BY: MOLLY ILES-GUILLORY

There are some things you just cannot go without at a wedding, like bouquets, Champagne, wedding cake, but what about the grooms cake? A very southern tradition, many weddings will have a second cake, typically chocolate, for the groom. In recent years, the trend has been to design the grooms cake to represent the groom. But what if the groom is a cake hater?

1. BROWNIES

Some people will tell you they only come to weddings for the chocolate grooms cake. Here’s how you can make these picky eaters happy! Brownies are smaller and denser than your traditional chocolate cake, so they make for easy to eat desserts at a wedding. No fork needed!

2.PIE

Ditch the grooms cake and offer your favorite flavor pie instead! There are many ways you can beautifully and creatively display your favorite pie. Instead of having serval pies for the servers at your wedding to slice, consider having one to cut and offer mini pies for your guests to enjoy!

3. COOKIE CAKE

Let’s be honest, whenever any of us go to the mall, we all have to make a stop at Great American Cookie Company. Not only is cookie cake a delicious alternative for the traditional grooms cake, it can very easily be taken out of the venue and enjoyed later in the evening!

4. COOKIES

Does your husband-to-be’s grandmother make the best snickerdoodles ever? Enlist her help and serve cookies in place of the grooms cake. You can make them even more fun and have the shot glasses of milk passed around with the cookies!

5. CHEESECAKE

For many people, wedding cake can be too sweet. That makes cheesecake a great alternative! The possibilities are endless when to comes to cheesecake, so talk to the baker for your wedding cake to see what flavors they offer. They might even offer cheesecake bites!

6. MACARON TOWER

The macaron (pronounced mak-a-RON) is definitely having its moment in the sun right now. These beautiful meringue cookies photograph well and come in an endless array of colors and flavors. You can even get them to match the wedding colors, or to match the color of your grooms favorite sports team!

7. PRALINES

Pralines are a delicious sugary pecan confection that are a staple for weddings here in New Orleans. Serve these to your guests on trays, or have them bagged up and labeled as wedding favors. You could even have a candy maker from the New Orleans School of Cooking come and make pralines in front of your guests at the wedding!