These fun wedding cake ideas will give you some wedding cake inspo for a whimsical cake that will be the showstopper at your reception. They’re all real cakes that I made when I did custom wedding cakes, and the unique and modern styles are meant to give you ideas for your own wedding cake design. Whimsical wedding cake ideas that go outside the box are more fun than a basic white cake, so give yourself permission to be creative!
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Hawaiian themed wedding cake.
If you want to go really colorful, you could do a Hawaiian themed cake like this one that had a tiki and a lei on it. The tiki tier was covered in modeling chocolate with the face modeled into it, and the lei was made with gumpaste flowers. The 3D palm fronds were attached into the tree trunk by putting the wires into the chocolate clay trunk.
A Scottish themed wedding cake.
This wedding cake had chocolate clay tartan bands around the base of each tier, and gumpaste thistle and roses on the top of the cake. The thistle was made with lavender sewing thread inserted into the gumpaste stem. It also had lace piped on the tiers.
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Lucky dragon boat wedding cake.
This cake had a water theme, with a gumpaste topper of the bride and groom riding in a dragon boat. The sides were piped with blue wave designs. The topper was separate, so they could take it off of the cake and save it as a keepsake.
Colorful carved tiers.
This cake was made for a bride who came to me with her mother, and the bride didn’t want a cake because she said that she didn’t want a white cake. When I showed her some photos of some colorful wedding cakes she was so happy, and we designed this one for her. The edges of the tiers were carved with waves, and I piped the designs onto the painted fondant then pained them gold.
The Scream wedding cake.
This wedding cake came about because the couple was talking about the entire wedding process making them feel like the Munch painting, and the groom jokingly said “can you make a cake like that?” When I said I sure could, the couple went for it. I asked them if their parents would be okay with it and they said “They know us, they’ll be fine with it.”
When I was setting the cake up the bride’s father wandered into the room. I was nervous because he was standing there looking at the cake, but then he started cackling to himself and took his phone out to take pictures of it, so it was fine.
Kissing fish wedding cake.
This was a wedding cake for a couple who loved beta fish. I painted the buttercream fish onto the sides of the tiers, and I made a gumpaste topper of kissing fish wearing wedding clothes.
Theater and wine wedding cake.
This couple wanted to combine their interest of the theater and wine tasting, and since their reception was going to be at a local winery I suggested that we do a grapevine theme. I made the gumpaste grapes, leaves, and vines and added a gumpaste theatrical masks topper.
Colorful topsy turvy cake.
The topsy turvy cakes were fun to make, and this one was based on the pink and chocolate brown color scheme that the couple had at the wedding. I decorated the tiers with colors that matched the fondant tiers, and the loops on top were made from colored gumpaste.
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Purple piped carved tiers wedding cake.
The carved tiers cakes were more interesting to me than the topsy turvy cakes were, to be honest…This one was a hexagon and the edges of the tiers were carved into waves, then I covered it with buttercream and piped purple designs on it.
Tall wedding cake with vines.
This light green cake was a combination of 10″-9″-8″-7″ and 6″ tiers, which gave it a tall profile because of the 1″ difference between the tiers. Most wedding cakes have a 2’3″ difference between the tiers, so that gives you the ledge on the sides of the tiers. The smaller difference gives you less of a ledge and a more upright shape.
The piping on the sides were painted with gold luster dust, and I added gumpaste leaves to the vines. This would be a fun addition to a woodland themed wedding for a romantic reception.
Modern op art design.
This minimalist, colorful cake was fun to make. The square tiers were a nice contrast to the circle shapes on the sides, which were made with modeling chocolate.
Van Gogh Starry Night wedding cake.
I’ve done a few different versions of a Starry night wedding cake over the years. For these I would paint them in buttercream, so that I didn’t have to use fondant. The icing gave it a more textural feeling that looked more like an oil painting. The topper on this one was some gold gumpaste stars.
Square op art cake.
This design was based on the round cake shown above, but it had square shapes.
Black piping and gumpaste flowers.
This cake had pink candy clay bands at the base of the tiers, and black piping on the tiers instead of the usual white. I put gumpaste flwoers on top for a topper.
Applique flowers wedding cake.
This wedding cake was based on the shirts that the groomsmen were going to be wearing. I covered the cake with fondant stripes, and made gumpaste applique flowers that I painted with food coloring and applied to the cake with royal icing.
Gumpaste sequins and beading.
This ivory cake was covered with silver-painted gumpaste sequins and other embellishments to match the wedding dress.
Black feathers.
This cake was covered in black fondant feathers that I dusted with reflective luster dust to give it a colorful shine.
Chinese themed tiers.
This cake was decorated with motifs from China that the couple requested. The dragons and other elements were added with fondant and painted with food coloring.
Colorful topsy turvy wedding cake.
