I Can Hear the Bells!

The Wedding cake. It's as symbolic to a wedding as cracker jacks to a baseball game! A wedding just isn't a wedding without cake!

While I have heard of the occasional bride who decides to skip the traditional tiered cake, it's even more uncommon to veto the cake altogether. The sad thing is, that I can understand why they would choose to forgo cake. I have been to more than a few weddings that feature moderately attractive cakes, but are complete failures when it comes to flavor. With dry, tasteless cake, so-sweet-your-teeth-hurt filling and gritty buttercream that has the mouthfeel of sand, it's no wonder these poor women don't want to waste the carbs!

Cake can be a hard sell, especially if you purchase without tasting. I find, quite often, that clients come to me with a typical bakery in mind; the flash-frozen, spongy cakes with the shortening based "buttercream" that leaves that greasy feeling on your tongue, and covered in bland, chewy fondant. I have heard the same things time and time again; "I don't really like cake", "I hate fondant," or worst yet, "I like the grocery store bakery cake, does yours taste like that?" It's all I can do but roll my eyes at their email and think of how these poor souls have never tasted real buttercream. Like Swiss or French meringue; light and fluffy, mildly sweet and velvety smooth on your tongue. They are made with fresh eggs, pure butter, sugar and real vanilla. The sugar is cooked into the buttercream, eliminating the gritty, crunchy texture that is common in typical American buttercream.

So why should you pay for a cake that no one is going to eat? You shouldn't! If you want your guest's to eat the cake, you better make darn sure it's good cake! And how do you know you're getting good cake? Well the first, and most obvious way is by a tasting! (Besides, that's the best part of your wedding cake consultation!) At my tastings, I like my clients to choose a few different cake flavors as well as a few different fillings and buttercreams.

Be advised, however, that good cake comes with a price. Cheap cake means cheap ingredients, therefore you end up with a lower end, less palatable cake. If taste is no concern to you, that's fine, but if you want good taste, be prepared to pay. One of my husband's favorite quotes is, "Show me the value in something and I'll buy anything." Think of how much you would expect to spend of a good dessert at a fancy gourmet restaurant. Now add in the time for a custom design, labor spent baking and decorating the cake (usually days, sometimes even weeks are spent on a single custom order), the cost of quality ingredients, delivery and set up. Our cakes begin at $3.25 a serving, relatively cheap when compared to the $20 a serving charged by some of the top designers in the industry. I know of a company personally who won't take an order for less than $900.

Make sure you take the time to research the different bakers around you. Don't get your heart set on any one baker without tasting their cake. Almost every cake baker is more than willing to offer a tasting and personal consultation, usually complimentary! Make sure you taste their cake with and without fillings, so you know what pairs well. Don't go with any particular baker purely because they are in your budget. Most bakeries can, within reason, create beautiful cakes while working within a budget.

And most importantly, don't leave your guests with a bad taste in their mouths!