Wedding cake recipes

For a festive wedding cake that follows a fall theme, food columnist Susan McClanahan searched around and found these great offbeat tips and recipes.

Spiced Cake Recipe

* 1 cup butter, softened

* 1 cup sugar

* 3 eggs

* 1 cup molasses

* 2 cups all-purpose flour

* 1/2 teaspoon salt

* 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

* 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

* 1 cup boiling water

* 2 teaspoons baking soda

* sifted confectioners' sugar

In a mixing bowl, cream butter with sugar, beating with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Next, add eggs, one at a time, beating well. Blend in the molasses. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, gloves, ginger, and cinnamon. Slowly add flour and spice mixture to creamed mixture, beating at low speed. Combine water with baking soda, and add this to the cake batter. Pour batter in a greased and floured baking pan or pans, and bake at 350° for 45 minutes, or until done. Cool in pan and cut into serving-size squares. If desired, sprinkle with sifted confectioners' sugar, or frost with desired icing.

Chocolate Spiced Cake Recipe

* 1-1/2 cups butter

* 3 cups white sugar

* 6 eggs

* 1-1/2 cups sour milk

* 3 pinches ground cloves

* 3 cups all-purpose flour

* 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

* 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

* 3 (1 ounce) squares semisweet chocolate

In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter or margarine and sugar. Next, add the eggs, beating well after each addition. In another bowl, sift together the flour and spices. Blend these dry ingredients into the butter/sugar mixture. Dissolve the soda in the sour milk, and add to the rest of the batter. Grate the chocolate, and add to the batter. Pour batter into a greased and floured cake pans, and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until done.

If you don't want all-out autumn colors, a white or off-white cake with fall accents will keep within the theme. Good choices are:

* Marigold

* Red

* Brown

* Bronze

* Yellow

* Burnt orange

* Deep pink

The colors can be reflected not only in the icing design, but in floral accents. Use fall wedding flowers like amaryllis or sunflowers in the design or as a cake topper. Fall wedding cake leaves of maple or oak can be created in fondant and scattered across a frosting base.

Because fall is harvesting time, use the regional crop in your theme. Use wheat grass as part of your cake topper or tucked into ribbons outlining the base of your cake. Marzipan or sugar apples, a plentiful fruit in the fall, could be the main feature of a fruit cascade descending a tiered wedding cake.