I honestly can’t remember the story behind this one, but the fondant sneaker topper makes me think that there was a story behind it!
Blue birds and dogwoods.
This pretty wedding cake had white bird cutouts, gumpaste dogwoods, and chocolate piped branches.
Blue and chocolate.
This cake had light blue and chocolate brown tiers with the alternate color piped on them.
Bamboo and orchids wedding cake.
This tropical wedding cake had bamboo and orchids made from gumpaste, and a pretty white buttercream ruffle around the base of the tiers.
Vines and gumpaste flowers.
This cake had fondant vines and gumpaste flowers on buttercream.
Ombre colored ruffles.
This cake had ruffles and an ombre color scheme, with dahlias that reflected the ruffly shape of the tiers. The ruffles were made from a combination of fondant and white chocolate clay.
Daisy wedding cake.
This wedding cake had gumpaste daisies and painted sky and grass on it. I used liquid airbrush food coloring to do the painting.
Colorful piping wedding cake.
This wedding cake was for a couple who wanted a riot of color, with a bunch of different shapes and themes. If I remmeber correctly, the bride was a drummer, so she wanted some vintagey touches to reflect the shapes on the sides of drums. I made the details on the sides of the tiers based on that.
Pink and brown wedding cake.
This couple wanted their polka dot theme reflected in the cake design. It matched the color scheme and pattern perfectly, as you can see from the tablecloth!
Pastel flowers.
This wedding cake had a dusty pink color fondant with layered pastel flowers made from fondant.
Chocolate brown and pink.
This cake was a very pale pink with chocolate dots and borders. The flowers were made from pink gumpaste.
Colorful outdoor wedding cake.
This cake was fun to make because the colors were so unusual. It was for an outdoor wedding reception amd the couple wanted to put flowers and color on it.
Garden-themed tiers and stands.
This couple was having a garden-themed wedding and they were on a budget. I suggested that they use upside-down flowerpots for the cake stands, and they put everything together to decorate the stands for each individual cake. It was a lot less expensive than buying cake stands, and they could use the pots later!
Purple royal icing flowers.
I loved this one…The tiers were hexagons and the sizes were arranged in a weird way so that the bottom tier was smaller than the ones on top. The flowers were all individually piped petals on wires that were grouped together to create bunches.
Shades of blue topsy turvy cake.
This one was a lot of bright colors in shades of blue, green, and purple, and everything was made of fondant, including the borders.
Candy cake.
This one was something that I had to sneak into the wedding reception because the future mother-in-law hated the idea. The bride loved candy, it was her thing, but the MIL wanted a white cake. However, since the bride was the one getting married, she got to choose. I did it and waited to deliver it until the wedding had started so that everyone would be at the ceremony and wouldn’t be snooping around the reception hall to destroy it.
A pretty koi pond cake.
This pretty wedding cake had painted koi pond and water lily details on it, with gumpaste water lilies.
Garden wedding beehive cake.
This cake was set up for a backyard wedding reception, and had gumpaste flwoers, ladybugs, and a beehive topper with bees.
Black and white wedding cake.
This wedding cake had black and white stripes in alternating configurations, with orange gumpaste flowers.
Pink and green buttercream.
This one had pink and green ombre designs piped on the tiers, with some rubber duckies on top. I didn’t ask any questions about the duckies.
The robot cake.
This cake was one that I made for a bride who won it in a contest. The winner got a free wedding cake, but I got to design it and she didn’t see it until the wedding day. Luckily, she wanted a crazy cake even though her family all wanted her to have a white cake. The couple were both programmers and had met on twitter, so this one had all kinds of things that were personal to them on it. The robot was holding a white cake, so nobody could say that they didn’t have one!
Heart cake.
This cake had pink hearts all over it, and I made a gumpaste topper with the couple’s monogram on it.
A wedding cake for trail bikers.
This couple wanted a wedding cake that showed off their trail biking hobby and incorporated their two dogs. I made gumpaste dogs riding the bikes up a trail to the top of the cake.
Rubber ducky cake.
This wedding cake had rubber duckies sitting in a pool of water that dripped down the sides of the cake. I used blue piping gel to make the water, with gumpaste daisies and sunflowers on the tiers.
A door in the cake.
This cake had a door that opened and closed in the top tier with a little heart inside. The theme of the wedding was something related to the heart of the home, so this was a fun way to incorporate that into the wedding.
Coral and bubbles wedding cake.
This cake had cutout bubbles made from fondant on a buttercream surface, and royal icing coral on the tiers. You can see how I made the coral in this article: Royal icing coral DIY
Green and teal cake.
This cake was teal to match the color scheme of the wedding, and the couple wanted random shapes all over it. I put green and blue details then piped around them for the design.
Crab groom’s cake.
This wasn’t technically a wedding cake, but I thought it was worth including. The couple was from Maryland and loved blue crabs, so I did a giant one terrorizing them.