Our Cake Tasting & Questions to Ask the Cake Baker
We went cake tasting yesterday! I was really excited to eat 9 different cakes and see the beautiful creations. When we arrived at Celebrity Cake Studio, we were taken to a private room with nine slices of cake placed on individual cupcake papers. We were offered coffee and water. For about 10 minutes we tasted the cakes and put four to side that we liked and three that we didn’t like.
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Our sales woman came back and talked to us about which flavors we liked and then we moved on to the designs. There are a lot of different cake designs. We were surprised that the price could go from $4 a slice to $6 a slice with what we thought was a simple change. After flipping through hundreds of images on their iPad and showing my top favorite nautical cakes on Pinterest (see this blog post), we combined ideas until we designed a cake that everyone liked. She then brought us their fondant since some people really hate the gumminess.
Cakes are expensive, so you could serve a nice layered cake that’s smaller than your guest and buy supplemental sheet cakes. We will probably go this route since the wedding cake is largely decoration anyway. A very important decoration at that. At the end, she gave us a quote and I paid the $25 tasting fee. If we buy from them, which I believe we will, the $25 will be applied to the cake.
Before we went cake tasting, I looked at my wedding books for questions to ask the cake baker. The books I use the most are How to Have a Fabulous Wedding for 0,000 or Less0,000 or Less: Creating Your Dream Day with Romance, Grace, and Style
Here are the best questions, in my opinion, to ask:
- How much per slice and what affects the price? Every design upgrade will probably cost you more, so ask during your cake tasting.
- If the baker uses terminology you don’t know, ask what she’s talking about! Our woman kept saying “triple Swiss” which I thought was a type of chocolate not on our tasting menu. Finally, I asked and I’m glad I did because it was a little 3-dot design all over the cake that I didn’t like at all. I repeatedly asked her what “triple Swiss” was and she kept saying, “No, we’re removing it” or “Oh I mean we’ll subtract it”. Thanks lady, I know what subtract, minus, and remove mean. I felt like this scene in The Heat!! “Are you or are you not a narc?”
- Incorporate the cake topper in your design. If you have a family heirloom or a cake topper picked out, remember what it looks like when designing your cake.
- Fondant, buttercream, royal icing, or marzipan? Some people have a serious aversion to fondant. If this is you, don’t get fondant or taste theirs to see if it’s different. Celebrity Cake Studio had a better fondant than nasty ones I’ve eaten in the past.
- Ask what ingredients they use, especially if you are allergic. This will also speak to the quality of the cake.
- Tie your design in with the season or theme. This might be a no-brainer, but there are so many designs to get lost in. It was funny that every nautical cake we looked at during the cake tasting was for the same location as ours (which is only a few miles from the cake studio).
- Will they deliver and is there a charge? One of my fears is having the cake drop, so I’d rather leave the transporting to the experts.
- Finally ask what the prices, terms, and deposit will be.
