Simple Wedding Cake Ideas For Your Minimalistic Wedding (2024)

You’ve probably seen any number of outlandish or ostentatious wedding cake designs on your journey through the rabbit hole of internet wedding searches.

While these elaborate designs often create beautiful wedding cakes, they’re not everyone’s cup of tea. And that is completely okay!

Maybe you’re more about the flavor than the presentation. Perhaps your wedding is informal and intimate and a simple cake is more fitting. Maybe, bottom line, you’re just not an over-the-top couple!

Well, we’re here to tell you that your wedding cake does not need to be a show-stopping and intricate masterpiece to make a statement. You can keep your wedding cake design simple and still make a big impact we’ll show you how!

Add Texture

Just because a wedding cake has simple decorations, that does not mean it has to be boring! One of the easiest yet most effective ways to add visual interest to a wedding cake is to create texture using frosting.

There is a multitude of ways to frost a cake that can create all kinds of textures, especially in a cake with buttercream icing. The subtle detail of textured frosting is essentially elegant and subtle.

Undress a Little

Try serving a semi-naked cake at your wedding! (Not be to be confused with the fully naked cake we discuss next).

These cakes are called semi-naked because their sides are sparsely frosted.Sometimes, the top of a semi-naked cake is the only thing that is frosted! Either way, these cakes do not have a ton of added sugar by way of frosting.

Semi-naked cakes are a great way to add a touch of sweetness to your wedding dessert without overwhelming yourself or your guests. It’s also a way to add visual texture to a wedding cake.

Bare It All

If you’re not a frosting fan, you can even forgo it altogether and opt for a naked wedding cake.

Naked cakes are literally naked, meaning they lack outer frosting or icing. They make an excellent choice for a destination wedding in a warm location since they don’t have frosting that can slide off and make a sticky mess.

An icing-free cake can be an excellent choice when the cake itself is an interesting or lovely color. Why cover your confetti or red velvet cake with icing when it’s so pretty itself? Forgo the classic wedding cake and do what you truly want!

Choose a Print

Adding a print to the design of your wedding cake is one of the easiest ways to add an element of visual interest to its design.

Adding a pattern to a wedding cake is ideal when the cake is iced using fondant, which has a smoother finish than other types of icing or frosting. The smoothness of fondant means it creates a perfect blank canvas for any print or other design you may want to layer on top.

Be Colorful

An excellent way to have a simple cake pack a heck of a punch is to frost it in a bold, bright color!

No one will notice its simpler design if the outside of the cake is bright red or cotton-candy pink! You can even continue the color inside.

A red-frosted cake could be red velvet cake inside, or a yellow-frosted cake could have lemon cake inside.

Go Classic with Black and White

Black and white is a classic and timeless combination, and adding it to a wedding cake adds a sprinkling of elegance.

Black and white patterns can be modern, Art Deco, Gothic, or any other style you’d like. A cake with stripes makes for a clean-cut cake.

Adding small touches of black can also add depth to an otherwise simple cake design.

Add a Pattern

Deciding to include a pattern in the icing on the cake is a great way to add visual interest. You don’t need an intricate pattern on your cake, either; for example, stripes or dots make a significant impact without being overwhelming.

We recommend patterns on cakes iced with fondant, as we mentioned previously fondant creates a blank canvas needed.

Shape It Up

There’s no reason to stick to the traditional round cake!

Why not opt for square tiers, or a heart shape, or a star, or any shape you can think up. It’s your wedding, and hopefully, you only get one. You should have exactly what you want at such an important life event!

Accent with Metallics

Adding metallics is a perfect way to add glamour to your wedding cake.

A white cake is quickly elevated when even the tiniest bit of metallic accents are added to it. You can choose the traditional metallics, like gold or silver, or the more on-trend rose-gold and bronze.

With metallics, a little goes a long way! However, if your cake design is simple overall, then go all in and create a wedding cake that is the epitome of glam. Who knew you could eat gold?

Top It Off

A cake topper can literally and figuratively elevate a wedding cake.

If you can think up a wedding cake topper, it’s most likely on the market for you to purchase.

