A lovely afternoon treat for you today as we discuss engagement and proposal cakes! But before I begin, just incase the date has passed you by, it is Valentine's Day tomorrow so if you haven't already, be sure to spoil your love one tomorrow.

Nothing says love like a delicious cake with pretty decorations. Today with the help of our Resident Cake Guest Blogger Cakes by Beth, she is going to look into how cakes can feature in not only your wedding, but also your engagement and even your proposal!

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In my opinion, no celebration is complete without a fabulous cake as a centrepiece, and engagement parties are no different. Couples can find it difficult to distinguish a cake to celebrate their engagement with the kind of cake that they would like for their wedding, and the two can be very similar, but here are some ideas for wow factor engagement cakes.

Firstly, the main difference between your engagement cake and your wedding cake could be the size that you choose. At a wedding, you may want to cater for every single guest, but for your engagement party, things are likely to be a little less formal. A two tier cake could serve approximately 45 guests and when placed on a pretty cake stand, will really stand out in a crowd.

Image: Mark Tattersall

Bold colours.

There is definitely a big movement towards the use of bold and bright colours in a big way for wedding cakes, but you might want to keep your wedding cake a little bit more traditional. Therefore, if you love bold colours, why not have a bright cake at your engagement party? Red is the colour of love and by using it all over your cake, the design is kept simple yet striking.

Image: Neil Redfern

Personalisation.

I always try to use unique and personal elements in my wedding cake designs but often couples want to bring in elements from their wedding theme and colour scheme, the flowers, the bride's gown, so really personal elements may not fit in with the overall look that they want to achieve. However, your engagement party may not be constrained by these different elements and so the cake could really say something about you as a couple. How about celebrating where you met, your heritage or a favourite holiday?

Flowers by: Laurel Weddings

Cupcakes and treats.

Instead of a formal cake, why not have a pretty display of desserts that guests can help themselves to? This works really well if you are having a buffet as it will be a centrepiece for the food but without a cake cutting moment. This cupcake tower also features cake pops in individual bags for guests to take home with them.

Something a little different for fun.

You might both like a film or a sport, or have different hobbies that are a big part of your lives together so this can be a great subject for your cake. It's all about having fun and celebrating your love so your engagement cake doesn't have to be serious.

Finally, how about bringing cake into the proposal itself?

In this situation, it is likely to be just the two of you so you don't want anything too big. When I think of proposals, Paris immediately springs to mind, and when I think of Paris, I think macarons. Here, I have decorated a perfect sharing-sized cake with macarons...and a very special one in the centre. Your other half may think that they are just red macarons, but when they lift the top one up, they will see that it is actually an edible jewellery box. With such a sweet surprise, they will be sure to say yes!

Don't forget if you have a cake related query for your wedding in France or culinary conundrum for your wedding dessert, send in an email to [email protected] with "Cake Question" in the subject line and you might appear on the blog.

To view more of Beth's stunning cake designs visit www.cakesbybeth.co.uk which are available for weddings across UK and France.