Much more than a mere confection, the wedding cake is the centerpiece of the reception. It is dessert, decor and ritual all rolled into one scrumptious package. Gone are the days when wedding cakes were only expected to look good. Today’s top wedding cake specialists use the finest ingredients and offer a vast array of cake and filling flavors, making it possible to personalize the taste of the cake as well as its appearance.

Susie Edwards of Susie’s Cakes & Confections says white almond is the current favorite flavor among her clients, but that “when it comes to the filling, anything goes.” In particular, she notes, “Dulce de leche is one of many popular flavors.”

Susie’s Cakes didn’t skip a beat after September’s Hurricane Ike, although, says Edwards, “We had no electricity for two weeks and had to use a noisy generator for lights.”

Whether one’s taste leans toward the traditional or the modern, the possibilities are endless. Tiers—stacked or pillared—may be round, square, scalloped, oval, heart-shaped, hexagonal, octagonal, asymmetric or a combination.

The cake may be iced with buttercream, fondant, marzipan or chocolate ganache and decorated with anything from flowers, real or not, to graphic motifs and custom-made marzipan figurines modeled after the bride and groom. Since this edible work of art will be taking center stage, it must match the style and theme of the wedding.

The traditional wedding cake, frosted with buttercream and decorated with fresh flowers, is still popular, but Houston pastry chef Jessie Lopez of Edible Designs by Jessie is getting a lot more requests for high-style designs in fondant. Strong colors, such as brown, turquoise, purple, orange and even black, are being used to carry out bold themes. “We are very much into whimsical, ‘wonderland’ cakes,” says Lopez.

Like many others in Houston, Lopez’s business was without power after Ike. All weddings she had booked were rescheduled. Cakes that had been ready for delivery were given away, and all ingredients had to be thrown away. She is adding gas equipment to her all-electric kitchen so as to not be totally incapacitated next time the power goes out.

Bobbie Taylor of Cake Creations, also displaced by the hurricane, had no cancellations. “There were four cakes to be done, and four cakes we did,” says Taylor, “in a borrowed kitchen that still had power.”

Cake selection, often the most enjoyable part of wedding planning, should be done four to 12 months in advance.

But where do you start? The best recommendations usually come from your venue, recently married friends and trusted wedding professionals. Start collecting pictures of cakes you like, and put off meeting with a cake company until you’ve settled on a few details.

With per-serving prices ranging from a couple of dollars to many times that, determining your budget is the first of those details. Certain cakes and fillings are more costly than others, but the greatest factor determining the price of the wedding cake is the decoration.

Buttercream usually is less expensive than fondant, and frosting flowers are the least expensive decoration. Sugar flowers and gum-paste flowers are much costlier, simply because creating them is so time-consuming.

Roslyn Allen of Sweet Delights Wedding Cakes gets far more requests for fondant than buttercream. “Brides like the matte finish,” she says, “and fondant gives a ‘magazine look’ every time.” She feels fondant has advantages in Houston’s climate. “It holds up better during transport, and it maintains the quality and moistness of the cake”—butter almond cake with raspberry filling is Allen’s signature flavor—“in hot and humid weather.”

For the bride who prefers the taste of buttercream but the look of fondant, Gina Yobbagy of Cakes by Gina ices the cake very smoothly with vanilla buttercream and adds fondant details. “This gives the bride the best of both worlds,” says Yobbagy, whose most popular flavor is amaretto with amaretto-raspberry filling.

The groom’s cake is a Southern tradition kept by most Houston couples. “Ninety percent of my contracts include a groom’s cake as well,” Yobbagy notes. She gets many requests for sports themes: “UT, Texas A&M, I do a lot of stadiums. One of our craziest groom’s cakes was the dog-shaped vehicle from the movie ‘Dumb and Dumber.’”

The day Ike knocked out power, Cakes by Gina gave away the cakes made for that weekend. The following weekend, it got out all 10 of its orders in a borrowed kitchen.

Don’t forget to include the cost of delivery and setup, as well as your venue’s cake-cutting fee, in the budget. Such a fee is typical, but not universal. “We don’t charge a cake-cutting fee,” says Julie Hailey, private events director for The Houston City Club. “We don’t like to nickel-and-dime our brides.”

