Updated on April 9, 2024 by Liz Marek · This post may contain affiliate links ·

Wedding Cake Trends 2018: The Collaboration

Cake Trend: Modern Tropical

It's no secret that tropical weddings are HOT right now. Everything from using tropical leaves in the decor but also in colors and flavors.

Lisa Herrera of A Cake Come True makes gorgeous wedding cakes that capture the hearts of her clients. Creative and elegant in all her creations, Lisa tells us what inspired her to create this modern tropical themed wedding cake.

"Having lived in the tropics my entire childhood, I was most inspired by the clean lines of wicker furniture. I wanted to create a geometric design inspired by that. Having depth and dimension. I wanted the feeling of air flowing. I added some color with a slight ombre effect with a flamingo pink. I really wanted the complete tropical feel, so I added palm leaves and the cutest pink pineapples. Arranging them symmetrical brought everything together for this Modern Tropical Cake."

To incorporate tropical into your event, don't underestimate the power of greenery! Nothing says modern tropical like some banana palms or pineapple. Keep things classy by going with a neutral color palette then work in pops of green or bright oranges and corals.

Lisa Herrera with A Cake Come True is a luxury wedding cake designer based out of Denver Colorado. Specializing in custom designed creations. Known for her clean aesthetic and willingness to go outside the traditional cake box. Lisa has been featured on Food Network's Cake Wars Christmas, along with multiple national publications such as American Cake Decorating Magazine and Rocky Mountain Bride.

See more of Lisa's work:

Facebook: A Cake Come True

Website: https://www.acakecometrue.com/meet-the-artist

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/acakecometrue/

Want to learn how to make these awesome flexible, edible tropical leaves? Lisa put together this amazing tutorial!

Wafer Paper Palm Front Tutorial

White wafer paper
24-gauge floral wire
Small spray bottle filled with water
Veining tool or embosser
Floral tape
Scissors
Airbrush compressor
Leaf green airbrush food color
Avocado airbrush food color
Yellow airbrush food color

palm frond tutorial — We’ll start out by cutting about 2 inch wide strips of wafer paper. You’ll want them about 8 inches long which is about the length of the wafer. There is no need to measure or be exact. Tip: To save time, you can stack your wafer paper and cut to yield more strips.

With your spray bottle filled with water, spray the textured side of your wafer strip. Place a 24 gauge wire about ¾ of the way up. Now sandwich another strip of wafer paper with the smooth side facing up. Press firmly to make sure the two pieces are adhered together. Do this to all the leaves you need to make. I used 20 for one large palm frond.

Now take your veining tool and run lines up and down your wafer on both sides. I used my stitching tool switching the stitch for a smooth wheel. This gives the nice texture that palm fronds have.

Now that your leaves are textured, you can cut the leaves out. You can make a template if you like, but in nature, leaves are all different, so I freehand cut the leaves. Palm fronds are long and slender, so I cut starting with a tapered bottom and coming to a tapered point. Tip: If your wafer is still wet and having trouble cutting without tearing, just allow to dry for a few more minutes.

After your leaves are all cut out, we’ll want to paint them. Using an airbrush is the easiest and fastest way to color. I started with leaf green, added some avocado to add depth and a little yellow to add some highlights. Palm leaves have a shiny and waxy look, so this is where the smooth side helps to achieve that look.

Your palm leaves are ready to assemble. I like to lay the leaves out to see how I would like the arrangement to look before wrapping my wires. Once I have the plan, I start with 3 leaves and wrap the wires around each other. Taking one leaf at a time wrapping the wire around one another till I have the desired shape. Place your final leaf in the front to cover up any wires showing.

Cover your wires with floral tape. The stem of a palm frond will be thick, but as they are in nature. Make sure your wires are food safe before inserting into your cake.

Tip: You can leave your palm fronds as is or cut them to the size and shape you like. The wires are thin enough to cut through them as well. Your Palm fronds are ready for Modern Tropical cake!

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About Liz Marek

Liz Marek is a professional cake artist and recipe developer who has been teaching baking and cake decorating since 2008. She founded Artisan Cake Company in Portland, Oregon in 2009 and now runs Sugar Geek Show, where she publishes kitchen-tested recipes, food science explanations, and step-by-step tutorials.

Liz is best known for sculpted and hyperrealistic cakes. She won Netflix's Is It Cake? Holiday 2 in 2025 with a hyperrealistic Santa cake, and has competed on and won Food Network cake competitions. Cake Masters Magazine named her one of the top 10 cake artists in 2017. She is the author of Artisan Cake Company's Visual Guide to Cake Decorating and a graduate of the Oregon Culinary Institute.

Her focus is on explaining not just how a recipe works but why it works, so bakers can troubleshoot instead of guess. Every recipe on this site is tested before it's published.

Liz teaches full-length cake tutorials, including sculpted and hyperrealistic cakes, at Sugar Geek University.

Hi, I'm Liz! I'm a cake artist and recipe developer, and I won Netflix's Is It Cake? Holiday 2 with a hyperrealistic Santa. I write foolproof recipes that explain why things work, not just how.

I also teach full-length cake tutorials, including sculpted cakes, at Sugar Geek University.

More about me →

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