bjt wrote: 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

Oh, I have MANY favorites. Cake might just be the simplest way to go (and maybe an extra flourless something or dairyless something, depending on which people with various dietary restrictions show up). And I am definitely not tied to the idea of spending $700 for some multi-tiered, elaborate work of art. If it ends up being half the price for a small cake for cutting purposes, and a couple of sheet cakes, then we may well go that route.

My mom's comment was "well, who actually EATS wedding cake?" Well, I always do, provided it's not some prefab monstrosity with plastic-tasting frosting. This is going to taste fabulous, or why bother? We're thinking one layer (or sheet cake) of chocolate cake with chocolate mousse and/or raspberry filling, and possibly frosted with chocolate ganache, and maybe another layer of something lighter and fruitier, like white cake with lemon curd filling.

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.

I lack the feminine gene that makes ladies love the wedding process, so I didn't get it either. We ended up getting a tres leches cake from La Baguette for, I believe, $80. I do sort of regret not flitting around town to do tastings, though, since that's a fun part of planning - but like others have said, it's not easy to do unless you are either hyper-organized enough to reserve it months in advance, or flexible enough to show up during banker's hours.

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:

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.

I lack the feminine gene that makes ladies love the wedding process, so I didn't get it either. We ended up getting a tres leches cake from La Baguette for, I believe, $80. I do sort of regret not flitting around town to do tastings, though, since that's a fun part of planning - but like others have said, it's not easy to do unless you are either hyper-organized enough to reserve it months in advance, or flexible enough to show up during banker's hours.

Oh, believe me, I feel you. And it's not like I've been dawdling - it's a relatively short engagement. I've only been engaged for 5 weeks, and we've lined up the location, the caterer, gotten a liquor quote, dealt with reams of family drama, made up the guest list, had our rings made, and I've lined up a lady to make my dress. And the invitations arrived yesterday. If I waited until August to even talk about cake, we'd only have a month left! I'd really like to square away all the basics ASAP, so we have time to do fun stuff like make iPod playlists, etc. And, you know, write the ceremony.

Wanted to add an idea I thought was really fun.

My sister was married last year and had a delicious cake from Bittersweet, but the real kicker was the ice cream bar that the caterers from Max's brought (plug: their food and service were superb). The reception was on The Little Lady out on Lake Michigan. After dinner they brought out the cake. While the ceremonious cutting of the cake was happening, they setup up a large ice cream and toppings bar.

It was a HUGE hit and everyone, young and old, enjoyed the combination of cake with a scoop or two of ice cream and/or do-it-yourself sundaes. The ice cream bar even helped extend the cake so they didn't need to buy a giant one.

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:

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.

I lack the feminine gene that makes ladies love the wedding process, so I didn't get it either. We ended up getting a tres leches cake from La Baguette for, I believe, $80. I do sort of regret not flitting around town to do tastings, though, since that's a fun part of planning - but like others have said, it's not easy to do unless you are either hyper-organized enough to reserve it months in advance, or flexible enough to show up during banker's hours.

Our wedding was shotgun-style (thanks, immigration) and self-funded, so we picked up a couple entremets from Vanille and served them after dinner at Lao Sze Chuan. I'm not saying it's everyone's idea of a perfect wedding reception, but it sure was mine.

ooooh Tres Leches sounds like a divine option -- my two Latina friends swear by Pete's Markets' version. I would also be thrilled to be eating that yellow cake with chocolate frosting that is sold in the plastic clam shells all over the south side. The bakery is in Harvey I believe and it is a name like Mrs Winters Cakes or something like that. Does this ring a bell to anyone? That cake is sublime in its flavor and texture and I bet a huge sheet cake wouldn't break the bank. I always have bought my slices at the gas station just up the street from the new Hyde Park Art Center. You could head down and have a "tasting" in your car.

bjt

Nice article on south-side cakes, including Mrs. Winters, here

I'm looking for a recipe to make a chocolate wedding cake that is not a pound cake. Any help?
We want to make our own cake. I found several recipes for a wedding cake that are pound cakes. I would like a chocolate cake. I know the cake has to be heavier in order to stack it but not too heavy. Thanks.
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asian marriage

I have no experience whatsoever with cake-stacking-engineering, but aren't a lot of wedding cakes made from genoise? Joy of Baking has a chocolate genoise recipe - I've never tried it, but I've had good success with their other recipes, and I often make genoise (sponge) cakes, they're our staple celebration cake. Word of warning: I hate sifting flour and often don't - but it's not a step you want to skip in a genoise recipe.

