Wedding cake suggestions?

Mr 2025 and I are finally getting hitched. And I'm not afraid to admit it, while I've never really dreamed of the white gown, the limos, the bridesmaids or any of the other crap, I have been waiting all of my life to begin tasting cakes!!!!

And who better to ask than the LTHers to help me add to my list? (note: I have no interest in anything crazy or gourmet...simplicity is what we're after: no fondant, no cupcakes, no cheesecake, and mr 2025 hates fruit. So I am essentially looking for a delicious devil's food, red velvet, or yellow, etc. with buttercream frosting. Just like mom makes.)

Here's what I've got so far:

Lutz
Three Tarts Bakery (in the burbs)
Bake for Me
Bleeding Heart Bakery

We got our wedding cake from Bittersweet - I believe it was an almond flavored yellow cake with lemon filling and a buttercream frosting. Dinkel's also makes some good yellow cakes.

Seth Zurer asked a similar question a couple years ago and got lots of suggestions:

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=4211

Bombon, one of the possibilities mentioned in that thread, has a dysfunctional web site but here is their list of cakes:

http://bomboncafe.com/INGLES%20PASTELES_BB.pdf

Congratulations! (or whatever the etiquette books proclaim one is supposed to say to the bride ) And enjoy your tasting...

We got our wedding cake, and many subsequent birthday cakes, from Creative Cakes in Tinley Park. I'm not oridinarily much of a cake-eater, but everything I've had from Creative Cakes has been delicious: the cake itself is wonderfully moist, and the fresh fruit fillings and buttercream icing are fabulous.

Creative Cakes
16649 Oak Park Avenue
Tinley Park, IL 60477
(708) 614-9755

Ah, Bittersweet....I remember falling in love with a pound cake in their window. It was a beautiful naked sponge cake topped with powdered sugar and berries. Our wedding was in a non-air-conditioned park building on the lake in August, so I thought an un-iced cake would be wonderful.

We made an appointment, and I pointed out my cake, saying "I want three of those, but bigger, put on three different pedestals." I was told it would be impossible to make that cake bigger, as it contained filling and wouldn't cook properly, so I said I just wanted plain pound cake decorated the same way, powdered sugar and berries. She responded that she had a reputation to uphold and wouldn't make an un-iced cake for a wedding! I wish I'd said it was for my mother's birthday...

Since we had invitees with food allergies, we went to Blind Faith Bakery - who wound up doing the three cakes exactly as I asked, including one vegan cake, which were all very good.

My birthday was last month and my coworkers bought me what I consider to be the finest birthday cake I've ever had (store bought category).

Dinkel's. Yellow cake with white buttercreme, dotted with little tiny chocolate chips. Yowsa. Seriously fine cake...simple....perfect....lovely.


Dinkel's
3329 N. Lincoln Ave.
773-281-7300

We ended up with a cake from Sweet Thang that was really satisfying chocolate sponge, raspberry jam, butter cream frosting. Tasting the cakes was a lot of fun - my wife and I must've hit a dozen places. Mindy Segal from Hot Chocolate had some delicious ideas, but was out of the budget, and Bombon was spectacular but also out of the budget. Here are some of my notes from that experience (which eventually ended up in an article in TimeOut.

Bombon
1508 W. 18th St.
(312) 733-7788
Taste: *****
Appearance:*****
$7-12 per slice
Fake cake with white icing decorated with fresh flowers and green dots of varying sizes with three half sheets to eat, one strawberry tres leches, one margarita, one Tia Martita. Bar none, the best cake we tried.

Sweet Thang
1921 W. North Ave.
(773) 772 4166
Taste: *****
Appearance: ****
$4-6 per slice
Three tiers, square tiers with piped frosting decorations. White sponge with choc tiramisu filling, chocolate sponge with cassis mousse, chocolate sponge with raspberry mousse

Mindy Segal of Hot Chocolate
1747 N. Damen Ave.
(773) 489-1747
Taste: *****
Appearance: ****
$8-12 per slice
Mindy came up with two absolutely delicious cake ideas based very closely on the concepts we discussed, summer, citrus, fruit, - one ziggurat-shaped ginger almond cake, and one lemon moussey raspberry cake with fresh berries from Michigan set on three separate trays.

Swedish Bakery
5348 N. Clark St.
(773) 561-8919
Taste: ****
Appearance: ****
$3.50 – 7 per slice
They offered three different designs, from classis white frosting, swiss dots and ribbons to chocolate ganache on 3 multi-shaped tiers. Fudge sponge cake was the best, with chocolate mousse, raspberry mousse and cream cheese butter cream filling each tier respectively. Some mousses had a strange jello pudding consistency.

