Picking up my holiday yule log cake, I’ve been thinking about cake toppers.
The bakery sold the yule log cake with or without the Santa topper but, of course, I want the Santa scene across my cake.
Yule Cake Topper
The elaborate cake topper on my yule log cake consists of a plastic Santa in his sled, reindeer, mini wrapped gifts, red holly berries and even a holiday tree.
This cake topper set usually adds a little bit more to the price but I felt it was worth it.
I love the whole Santa scene including the Merry Christmas wording.
I try to save my cake toppers thinking at some point, I’ll reuse them but that usually doesn’t happen.
Field Hockey Cake Topper
The below cake topper is for a birthday party but, interestingly, there is no field hockey ball or puck. A small ball is too easy for a young child to accidently swallow.
These plastic field hockey figures look nice on a large flat birthday cake. The set comes with two white plastic nets.
Vintage Cake Toppers
I also own a few vintage cake toppers.
The first one is a delightful circus train and it’s perfect for a young child’s birthday party.
This vintage item is from the 1970’s and is made of hard plastic. Each train holds one birthday candle but be sure the candles don’t burn too low or it will burn the plastic train. The circus train is approximately 10.5-inches in length and made of orange pink, yellow, green, white and blue plastic. With the original box, the prices online for this item runs from $15 to $25.
If you look closely you will see a lion, bear, tiger and ape in the animal cars.
I wasn’t able to find much about the next item. It is a birthday candle holder in the shape of a fish or perhaps a shark. I’m calling it vintage but I wasn’t able to find a date on it.
The fish has a little bit of wax in the candle holder. Unfortunately, I had this item on my kitchen window and it fell. The tip broke off from the end of the tail.
It is made of light blue porcelain and has two black spots representing the eyes.
Circus Animal Cake Topper
The next item is a circus animal cake topper or decoration for a party sold in a set of four by Wilton Kitchen. It is a retired pattern from 1998 and is hand painted.
The circus animal set consists of a seal with a ball on his nose, a lion on a ball, a bear, and an elephant.
This set was an “inspiration piece” for an elementary school’s fair. The room moms made a few of the figures out of large cardboard sheets which were painted and used to decorate the school’s hallways.
Online in the original packaging this set sells for about $17 to $25.
Wedding Cake Toppers
When talking of cake toppers don’t forget to look at wedding cakes. Traditionally, the top layer of the wedding cake was frozen and eaten on the couple’s one year wedding anniversary.
In the 1930’s bakers began making wedding cakes and had cake toppers made of porcelain, wood or Bakelite.
In the 1940’s cake bakers, due to war time shortages, made very simple one or two layer cakes. Sometimes the cake topper had a man in a service uniform. But after the WWII, swans and baskets cake toppers were popular and passed down. Often mothers would gift their wedding cake toppers to their daughters.
In the 1950’s, plastic brides and grooms became the wedding cake toppers in vogue. By the 1960’s and 1970’s, wedding cakes began to get taller. Often the cakes were white decorated with silver or plastic bells, ribbons and pillars.
In the 1990’s colorful edible flowers decorated wedding cakes. Also, cake toppers could represent the interests of the couple or their occupations.
Today’s wedding cakes might not be cakes at all. Depending on the likes of the couple, the wedding might serve cup cakes, cheese cakes, pies or even pancake cakes.
The last cake topper is from a wedding cake and it looks just like the couple.
Resources Sites: Fruitlands Museum Blog, Florida Keys Weddings, and delish.