Hi,

I have done a little bit of wedding cake engineering. There are dowel rods inserted into the cake. The layers rest ostensibly on those rods instead of the cake. There are plenty of wedding cakes made of cheesecake and carrot cake, which can be pretty dense. You can probably pick a chocolate cake recipe you like, you just need to address the support system.

Regards,

taniyav wrote:I'm looking for a recipe to make a chocolate wedding cake that is not a pound cake. Any help?
We want to make our own cake. I found several recipes for a wedding cake that are pound cakes. I would like a chocolate cake. I know the cake has to be heavier in order to stack it but not too heavy. Thanks.

taniyav: i strongly suggest you buy/borrow the 'cake bible'. rose levy beranbaum is the goddess of cake baking, with charts for every possible permutation, pan size, etc. you could want. every ingredient is weighed to the smallest fraction. she has excellent ideas for combinations of flavors and frostings, fillings and cakes. she has a 3 tiered chocolate butter wedding cake. i havent tried it, but i have made many of the recipes in the book. if you can follow directions exactly (baking is not as easy going as cooking), she will not steer you wrong. (and plastic drinking straws work really well for stacking cakes) good luck, justjoan

Just a quick update, concern, and question on the subject of wedding cakes... My fiance and I were really excited to start the process of looking for a bakery for our cake and have been to two wedding cake tastings so far. First one was at Flour, now based out of Logan Square Kitchen. Janet was very nice to meet with and interested in our design ideas. We tasted a few different flavors of cake: chocolate, white, lemon, and banana, as well as about 8 different flavors of fillings. Except for the chocolate cake (not a favorite), all the cakes were delicious. We also loved the chocolate and espresso fillings, although they were quite rich. We tasted a few different fruit flavored fillings. They seemed like, texturally, somewhere between mousse and buttercream. I liked the apricot filling, but thought the fruit flavor could have been stronger.
Second tasting was at TipsyCake. Naomi was very nice to us and excited about our ideas (although she seemed a little short/brusque with her staff). We also thought the cake here was quite good, especially the white and red velvet. The caramel filling was wonderful, and I loved the passionfruit mousse.

Now here is the concern: We will be having about 140 guests. When we shared our budget with Janet from Flour, she acknowledged that we would probably have to have a smaller, 3 tiered cake and a sheet cake in the back. Not my ideal, but I'm okay with it. However, Naomi said that our budget would be fine and gave us a quote that was within our budget. However, when I looked more closely, I saw that she had included in the budget only a 3 tiered round cake with the tiers being 12", 8", and 4". I don't know much about wedding cakes, but that seemed awfully small to serve 140 people. Having looked online a little, it seems like that should serve about 65-70 people, not even close to 140. 60-70 is very close to the number of servings estimated by Flour for the smaller show cake she suggested. It almost seemed like Naomi took our budget and just gave us a cake that would fit our budget, disregarding the number of guests we told her. Additionally, she told us that the quote is only good for 3 days because the cost of cakes can vary. I can understand having some sort of time limit, but the idea that a cake could cost a significantly different amount to make from week to week seems absurd.

For the experienced bakers: What size of cake should serve 140 people? Also, has anyone else had the same experience with TipsyCake? Finally, our last scheduled tasting will be with the Swedish Bakery. Would anyone recommend their wedding cakes? Thanks!

LauraS wrote:However, Naomi said that our budget would be fine and gave us a quote that was within our budget. However, when I looked more closely, I saw that she had included in the budget only a 3 tiered round cake with the tiers being 12", 8", and 4". I don't know much about wedding cakes, but that seemed awfully small to serve 140 people. Having looked online a little, it seems like that should serve about 65-70 people, not even close to 140. 60-70 is very close to the number of servings estimated by Flour for the smaller show cake she suggested. It almost seemed like Naomi took our budget and just gave us a cake that would fit our budget, disregarding the number of guests we told her. Additionally, she told us that the quote is only good for 3 days because the cost of cakes can vary. I can understand having some sort of time limit, but the idea that a cake could cost a significantly different amount to make from week to week seems absurd.

