One of the best parts of planning a wedding is deciding on a stunning and delicious wedding cake and we're crushing on one of the top cake trends at the moment are floral cakes.

White cake with flowers

Mixing flowers and cakes is not new to the wedding world and it's a trend that crops up as often as lace does in bridal designer collections. However, just like bridal trends, floral cakes come in many different varieties and guises, from using real flowers to give a rustic feel, to hand-painted floral cakes for a delicate vintage feel.

While sugar and iced flowers still often feature on wedding cakes, they're being replaced in a big way in favour of using natural, real flowers to decorate a simple, smooth cake. Whether you're adding them to the top of the cake or having flowers spiral down from the top to the bottom of the cake, using real flowers to decorate your cake is not only beautiful and on trend, but it's also cost-effective. Using real flowers takes away the extra expense of ornate icing and detailed sugar flowers.

Alternatively, if you're not looking for cost-effective methods and you don't want to cover your delectable cake with flowers, there is another option for floral cakes. Hand-painted cakes have become more popular in the last year and they're the perfect way to add flowers to your cake without, well, actually adding flowers. Hand-painted cakes maintain a smooth, rich texture for your icing and keep the shape fairly simple, yet the design on the cake itself is anything but. You wedding cake will look like a work of art with floral designs hand-painted on it.

Pink painted cake

For more of the latest wedding cake trends, check out the autumn issue of S&P Weddings, on sale now! To find out what else is in our latest issue, click here.

Image credits (in order of slider):  The Cake Blog | Pinterest | Belle in the City | Pinterest | Project Wedding | Rachel Muller Photography via Hello May | Pinterest | Katie Parra Photography via Trendy Bride | Alixann Loosle Photography via Intimate Weddings