Summer Cake

This is a cake we did last summer for a wedding in Brooklyn. The two tier cake is iced with yellow buttercream and decorated with fresh, orange gerbera daisies. The cake is rich chocolate with vanilla buttercream.

While fondant gives cakes a clean, polished canvas for decorating, buttercream is another great icing because it is so versatile. Like fondant, it can be colored to match your theme and it can be applied in a variety of ways. This cake is iced with a textured pattern, but you can also apply it to look smooth.

Buttercream cakes can be decorated with buttercream or fondant decorations. Buttercream's soft look and delicious taste are another advantage to forgoing fondant. Although choosing fondant doesn't mean you have to forfeit taste; fondant covered cakes are iced and filled with buttercream underneath.