For the experienced bakers: What size of cake should serve 140 people? Also, has anyone else had the same experience with TipsyCake? Finally, our last scheduled tasting will be with the Swedish Bakery. Would anyone recommend their wedding cakes? Thanks!

I got a cake for my little sister's baby shower from Tipsy Cake and let Naomi know both our guest count (50) and budget. She was incredibly easy to work with and delivered a cake that was a smash hit with plenty to go around. I can't speak to the quote she gave you, but my recent experience with Tipsy Cake was really terrific.



Yes, my sister loves Hello Kitty, and that is a replica of her labradoodle in HK's lap.



My sister loved it so much that she has saved the head in her freezer for the baby's first birthday.

That is a great cake! I'm glad to hear she was easy to work with. I emailed Naomi about the servings in the cake, so maybe it was a misunderstanding. Hopefully I will hear from her soon.

We had 75 guests, and I can tell you that our cake was definitely bigger than 12", 8" and 4". Our bottom layer was 18", and I was told that if I wanted to provide my own ribbon for trimming the cake, the bakery required 5 yards. I think that my top tier was probably 10-12".

I won a drawing for a free "bridal cake" from Tipsycake at Indie Wed earlier this year. I was told that the value of the gift certificate was $100, and it could be applied to anything I wanted. I tried to order a groom's cake to surprise my fiance, but her quotes were outrageously expensive for what I wanted even when I deducted the $100. I opted to skip it.

The g/c expires on 12/31/10. I tried to order a simple cake for the value of the g/c. Naomi was very unhelpful and seemed uninterested in helping me use this g/c. I tried to work w/her schedule, but she just decides to ignore me instead. I am just going to let it go to waste b/c I don't want to deal w/such a difficult personality. I'm not that desperate to taste her cake.

FYI- I have also seen Tipsycake on Wedobo (Groupon like specials from wedding vendors). It was something like $200 for a $400 value.

Good luck.

Pucca, if you don't mind my asking, where did you end up getting your wedding cake from? Thanks for the info, too. I get the feeling that Naomi may be great to work with as long as everything turns out perfectly, but if there are any issues or questions about cakes or pricing, she could be difficult.

What size of cake should serve 140 people?

It really depends on size of piece of cake you want to offer your guests. Typically a 12 inch 2-3 layer can serve at least 50, a 8 inch about 25 and a 4 inch about 4. These are the typical cake prices as I price them out (1x2 inch pieces). I like cake, so I usually go for 2x2 pieces which would result in a total of about 50 pieces in a 12,8 and 4 inch.

If you need a great place that has some really great tasting cake, try out http://www.pastrygirls.com. I know the owner and she does some great work.

LauraS, the caterer at our venue had a contract in place with Rolf's Patisserie so it was included in our costs. The top tier is still sitting in my freezer, but we will probably enjoy it before the 6 month mark. Our guests really enjoyed the cake. My only quibble w/the cake was Rolf's decision to add 3 LARGE roses to the top edge of the cake that I never requested. I wanted the cake as plain as possible so that we could add our own fresh flowers and personalized cake topper. The hideous flowers definitely distracted attention from our adorable cake topper.

Being an avid baker, I was a little nervous about some mixed reviews on Rolf's. I was also disappointed to miss out on the multiple cake tastings at various bakeries.

I tried Flour's cupcakes at the Out of the Box Bridal Cocktail Party this past spring, and I really enjoyed them. I found them to be really moist, delicate, and well balanced. I also received favorable recommendations for Luscious Layers Bakery, but never checked them out.

The more I think about Tipsycake's dimensions, there's just no way that can feed 140 people. I bake 8" and 9" cakes all the time for family birthdays and holidays. I usually get about 16-18 slices w/o cutting the circle in the middle. When my friend got married in Baltimore, I think she said they ordered 9-10 Smith Island cakes for 100 guests, which were 10" and they had a full cake leftover for their open house the next day. I just remembered Wilton's cake cutting guide. Check it out.