Letizia’s Natural Bakery
2144 W. Division St.
(773) 342-1011
Taste: ****
Appearance: **
$4-6 per slice
“Mimoza” cake made with organic flour and pastry cream, coated with cake crumbs. Can be stacked or spread out. Fresh flowers only. Letizia delivers the cakes frozen to avoid spoilage – recommends three hours of defrosting before serving. If it’s not totally defrosted, “don’t worry; we Italians call that ‘semifreddo’”

Bittersweet Pastry Shop & Café
1114 W. Belmont Ave.
(773) 929-1100
Taste: ****
Appearance: Who can tell?
$4.75 per slice
3 tiered cake for 121 servings, with Chocolate brulee, strawberries, almond cake with lemon and chocolate mousses coated in vanilla buttercream. We nearly went with them, but heard a horror story from a friend about a wedding cake fiasco – the cake delivered bore no resemblance to the cake ordered, so we nixed it.

Lutz Continental Café & Pastry Shop
2458 W. Montrose Ave.
(773) 478-7785
Taste: *** ½
Appearance: ****
$3-5.00 per slice
125 servings in 3 tiers, each tier a different flavor: hazelnut cake with hazelnut mousse, yellow cake filled with fresh strawberries and chocolate mousse. Marzipan roses at $2 a piece.

Café Selmarie
4729 N. Lincoln Ave.
(773) 989-5595
Taste: **
Appearance: ****
$4.50 - $5.50 per serving
A four tiered caked for 121; lemon custard torte, Bavarian cream with fresh raspberries was the best. Raspberry marzipan was stale; chocolate cake was dry and crumbly.

**********
Cake Girls
2207 W. Belmont Ave.
(773) 404-3147
We’d have loved to meet with them, but they don’t schedule appointments outside of regular working hours, 10 AM – 6 PM Tues thru Thursday, no exceptions for poor workaday hacks that make a reverse commute to and from the suburbs.

Fox & Obel Food Market Bakery
401 E. Illinois St.
312.410.7301
Makes small cakes (60 servings or less), but we never made it in for a meeting. After a couple of emails back and forth with the Executive Baker, we didn’t succeed in finding a time we could all make. She offered to leave us a cupcake to taste in the store, but by then, we had cake fatigue and were ready to make a choice

Hi,

Mike G has a thread on birthday cakes, which shows off many delicious cakes.

If you are non-traditional in how your cake is presented, then you might approach Bombon about a large cake for a party. I talked to Seth when he was planning his wedding. (I hope I am not talking out of school here.) He said once he revealed his cake was destined for a wedding, then everything were these expensive classic wedding cakes for a good chunk of money. Seth inquired to me how much we paid for LTHforum's first anniversary party cakes from BomBon (Fed 50 people for around $127 each), which was lot less than if it had been arranged as a wedding cake:

Photo by eatchicago


Gary's Birthday cake decorated in fruits was a 3 Leches "Convento" Cakes: "Delicious 3 milk cake infused with authentic Mexican Rompopo Liquor recipe from the nuns of San Luis Potosi."

Photo by eatchicago


LTHforum.com 1st Anniversary Cake was a chocolate "Abuelita's" Cake: Unique combination of Mexican chocolate whipped cream, coconut dacquoise and belgium chocolate mousse.

For our Christmas-Hanukhah-Festivus-Ect party, we had a wonderful cake from House of Fine Chocolate (fed 80, cost around $140 due to my decorative expectations):

Photo by Mike G


The dessert from The House of Fine Chocolates was chocolate cake with chocolate mousse and fudge fillings. The exterior was chocolate ganache with fudge and chocolate decorations.

When I ordered this, the counter girl felt I had gone overboard on chocolate. She was encouraging me to add contrasting flavor choices either in fillings or cake. I stuck to the original plan of an all-Chocolate cake.

I had the distinct impression people really liked the all-chocolate cake, which was what I fully expected.

At both Bombon and House of Fine Chocolates, you could disguise your intended end-use and buy single serving samples of the cakes (or their elements) you may want.

I hope you let us know what you finally decided upon and post photos. We'd love to see your cake!

Regards,

Thanks so much for the suggestions! I will continue checking back, and report back on every cake we try. I'm thinking I'm going to hit at least a dozen. When else will I have an excuse this good??



