Damask designs for wedding cakes create some of the most stunning and elegant desserts. This intricate pattern features woven designs and ornamental symbols created with fondant cutters or stencils.
Damask Cake Design Ideas
Damask wedding cakes are fitting for both traditional and modern parties. A small black wedding cake design adds to the natural beauty of a stark white cake, and the same design can be replicated onto every tier of the cake or simply placed on the top or sides of one part. To make the effect more unconventional, match the colors of the damask design to your wedding scheme or bouquet colors. The fantastic thing about damask is that even though the designs are intricate, they can transfer to so many things. You can use the patterns on your invitations, table displays, favors, or programs.
Frosting Designs
Damask is one of the more versatile cake decorations because it can be done with either buttercream or fondant frosting. Fondant cutters or stencils make it easy for decorators to get extremely professional looking designs with clean lines in almost any pattern.
While buttercream symbols are a bit harder to pull off, they're also manageable with the right tools. Usually, a decorator will apply a thin stencil to the sides of a cake and spread tinted buttercream over the stencil with a flat spatula to create a design. That method, while effective, can be risky. If the stencil moves or the frosting smears, the decorator may have to frost over that layer and do the whole thing again.
Another option is to have a decorator pipe on a damask wedding cake design by hand. If you do choose to go that route, it's wise to look at a portfolio of the decorator's previous work to judge the quality level, because damask designs are difficult and demanding to do by hand. You'll likely pay more for a custom, hand-drawn design, but you'll know that your cake will be one-of-a-kind if you do.
Although damask is a very traditional design, there's no reason not to put a modern twist on it. Consider the following ideas:
- Accentuate the damask patterns with fresh flowers
- Stick brightly colored candies on the cake at visually interesting points in the design
- Use a mixture of bright colors to make the patterns
- Add a whimsical topper to a traditional damask cake
- Apply damask designs to an irregularly shaped cake, such as a multi-tiered hexagon or pentagon dessert
- Make damask designs with stiff fruit paste or jam instead of frosting
Damask Stencils
Unless you have a very steady hand, significant experience with piping, and a reasonable amount of artistic skill, you might not be successful with piping out freehand designs. Thankfully, damask stencils can do most of the hard work for you. They can be costly, but you'll likely save plenty of money by making your own dessert, and the effect of the stencils is unparalleled. If you have a cake that's on the smaller side or you only want to use a couple of symbols, see if you can buy stencils a la carte from a cake decorating supply or specialty baking store instead of buying a full set.
A Wedding Cake to Remember
Making your own wedding cake can be thrilling, satisfying, and risky. If you're up for giving it a try, there's no way to make the finished product look more professional than to incorporate a damask pattern. Use creativity when making your own wedding cake so that the finished design turns out to be something you'll always remember.
