Wedding cakes can be pretty yawn-worthy, which accounts for the popularity of odder options like doughnut “cakes” and cuter options like cupcakes laid out on tiers. Wedding pie? It’s been done. Hostess cake? Check. Rice Krispies treats standing in for cake? I know a gluten-free couple that went that route. There is funny wedding cake, expensive wedding cake, and plain ol’ white wedding cake. If you’re looking through wedding rags and baker’s web sites in the hopes of finding that perfect confection, it can get kind of monotonous.
Well, honey, I’ve got your boredom cure right here. Enter croquembouche! The name is a combination of the French words ‘Croque en bouche’ meaning ‘crunch in the mouth.’ And this fanciful French wedding pièce montée does indeed live up to its namesake, thanks to the generous drizzle of lovely caramel that coats the outside of the structure. Inside the web of sugary goodness lies a protected pile of puff choux pastry filled with a vanilla creme patissiere. What’s not to love?
And, if you were wondering, the towering croquembouche above were created by Fancy That, a wonderful bakery in Oxfordshire in the UK.
I know a girl who had a pyramid of Ben and Jerry’s pints for her wedding cake – everyone got their own! Kinda cute.
We had fruit tarts. Yum. And some were sugar-free for my diabetic beloved.
Croquembouche, however, always look wonderful to me. Now if only someone having one would invite me to her wedding….
Croquembouche can be quite yummy, especially if they use cream puffs (I’ve heard of people *not* putting the cream in, which is such a wasted opportunity.)
We had three cakes: a three-tiered cheesecake, a tower with chocolate, yellow, and carrot cupcakes, and a groom’s cake that was chocolate with whipped cream and fresh strawberries. The cheesecake was beautiful, made with love by my mom. It was from a recipe in Martha Stewart’s old “Weddings” book–my mom made it first for my sister’s wedding in 1989, and I’ve always wanted one too. Since a wedding cake was included with the reception package, I had them make the cupcakes instead. They were yummy and very pretty, with pastel icing, sugar flowers and sparkling sugar. Our guests were extremely happy to get cheesecake for dessert, and those who don’t like cheesecake were pretty happy too–there were the cupcakes, and also cookies and pastries on the tables. The kids really enjoyed dessert. 😉 Probably the most sugar they’d had since Easter or Halloween.
As my groom to be is enamoured with Croquembouches, and I am a mudcake addict, we’ve decided to combine the two, to have a mudcake base holding a Croquembouche. That way, we’ll demolish the croquembouche during the reception, but still have cake to take home, and serve up the next day at our family barbeque / gift opening.
I’m unsure how to get a bride and groom figurine up the top without completely ruining the overall effect :/