Showstopping vegan wedding cakes

Now you can have your cake and eat it! Suffolk-based Trudy Copeland has set up her own business producing vegan wedding cakes that not only look amazing, but taste great too.

After a successful career in sales, she set out to follow her dreams, gained a qualification in cake decorating and launched The Iced Vegan.

"I didn't want to hide behind a generic name and the response I received was amazing," she reports. "Customers couldn't believe my cakes were made without eggs or dairy products."

Her aim is to dispel the myth of dense oaty cakes sometimes associated with vegan baking and create light and fluffy, flavoursome delights for all to enjoy.

After great success and several bookings from her first wedding fair this year, the business has continued to go from strength to strength.

"Guests can sometimes feel like an after thought or excluded if they have specific dietary requirements and food intolerances, but it's totally possible to cater for them all in one delicious cake. I've made hand-painted designs, semi-naked, themed cakes incorporating the couple's hobbies and favourite things, four and five-tier cakes and pretty floral designs. Just because it's vegan doesn't mean that you need to compromise on design, taste or texture," explains Trudy.

She's constantly evolving the business to be as eco-friendly as possible by reducing plastic use and is looking to replace all packaging with recycled options.

"I use quality ingredients, local and organic where possible, and have just recently found a printer that uses vegetable-based inks," she adds.