My favorite wedding cakes from 2011 are ones that I did not finish with fondant, gum paste flowers, or inedible “edible” decorations.  The big trend for our desserts in 2011 were varieties of passed desserts, in petit four or finger dessert size, along with cake bites cut from 2-tiered cakes.  The options of what you can layer a cake with – mousses, french buttercreams, curds – when not having to finish it with fondant to then sit out at room temperature for the duration of a wedding reception allows for a magnificent-tasting cake.  Because here’s the deal – the cake either looks spectacular or tastes spectacular – never truly both – for a number of reasons. That said, I think these cakes, while not looking spectacular like their fondant-covered friends, do look quite good.