There are dog cake toppers, 3D initial toppers, cake toppers with quotes, and custom cake topper figurines that can be made to look like you and your new spouse!

Cake toppers for literally any style or theme are out there. Etsy is a great place to find them, and you’ll support a small business, too!

Add a Personal Touch

Another option for making a wedding cake your own is adding your personality in the form of personalization!

Now, cake personalization can mean any number of things. Think about having a photo of the two of you on there, or maybe a custom wedding topper? Even something so simple, like your names, written in icing keeps it understated but personal.

Sprinkle the Love

There’s a reason sprinkles are used on holiday cookies and kids’ birthday cakes – they’re a lot of fun!

If a wedding reception is anything, it’s a party celebrating the union of two individuals and their families. Let your cake reflect that joy!

Perfect for the couple that love sparkles and fun, sprinkles come in all colors, shapes, and sizes. There are sprinkles that look like pearls, sprinkles that look like sequins, and sprinkles in any shape you can imagine. Pick the perfect sprinkle design for you and go ham!

Berry Sweet

Add the simple and natural beauty of nature to your wedding cake by adding fresh berries.

Berries add an organic richness to anything they’re placed in, and conveniently, they come in many different colors.

Fresh berries are always a good choice for a summer wedding, as you’ll have your pick of berries in season.

Blackberries bloom in the autumn, so that’s fall weddings covered!

Even winter weddings would benefit from the deep rich color of the cranberry against an all-white wedding cake.

Of course, other fruits can be used as well. The inside of a kiwi fruit is gorgeous lime green, while citrus fruits range from green to yellow to orange to red.

Stick to a Theme

If your wedding has a theme, like the Roaring ’20s, a fairytale, or a particular piece of media you and your significant other love, then keep your cake within the concept to help simplify an otherwise more complex cake design.

The flavor of your cake can also reflect your theme. For example, for a Great Gatsby-themed wedding, try a cake with champagne vanilla frosting, or a decadent chocolate wedding cake.

Stack it Up

If you’re having a big wedding with a lot of guests, serving a tiered cake is an excellent way to ensure you provide enough dessert for everyone while taking up minimal horizontal space.

This is an especially great solution for reception spaces that are low on an extra room.

Of course, you’ve seen two- or three-tiered cakes, but what about a four-tiered cake, or even five-tiers?

Keeping the cake decorations simple means that opting for a cake with height will make even more of an impact!

Get Glassy

A cake with a glossy, glassy finish is also known as a glass cake.

A glass cake is both an elegant and an unexpected choice in cake design and makes a nice choice for a winter wedding.

All-white wedding cakes look particularly effective because they can be made to look icy!

Choose an Unexpected Flavor

We’ve all seen layers of vanilla cake stacked atop one another and perhaps been a little disappointed that it’s not another flavor. The cake is cake, but the flavor matters more than design, especially to guests with a sweet tooth.

Why not try red velvet, peanut butter, raspberry, almond, or decadent chocolate cake? Imagine how surprised and delighted your guests will be to see a slice of cake that’s a unique flavor on their dessert plate.

And don’t forget the cake filling! We recommend that you choose a filling flavor that compliments the cake flavor. You could try a lemon custard filling, fresh fruit filling, or a cake with mascarpone filling for example.

If you order a tiered wedding cake, you can also request different cake flavors for each tier!

Picture it: almond cake on the bottom, raspberry cake in the middle, and walnut cake on the top. Having multiple cake flavors will keep your guests guessing but doesn’t compromise your simple cake design.

Serve Multiples

Another simple wedding cake idea is to serve multiple cakes.

Arrange a few regular-sized cakes apart from each other, or opt for platters of cupcakes on your dessert table.

You could arrange the cupcakes into a shape, like your initials, the date, or wedding rings; anything your heart desires.

You can also serve multiple regular-sized cakes and display them at different heights, sort of like a deconstructed tiered cake.

Note that serving multiple cakes is an ideal option for couples with loved ones who have allergies. Simply separate the cakes with known allergens from the cakes without them!