Cheers,

rachel

I agree that Bittersweet makes one hell of a cake. I'm going to sound like a complete , but I feel this must be said:
I was a pastry cook for a minute and we would always get a ridiculous amount of returned cake after a wedding. There would sometimes be entire uncut tiers leftover, all of which would go directly to the employee cafeteria, wasting about 1/3 to 1/2 of the couple's money since it's a bit difficult for the couple to find room in the fridge for a three-layer, 16-inch leftover tier. Also, the pieces that get served to wedding guests are usually painfully thin. I suggest getting a very small wedding cake and compensating with cupcakes or a sweet table that can easily be divvied up and taken home with guests. Also, most wedding cake is loaded down with a Vaseline-type goo called Fluid Flex that allows you to add more liquid to a cake batter, thus creating more batter from one recipe. That, along with most of the frosting, is made with various types of lard, not butter, but you'll still pay upwards of $800; make sure they don't do this to you! I don't want to piss on your parade, but I don't think most people know that their cake is being eaten by the staff after an event, so I just want to help you save a little more cash. Either way, go to as many tastings as possible, because it's free cake, for pete's sake. But although I'm an advocate for Oak Mill, I don't recommend their wedding cakes; they may be pretty but they don't taste special. Good luck, congrats on the wedding!, and please forgive my bluntness.

We got our wedding cake from Bittersweet and it really was wonderful, moist and yummy and decorated exactly to my specifications. In order to stretch our budget they made a smaller "Wedding" cake for us and then prepared additional undecorated rounds that we had sliced up for our guests. I'm suprised to read Pie Lady's comments about left over cake getting sent back, my venue simply boxed up the leftovers for us and carried it out to our waiting limo after the wedding was over. We froze the extra cake and used it for my Birthday party a few months later. It was still perfect after defrosting and my guests all raved about it (once again.)

Good luck!

SMT wrote:We got our wedding cake from Bittersweet and it really was wonderful, moist and yummy and decorated exactly to my specifications. We froze the extra cake and used it for my Birthday party a few months later. It was still perfect after defrosting and my guests all raved about it (once again.)

If you get your wedding cake from Bittersweet, they will make you a small cake for free on your first anniversary.

We just chose Marked For Dessert for our ceremony—his banana cake is fantastic. He's great guy, and really interested to hear your ideas.

http://www.markedfordessert.com/about_us/index.htm

I'm a big fan of everything Tipsycake makes...

http://www.tipsycakechicago.com/

1043 N. California
60622

I got hitched about a month and a half ago. My friend Carlos (pastry chef) made the cake and it was perfect. Italian buttercream and chocolate layers, strawberry mousse filling covered in white chocolate with white chocolate flowers covering. I can send you pictures if you send me your email.

I got a buddy discount but it was cheap. He would love the work. He even made a tasting cake to get an idea.

Here is another bakery to add to your list:

Central Continental Bakery
101 S. Main St. (Elmhurst Rd.)
Mt. Prospect IL. 60056
847-870-9500
http://centralcontinentalbakery.com/


They have absolutely wonderful stuff there---We purchased our wedding cake from them 25 years ago and all of our family members continue to patronize them to this day.

P.S. If anyone suggests anything from Deerfield's Bakery ( multiple suburban locations ), I would be leery. Other folks rave about Deerfield's, but I find most of their product dry and tasteless.

Best Wishes and congratulations----

cito wrote:P.S. If anyone suggests anything from Deerfield's Bakery ( multiple suburban locations ), I would be leery. Other folks rave about Deerfield's, but I find most of their product dry and tasteless.

High style and mediocre cake tasting just like a cake mix.

Regards,

cito wrote:Here is another bakery to add to your list:

Central Continental Bakery
101 S. Main St. (Elmhurst Rd.)
Mt. Prospect IL. 60056
847-870-9500
http://centralcontinentalbakery.com/


They have absolutely wonderful stuff there

I'll second the recommendation for Central Continental. Great cakes and pastries. Oh, and when Paczki Day rolls around next year, don't forget that they have some of the best in town.

Mhays wrote: She responded that she had a reputation to uphold and wouldn't make an un-iced cake for a wedding! I wish I'd said it was for my mother's birthday...

Apparently her reputation is not listening to her customers. I've always been a fan of Bittersweet's cakes, but this is ridiculous. How do you run a business like this?

Bennison's in Evanston. 'nuff said.

They make a buttercream wedding cake so good that I've considered divorcing my wife - and then remarrying her - just so we can have another one of their buttercream wedding cakes.

They're a great bakery, friendly, and own an enormous trophy.

Baking's Olympic Gold Goes to Bennison's Jory Downer and Teammates

Although the Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie was won for bread baking, it's an indication of their lineage and passion for baking.

Bennison's Bakery
1000 Davis
Evanston, IL
847 328 9434

ChgoMike wrote:
They make a buttercream wedding cake so good that I've considered divorcing my wife - and then remarrying her - just so we can have another one of their buttercream wedding cakes.

