Elements of a Cake Tasting, III

Welcome to the third and final post in my mini-series on cake tasting.  When January rolls around, bridal shows start popping up, and bakers have cake tasting on the brain.  Hopefully, you're taking advantage of this slow season in the biz and booking cake tastings for you and your hunk of groomliness. 

We've talked about trusting your baker.  We've talked about being prepared.  Now, let's talk about the not-so-fun part: the budget.

If you want a cake like this:

Yes, that is William and Kate's wedding cake.  Drool.
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You should be expecting a price tag fit for this:

Yes, that is the Queen. 
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But let's be honest, are you inviting Eugenie and Bea to your wedding along with their nine million club-hopping gal pals?  Probably not.

The first key to setting your budget is buying your dad a nice big steak, batting your eyes at him and reminding him that you'll always be his little princess.  Aha...

Actually, the first thing you have to do is finalize your guest list.  Once you know how many people you're inviting, you'll know how many servings you'll need and whether you can go for crazy, high-end flavors and decorations or need to stick to a delicious but more basic choice.

I also recommend getting a little more cake than you think you'll need.  So, for a wedding with 50 guests, I suggest a cake with 70 servings.  This gives you enough wiggle room for sweet-toothed guests to venture back for a second slice.  That's a lovely three tiered cake (10", 8" and 6") that would make any wedding reception proud.  At Bake Lore, we start our cake servings at $2.00 each for a 1x2x4" serving. (I've noticed a lot of cake sites won't quote you a base price, and I find that pretty aggravating.)  So, if you're doing the math, that makes the base price $140.00 - wow! - a great cake for a decent price!

You'll be upping that price if you go with flavors that require additional ingredients - raspberry butter cream, for example, has real raspberries in it, and you'll see an increase there.  You'll also have additional costs incurred with elaborate decorations. 

It's all up to you (and whoever is cutting the checks!), but the bottom line is that you can feed a small crowd really good cake for a decent price.  (That means no grocery stores, fake icing or freezer burned flavor.)

So what have you learned, dear bride?
1) Trust your baker and try new flavors.
2) Come prepared with design ideas.
3) Know your budget.

Do those three things, and your cake tasting should be a raging success. 

When you schedule a Bake Lore tasting, you will get a full consultation and either leave with your estimate or recieve it within a few days.

So, when will we be talking about YOUR cake?