The UK’s top 10 favourite wedding cakes – and 20 of our best ever cakes in pictures!

Published by Claire Gould on October 27, 2021

I’ve spent FAR too long today scrolling through all these photos of yummy wedding cakes. It’s been amazing… and I NEED cake right now! It all began when I found this email in my inbox – professional kitchen suppliers Maxima Kitchen Equipment sent their report of the ‘official’ top 10 wedding cakes. I looked, and I spotted a few I think were missing from the list (perhaps mine are top 20!?). Surely people are out there looking for #alternativeweddingcake ideas?

The folks at Maxima put the hard work in and analysed the average number of Google searches per month, number of Instagram hashtags, and percentage change for online discussions for popular wedding cake styles and designs.

Photographer: Oxi Photography Cake: Cake Box // Full feature here

I wanted to add in some real life examples, so I’ve had a (delightful) little amble through our archives on the blog for the year, and found some stunning real wedding cake photos to show you too!

The research says rustic wedding cakes top the list with 43,700 Instagram hashtags and an average of 16,000 Google searches per month. I guess ‘rustic’ is a very subjective word – it covers everything from cakes on log slices to those amazing floral buttercream cakes we keep sharing on our Pinterest, through to any wedding cake which will suit a barn setting (which is, by the way, most wedding cakes.)

There’s also the fact that making your own wedding cake could be easier if you aim for something ‘rustic-looking’ – and hey, we agree! (Although as you’ll see from the photos of real wedding cakes we’ve shared here, some of the rustic ones are masterpieces… )

Photo credit: Hannah Beatrice // Charlie & Boo’s homemade wedding cake

Photo credit: Hannah Beatrice // Charlie & Boo’s homemade wedding cake

The most popular (searched) wedding cake styles on Google are:

rustic wedding cake
3 tier wedding cake
naked wedding cake
simple wedding cake
elegant wedding cake
2 tier wedding cake
buttercream wedding cake
sunflower wedding cake
traditional wedding cake
small wedding cake

credit: John Hope Photography Cake by: The Barn Bakery for Phil & Alicia’s wedding

The most popular (hashtagged) wedding cake styles on instagram are:

rustic wedding cake
buttercream wedding cake
naked wedding cake
traditional wedding cake
simple wedding cake
3 tier wedding cake
elegant wedding cake
2 tier wedding cake
small wedding cake
sunflower wedding cake

A spokesperson for Maxima said, “It is exciting to see that there are so many options for wedding cakes, allowing couples to express themselves on a very special occasion. Additionally, it is interesting that despite constantly emerging trends there is still a large demand for traditional style wedding cakes.”

Photo credit: Artisan X Photography Cake from M&S with topper from Dream Cakes and Toppers

The wedding cakes we think they’ve missed(!) are:

rainbow wedding cakes
dried flower wedding cakes
boho wedding cakes
alternative wedding cakes
colourful wedding cakes
vegan wedding cakes
minimal wedding cakes

Have a scroll through our gallery of lovely wedding cakes below if you’re looking for a wedding cake with wow factor, something to delight your guests, with a boho or natural style, or a splash of colour or alternative flavour!