LOL...

Fujisan wrote:If you get your wedding cake from Bittersweet, they will make you a small cake for free on your first anniversary.

What happened to the tradition of freezing the top tier for a year?

We got our wedding cake from Pierre's Bakery, which has a few outposts in the city and suburbs (we used the Berwyn location). I wanted a wedding cake that was simple, moist and tasted good. We ended up getting a 4-tiered cake for about $3.90/slice for 110 guests. Each layer was half devil's food/half yellow cake with cannoli-flavored filling (no nuts) and fresh strawberry filling, iced with white buttercream and with a chocolate ganache decorative layer at the bottom of each tier. It was so delicious, and the cake was devoured really quickly. Had no problems with cake delivery to our reception location.

Pierre's Bakery (main location)
2747 N. Milwaukee
Chicago, IL 60647
(773) 252-8888
http://www.pierres-bakery.com/

I'd also recommend Rolf's Patisserie, based on birthday cakes my family has ordered from there (which usually involve a lot of chocolate):

Rolf's Patisserie
4343 Touhy Ave.
Lincolnwood, IL
(847) 675-6565

Congratulations and have fun cake-tasting!

I don't know where you live but I agree with those that suggested Central Continental Bakery in Mt. Prospect. Anything that I have ordered from there has been top notch. If you are thinking Sweet Table, their pastries are to die for. Also, check into Oakmill Bakery in Niles and Arlington Heights. Best wishes to you and Good Luck!

I'm getting married Sept. 5 in Highland Park, and well, one can never do too many tastings, right? Selmarie and Bittersweet are on the short list - who else should we check out? Anyone in the north suburbs? It seems silly to have a cake schlepped 25 miles or whatever, plus I haven't called anyone yet and have no idea what delivery involves. I seem to remember a yummy place in Lake Forest, near the Metra tracks...other ideas are welcome.

There is an existing thread here and here. Seth Zurer did a good job of rounding them up after they asked the same question, I think it's in the second thread.

I share a kitchen with Baking for the Taking, a custom bakery owned by two women. Leslie, one of the owners, is currently the pastry chef at Table 52. I've only had a couple of their offerings (after a day of making truffles and caramels, I can't manage any sweets) but what I've had has been excellent. They have pictures and contact information on their website.

Baking for the Taking
http://www.bakingforthetaking.com/

The Sugar Syndicate, part of Sweet Collective always has amazing-looking cakes on display and in her portfolio. I haven't tasted any of her cakes, but I've tried other offerings (mini key lime pies, whoopie pies, petit fours, cookies, etc) that have all been very good.

Sugar Syndicate
5333 N. Lincoln Ave
Chicago IL 60625
773.547.8427
http://www.thesugarsyndicate.com/home.htm

Holy Cow, I had no idea bakers got booked up this far out! I called Bittersweet, which can't even get us in for a tasting outside business hours until the end of June. Selmarie just called me back, and the manager was nice enough to stick around a bit late for us next Thursday once she realized how soon the wedding date is. And Rolf's couldn't get us in for a tasting until August!!!

Now don't get me wrong, I appreciate cake as much as the next girl, but do people really take off work early to go taste cake? And I am trying not to crack up when people ask "what's your theme? " or "what is your color scheme?" My theme is that I want it to taste fabulous.

Eva Luna wrote: Now don't get me wrong, I appreciate cake as much as the next girl, but do people really take off work early to go taste cake? And I am trying not to crack up when people ask "what's your theme? " or "what is your color scheme?" My theme is that I want it to taste fabulous.

Yes, I'd forgotten this, myself - I don't get it, either (I had neither for my wedding and was perfectly happy) Did I mention that we just ordered three fairly ordinary cakes and got three staggered-height pedestals? It worked out fine.

we did the obligatory cake thing (I actually forgot about the cake until 2 weeks prior when my sister reminded me that I needed to have one) but what we put our energy and love into was having Root Beer Floats. We got the Root Beer from a local brewery (this was in Denver, CO) and the ice cream from a local dairy (and this was 13 years ago, we weren't hip or hell bent on the local thing, it just seemed to make sense). To this day, no one has ever come up and reminded me how great the cake was, but so. so many people of all ages still remember how delicious and yummy the root beer floats were. It wasn't complicated it was just a matter of letting people know--we got on the mic and told everyone that the Root Beer Float Station was ready for takers. So if you have a favorite sweet or dessert . . . say you are all about bread pudding or sorbet or Mexican paletas . . . make that your signature sweet. I guarantee people will remember that more than the cake. But you still might have to do the cake.

bjt