Hailey sees the wedding cake growing in importance. “It has really turned into a statement of the couple’s personalities,” says Hailey. “We’re not seeing as many frilly cakes. They’re more sculptural, architectural.”

Cakes aren’t just getting more complex in structure, they’re also getting dolled up in jewels. Barbara Suarez of More Than Cakes frequently adorns her creations with crystals and gems. “Crystal monograms are especially popular right now, and are another way for brides to personalize their cake,” she says.

One of her weddings that had to be postponed due to the hurricane was put off only one day. “We had no electricity,” says Suarez, “but we managed to save the cake and deliver it.”

While many of Suarez’s brides are choosing nontraditional flavors such as mango or passion fruit mousse, “Eighty percent choose chocolate for the groom’s cake,” she says.

With her sister, a game warden, for inspiration, Nadine Moon of Who Made the Cake created a camouflage cake that has become her signature groom’s cake. Imagine buttercream camouflage with ducks, quails and even a deer stand. “The groom’s cake is usually chosen by the bride as a surprise for him,” says Nadine. And, like Suarez, she notes, “More often than not it is chocolate.”

Moon is incorporating faux tiers for brides who want a taller cake without pillars. “A faux divider embellished with a row of crystals is very popular. Brides are loving the bling.” She adds, “I’m doing a lot of crystals, and silver and gold for glitter and shimmer.”

When meeting with a cake designer, be prepared to discuss the time and place of your wedding, degree of formality, colors and style. Take along pictures of cakes you like, pictures of any design elements that represent your style or theme, and fabric swatches, if you have them, of dresses and linens.

Ask about ingredients, which should be commensurate with price. Shortening instead of butter, for example, is typical in less expensive cakes. But at a certain price point, you should expect higher quality ingredients, such as butter, cream and fresh eggs.

Look at photos of actual cakes done by the baker, not just pictures of what they say they can do. If there is a picture you like, make sure it represents the work done by the current decorator.

Also, make sure the baker has a licensed kitchen and is properly insured. If you’re having a summer wedding, ask if the delivery van is refrigerated. Above all, taste the different cakes and fillings.

What about homemade? Often brides have an amateur cake decorator in their circle of friends who will offer to make the wedding cake. In most cases, it is best to decline the offer. Unless the person has a good deal of experience with wedding cakes, which are unlike any other, the venture will be fraught with peril.

Most wedding consultants have horror stories about amateur wedding cakes: the cake without the proper texture for cutting into thin slices (so it fell into a pile of crumbs on the serving plates), the cake that was not assembled properly (so the tiers shifted during transport), the cake that needed to be refrigerated but wouldn’t fit into the refrigerator (so it was not even safe to eat).

If you are still considering having a homemade cake, check with your venue. Many allow only cakes from licensed bakers due to their liability insurance company’s requirements.

Whether your cake is homemade or bakery-made, the fresh flowers used to decorate it need not be edible, but they must be non-toxic and must be removed before serving. Organically grown flowers are the best choice. If using flowers that are not pesticide-free, the stems should be put in food-safe plastic holders rather than stuck directly into the cake.

After taking the time to design the perfect cake, don’t leave its display to chance. Ask your venue what size and shape tables are available. Choose the one that best complements the size and shape of your cake. If the venue’s linen choices are limited, consider renting specialty linens for the cake table.

“The tablecloth beneath a buttercream cake should not be pure white,” says Sylvia Weinstock, New York’s grande dame of cakes. “It should be ivory or a color that works with both the cake and the decor of the room.”

She recommends keeping the table simple and letting the cake stand on its own, and does not like to see the cake surrounded by the bridesmaids’ bouquets. “The table should be decorated in the simplest possible way. No flowers. The cake is the showpiece.”

If the cake or table is being decorated with fresh flowers, the florist and the cake supplier must communicate so that each understands what the other will be doing. Be sure the table, sturdy and level, is placed in a location that allows the cake to take center stage without being in the middle of the action.

Also, pay attention to the background. Other than the bridal couple, the cake will be the most photographed single aspect of the wedding.

It’s not unusual to be in a bit of a haze on the wedding day and to not even remember tasting your carefully chosen cake.

To ensure that your cake is as memorable for you and your groom as it is for your grateful guests, ask your caterer to put two slices in a box for you take away and enjoy later with your new spouse.