.

[jessica]

Beautiful plumage. Hello Polly!!

[Jade]

Ah yes, the Norwegian Blue...lovely cake...absolutely perfect for those days when you're pining for the fjords... :)

WV: demadmen --the creators of all the CW cakes you see the rest of the week after Sunday.

[Arlene]

Wow all those cakes had such gorgeous colors. I loved them all and wouldn't even dare cut into them lol.

[hyphen8]

I don't know which I enjoy more: the wrecks or the sweets!

The first one is my favorite, but they're all lovely.

Regarding Norwegian Blue, I thought http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-566600/Norwegian-Blue-parrot-really-DID-exist--stiff-bereft-life-ex-parrots.html" rel="nofollow">this article from the Daily Mail was fascinating...! ;)

[Janelle]

I love the peacock one.

[Kimberly Chapman]

I'm particularly impressed by the bottom edges of the ones not lined with some kind of bottom border, especially the sea-style one. It's hard to get bottom edges right; that's why most of us cheat with ribbons, rolled borders, piped borders, etc.

And those "bubbles" are to die for.

[Christina]

....beautiful plumage, the Norwegian Blue has...

LMAO @ the Monty Python reference!! One of many reasons I love reading your site daily, Jen!!

wv: whiesh
"I whiesh, I whiesh, I whiesh..... for a pink pony"

[The Cleaner Cook]

These cakes are absolutely stunning! I love how they incorporate architecture and art into the cake designs.