Huyen Tranberg sat at the small table, plastic fork poised over the tableaux of thinly sliced cake layers. Her sister, Stephanie Waite, and niece, Amanda Waite, quietly nibbled away. This was the moment of decision for Tranberg’s July wedding reception. Not the raspberry filling; allergies were an issue. Nor the carrot cake; too sweet for their taste. But the chocolate … now that was a winner.

“We’re looking for something simple but nice,” explained Stephanie Waite as they pointed out their choice on a display wall: an elegant three-tiered square cake with a smooth frosting finish.

David Mess knows the scenario. Since 1989, when he opened Buttercream Collection in St. Paul, Minn., he’s offered advice to nervous brides, excited mothers and the occasional (“What’s wrong with plain white cake?”) grandmother. These days, husbands-to-be are likely to be among the taste testers.

Twenty years ago, a wedding cake was a wedding cake … was a wedding cake. If you tasted one, you didn’t need to taste another. (Which was exactly the point those grandmothers were making.) Unfortunately, you probably didn’t want to taste one.

That’s all changed. Fashion and flavor have hit the wedding cake circuit. (Type in “wedding cake and trends” in Google and you’ll get more than 1.5 million citations. Grandma would be shocked at such foolishness over a cake.)

Buttercream makes the case that the cake comes in second only to the dress as the most important wedding decision for the bride. Purists may think there are a few other important decisions going on, but Mess has a point, especially given that, at the height of the wedding season, he has several thousand servings around town on a Saturday night.

From dresses to bouquets, favors and menus, brides are looking for something unique, something that says “This is my special wedding, not yours.” Each year, Mess looks to the works of fashion designers such as Vera Wang, Reem Acra and others to inspire their 20 new cake designs that augment its collection of more traditional cakes.

So how do you choose the cake? Consider the location and style of the wedding. “Brides initially come here with some idea of a theme for their wedding: princess, outdoors, contemporary setting, cutting edge,” Mess said. “We go with whatever cake fits in.”

He recommends choosing the dress before the cake is chosen. “The bride will be standing next to the cake, so you don’t want a dress with the same pattern,” he said.

Consider how it would look in photographs. You don’t want there to be confusion about where the cake ends and the bride begins, he said with a chuckle. Ditto for height. Two tiers or five? A tall cake and a short bride won’t look good in photographs.

Wedding cake trends

Recent cake trends include:

• Clean lines, subtle elegance.

• Use of fabric ribbon draped over tiers or in bows; the overall effect is for the cake to look like a gift box or hatbox.

• No more Roman pillars between layers. Fresh flowers take the place or cake layers are atop each other.

• Fresh seasonal fruit.

• Floral decorations formed from gum paste; though edible, they are used for appearance.

• Groom’s cakes, which are small cakes, often decorated with a theme related to the husband-to-be, served at the rehearsal dinner or with the wedding cake.

• White chocolate shaped into seashell forms to decorate cakes for those who have had destination weddings in warm climates.

• Snowflakes made of white chocolate for winter holiday weddings.

• Different flavors for different tiers of the cake (though chocolate needs to be at the base, because it’s heavy).

• No more plastic bride and groom as a topper. Today it’s fresh flowers, an ornament, monogram or bow.

• Shapes other than round tiers for the cake; square is popular, as is the hexagon.

• Texture inspired by beadwork or lace on the wedding dress.

• Multiple tiers with different designs. Among those seen are Swiss dots, single rose petals and curving scrollwork.

• As for saving the top layer for the first anniversary, David Mess of Buttercream has one recommendation: “Don’t.” It won’t freeze well, he says. For a small fee, he makes a new cake layer for anniversaries.

Did you know?

Cakes are not preassembled. The tiers are shipped on separate floating beds “because there’s potholes, road rage and construction along the way,” says Mess. They are assembled at the site. Cakes on display at outdoor weddings may be fake. The real cake would be stored and cut inside. Cakes top out at five tiers. If it’s a really large crowd, additional cake is made in a traditional sheet form and cut out-of-sight. The guests don’t know the difference.