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?

Tasting Cake is Fun!

I love cake tastings.  It's fun to prepare for, fun to experience and even more fun to have a firm cake order at the end of the day.

I prepared another eight flavor combo tray for today's cake tasting.  We had four flavors of cake paired as follows with yummy buttercream flavors...

Left to right:
Lightly Lemon with vanilla butter cream and raspberry butter cream
Orange Delight cake with vanilla butter cream and orange butter cream
Spiced Heaven cake with cream cheese butter cream and orange butter cream
Buttery Yellow cake with vanilla butter cream and raspberry butter cream

The couple was adventurous, and came up with a fantastic flavor combination for their three-tiered bridal cake. 

I always provide a few things at a cake tasting.  If you have a tasting scheduled you can expect a full menu, a complete price list for the flavors you sample and your choice of tea or coffee with your cake. 

I also always have a handful of coffee beans on hand, so cake-tasters can cleanse thier pallate between flavors.  Sniffing coffee beans is an easy way to reset your sense of taste and smell.  Nice department stores will offer that service at perfume counters as well. 

Stay tuned tomorrow for my third and final post in my series: Elements of a Cake Tasting. 

Make sure you call or email to schedule an event for yourself!



Elements of a Cake Tasting, Part II

As you'll recall, the first element of a successful cake tasting is trusting your baker and trying new flavors. 

Second (not in importance just in the order I thought of it):  Come prepared.

Theme and color are the most important ideas you need in your head.  Bring swatches of bridesmaid dress fabric, ribbons from the bouquet and ideas about what flowers you will use - bring your laptop. 

I guarantee you, if you google "pink cake" in google images, you will immediately have more ideas at your fingertips than you can count.  There's some amazing talent out there.  Find it. 

Print pictures, pin it on Pinterest (WHAT?  You're not on Pinterest???  Go...get an account and then come back in a few hours after you have become the newest addict...also, follow my boards, cuz I'm awesome and I pin gorgeous cake.) 

Come to your tasting with all your ideas and your baker/decorator will help you sort through and find the things that will make the perfect cake. 

If you came to me and said, "I want a steam punk cake."  I would have no idea what you mean.  But, if you came to me with a color scheme in mind an a picture like, say, this amazing one:

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...well, I'd be right on track with you.  And as a side note, I would weep for joy if someone ordered a cake this awesome.  It would make me quiver with delight in anticipation of the project. 

Also, be open to new ideas.  Maybe this baker has a talent for sugar flowers *ahem* or is really good with some intricate piping you hadn't thought of before.  Use their talents and ideas too. 

Talking design while you're sampling flavors is a huge times saver.  Why have two meetings when you could have one?  And if you're wowed by the tasting, you can start working on the final design and sign a contract to reserve your date right then and there.  Yes, that means crossing off something on your to-do list.  Even better!

Cake Tasting Element #2: Bring your ideas and be open to new ones!