Let Them Eat Great Cake

Beauty is not only in the eye of the beholder, it is also in the taste buds when it comes to wedding cake. Gone are the days when a bride was limited to white cake with white frosting or plain chocolate cake – if she was daring. Traditions are important and relied upon with most wedding planning. When it comes to the cake however, many traditions have come and gone. Actually, I would call them cake trends more than traditions. Today’s brides and grooms are a little more adventurous with splashes of themselves, colors, and flavors of cuisines and cakes alike.

With so many decisions and possibilities to be had, how do you choose your baker? Do you know any bakers? Start by making a list of your ideas, likes and most importantly, your dislikes when it comes to cakes. Believe me, you may have more opinions than you think. Give yourself a general list to start: Do you like round, square, oval, heart or more unique cake shapes? Do you like the look of pillars or stacked cakes? Do you like simple/elegant designs or heavier designs with flowers and swags? Do you like lots of color or a more subtle color scheme? Flowers – do you want fresh flowers or icing or sugar flowers or no flowers at all on the cake? Will you be using a topper? Do you have your heart set on a grand cake or a small cake with sheets on the side? How many people are you expecting? Will this wedding cake be outside or inside? Who is cutting it?

Once you have answered these questions to the best of your ability, start asking for referrals from others who may have recently gotten married or attended a wedding. What did they think of the cake and the service? You can also ask your caterer for a referral, your reception venue, your florist, or anyone else you have come into contact with in the wedding industry.

Is an appointment necessary or should you walk into the bakery? If all you want to know is if the bakery has your date open, you could just walk in to check. An appointment is required for most wedding cake bakeries. A consultation can take any where from 1-2 hours and both you and the baker need to make sure you have adequate time to give you the personal attention you need. Most bakeries also provide samples for you to taste, some will give samples of what they have from that weeks baking or some will structure a tasting just for you. Some bakeries charge for consultations and some do not, be sure to ask them what their policy is for this. The bakeries that charge usually deduct the consultation fee from the total of your cake if you order through them.

During your consultation is when you will get a good idea of all of the costs involved with the cake and a good feel for the baker that will be designing your cake. Make sure you ask the baker/designer about all that they offer including design limits, who will be baking and who will be decorating your cake, do they freeze their cakes, can you pick up the cake or do they deliver, can you have more than one cake flavor, do they offer alternatives to cake i.e. cookies, cheesecakes, deserts or favors? Keep a page open in your wedding workbook to jot down any more questions you may have so you can get them all answered while you have the baker’s attention. Bring to your consultation any photos or magazine pictures that you like. Even if you have six pictures and you only like one thing in each photo, this will give your baker a clearer understanding of what you are thinking of. You should also bring along anyone that is helping you make wedding decisions and will make the decision process easier for you. Remember also that your baker should be booked as soon as possible. I would recommend at least four months in advance. You do not need to have all of your cake decisions final at four months, but you should have the date held for you by then. Some bakers will be booked out as far as 9 months, so it is very important, especially if you know who you want to do your cake, to save the date as soon as possible.

This is going to be the big day for you and your spouse. Make sure that it is still fun for the two of you. The guests coming to your wedding already know and love the two of you, so try to remember to relax a little and do this so that the two of you will have fond memories of the day as well as your guests.

Submitted by: Compliments of Helen Distad, My Heart