Elegant Cheese Cakes - Wedding Cakes and Other Fine Delectables Since 1988

Limoges Boxes with Hand-Sculpted Seashells

FROM FAIRY TALES TO SEASHELLS, WE FOUND CAKES THAT MAKE ANY WEDDING END HAPPILY EVER AFTER.

By Carin B. Charles
Photograph at left by William Dickey
Styling by Tally Attaway

No matter how you slice it, these wedding cakes have an indisputable seaside style. Coast to coast, creative bakers add seashells, create sand castle shapes, and even make edible sand to give wedding cakes a coastal theme.

Many who marry near the water share a bond with the sea that overflows into their ceremonies. "They want to personalize it," says Susan Morgan, owner and pastry chef of Elegant Cheese Cakes in Half Moon Bay, California. "It's only fitting to have a coastal cake to tie in with their theme."

Susan, who's been creating these masterpieces for more than 13 years, specializes in chocolate and cheesecake designs decorated with hand-sculpted, hand-painted Belgian chocolate. Starfish, scallops, sea urchins, sand dollars, and strings of pearls create a natural illusion of sea life on many of her cakes. "We look at the live shells and examine the shape and color of each one. We don't want to miss the little lines and ridges on them," she explains. Susan works the pliable chocolate into each shape as she tints them, capturing the shells' intrinsic tones.

Susan surrounds the cake with edible sand, which she mixes to match the sand tones of the wedding location. With a combination of superfine sugar and a little food coloring, she can mimic in minutes what has taken nature years to produce. "I've had a customer fly from Canada to make sure the sand was the right color. She helped me mix it until we were both satisfied," says Susan. "By matching the sand tone with the location, it makes it more fun and more natural."