Food and fashion have often gone hand-in-hand, especially in cake decorating in regard to patterns and color. But where fashion can be cyclical – trends tend to reappear every 20 years or so – Coleman says she sees wedding cake trends and brides’ tastes continue to evolve. “They’re completely away from traditional,” Coleman says. “When I started out, it was pastels, scallops and drapes, but now you don’t see soft colors anymore. They’re going dark.”

Some of the most popular colors she’s seen of late include black and eggplant. Coleman tries to steer her clients away from having a cake that is predominately a dark color such as black or red, especially because most of her clients prefer buttercream. The amount of dye required to make a color that dark will alter the flavor of the icing, and flavor is the best part of buttercream. “I recommend that they accent the cake with a dark color instead,” she says. In fact, she had one bride request an all-black cake for her Halloween wedding; Coleman was able to convince her to have only one black tier.

Another way Coleman tackles the trend toward darker wedding colors is using chocolate, such as with the wedding cake featured here.