Piece ‘a Cake

Mark Williams·November 29, 2011·0 comments
weddingplanning

Perhaps coordinating your cake tasting right after your reception tasting could be considered a tad gluttonous, but Fiance and I had our reasons:

1. Our venue is about an hour and half from where we live. We wanted to be as efficient as possible with our time out in that direction, and the savings in gas fit right into our eco-friendly theme.
2. Given that our wedding date falls in the very popular month of June, we wanted to be sure our first choice was available.
3. Fiance and I subscribe to the notion that there really is never a bad time to eat cake.  This adds to my struggle of trying to lose 22 pounds.

The prospective baker we were meeting with was someone we had found at the Bridal Show; while there were lots of little tasty treats on display from a variety of local bakers for us to sample from, the cupcakes from Colleen’s bakery were quite delectable and caught our attention. As an added bonus, their pricing was the lowest at the show, but yet their displays rivaled that of what you might see on Cake Boss or Ace of Cakes.   Colleen also crafts each delicious masterpiece with a decadent four layers, trumping the traditional cakes displaying a paltry two or three layers. We signed up for a “consultation” before leaving the show, requesting to try their Red Velvet with Buttercream frosting and Chocolate with Peanut Butter and Chocolate Ganache when we were back in town the week later.

We showed up for our consultation totally unprepared, however; not only were our appetites diminished, but also we hadn’t really given much thought to what we wanted our wedding cake to be other than delicious. Fiance gravitated towards cakes shaped like Mini Coopers and our college mascot – I explained I was looking for something a bit more classic. Fiance and I were clueless as to the latest in wedding cake trends, so we leafed through brochures, photographs, and magazines Colleen had on display to help us out. We found lots of beautiful options, but struggled to find something that reflected our personalities.

There was one cake she had on display that I thought had promise, with a leaf and vine pattern that reminded me of the environmental theme we were going for. Colleen, who was a draft technician in her prior life, began sketching it with some embellishments in our wedding colors of burgundy, black, and silver. It was Fiance who suggested the final touch: using hops to decorate and add to the leaf pattern, which would pull in our brewery theme. He’s been known to have a few moments of genius.

With the only thing left to do was to negotiate pricing, I learned two things:

1. Cakes are paid for by the slice
2. All of those pretty ribbons, flowers, and such cost extra

I blanched as I realized we’d be going over budget in this category, and we’ve been so diligent thus far in keeping our spending in check. I mentally ran through a few different scenarios, determined the savings in the entertainment area would cover the overage on the cake, and put down our deposit.

What can I say, it was really tasty red velvet cake…

What trends have you noticed in wedding cakes? Will you be getting a traditional cake, cupcakes, or something totally different? Leave a comment and share your cake ideas and resources!

Mark Williams

Related posts