My love is not only focused on to do lists. There is actually another passion and that’s cake. I love the taste, art, design, concept, etc. Anything that involves cake, I love. This was actually one of my favorite things to do during our research and planning process. Who would be the baker and cake decorator for our wedding?
When I was able to answer that question we needed to determine what we wanted on our cake. Therefore, I started looking at pictures. The following images are from The Knot.
We knew we wanted a decorator with great piping skills.
Our baker should have an artistic point of view…
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When it came to the kind of cake that we should have at our wedding, only 1 choice seemed right: carrot cake! We met at a potluck over my homemade carrot cake, which is the only cake Calla Lily Dude likes.
The tricky part was that I am very picky about carrot cake and rarely eat carrot cake that I did not make myself. I have tried carrot cake from several bakeries, and didn’t like any, so I decided it to take on my wedding cake as a DIY project…
This seemed out right crazy, so I decided to recruit a few gal pals and make an event out of it a few days before my wedding and the DIY Cupcake Bake Party idea was born.
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The wedding cake was very hard for me to decide on. I had actually written blogs about cake searching and ended up not posting them because I still wasn’t keen on having a plain wedding cake and groom’s cake. I originally wanted a famous little diner in my hometown to make pies. I wanted to design a Pie Stand out of thick barbed wire that held three or four different size pies and tier it like a cake. I had it all planned out and was going to have my Dad help me build it. But everyone I talked to (mostly my mom) convinced me that I would regret not having a cake. Plus the Dude’s favorite dessert is cake.
If you weren’t aware, the Dude is from Texas, and I am from California. In the South, it is tradition to have a Groom’s Cake. A groom’s cake can come in all different shapes, sizes, colors and flavors. Most of them I’ve seen are chocolate or fruit filled usually depicting something of importance to the groom like his favorite sports team, hobby, family crest, or alma mater. Even though the Dude is from the South, I was going to let him bring it up if he wanted one, I wasn’t making any suggestions. I didn’t want one of these next to the wedding cake…
 A Traditional Groom's Cake Continue Reading
One cost I am trying to keep under control for my wedding is my cake. Typically with bakers in my area, a 3 tiered cake will serve about 150 guests and cost between $550-$750. To serve my 200 guests I would be looking at a cake close to $1,000.
At first I was determined to make my own wedding cake. But then I came back to reality and realized it would be way too much for me to take on before my wedding. I love to be hands on with everything weddings, but sometimes I have to step back and realize that I’m not planning a wedding for a client, and that there is a lot more to focus on when its your own wedding.
So I thought instead of worrying about baking and then decorating the perfect cake, I would instead take inspiration from the cakes I see set up at the bridal shows: for display purposes they create fake cakes out of styrofoam and fondant.
 My Inspiration Continue Reading
Hello garden! Periwinkle Dude and I are getting ready to choose our wedding cake decor and we thought we’d get your input on the topic! Our wedding cake is coming from Rolling Pin Bakery in East Setauket, NY, where we’ve heard the cakes are yummy! They have dozens of enticing options on their website, and we’ve narrowed it down to the following 3 options. We will probably go with either a white or light blue butter cream frosting to match our color scheme, and our florist said he could sprinkle the wedding cake with some flower petals to dress it up a little more if we want. Please help us out and let us know which of the following wedding cakes you’d select!
 Option 1 Continue Reading
We have a package deal with our location/caterer and have the choice of 3 bakeries to make our wedding cake (price included, unless we want to upgrade, then we pay the difference).It’s definitely not a bad deal, but we found each bakery has its pros and cons.
 From mickeyspastryshop.com The first appointment we had was with Konditor Meister – a bakery famed in the greater Boston area for their wedding cakes. We didn’t know what to expect, and were honestly a little overwhelmed. We went on a Saturday afternoon, and the bakery was bustling – many people at the counter, and lots of beautiful wedding cakes and pastries on display. We were led to their tasting room in the back. This was an operation in itself – they had 10-12 tables, all with couples or families trying cakes. There were many cake consultants helping the engaged couples through the process. Ours was named Jennifer and she came over, told us to look through a binder of photos, and asked us if we wanted a drink. Coffee and water were delivered, along with about 8 flavors of cake, all thickly sliced for us to try. They had white, gold, chocolate, marble and carrot cakes, with chocolate mousse, whipped cream, strawberry grand marnier, raspberry, lemon, kahlua, and even oreo fillings. It was so much to taste and decide on.
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Although everything has been super fun in our planning process, one of the most enjoyable moments that the future hubby and I have had is the cake testing! We’re about to go to our final one tomorrow to settle on our flavors and design. I remember the first time that we went in, we were happily surprised with how much cake was there and just for US! It actually can be a little overwhelming, but you soon get over it once you start tasting all the yumminess.
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I know it sounds crazy, but our cake vendor is one of the very first vendors we booked. Plumeria Dude and I are both big fans of dessert, and we knew we wanted our cake to be memorable. While my decor skills are lacking, I love to bake and have inflicted many a recipe on Plumeria Dude over the years. As a native Baltimorean, he even knows people who work at Charm City Cakes, the featured bakery on Ace of Cakes. Despite how awesome the fondant creations of Charm City and other bakeries look, we knew we wanted buttercream frosting, which in my opinion is way tastier.
 Photo from wtopnews.com Continue Reading
I love making cupcakes. My sister gave me a book with 1000 cupcake recipes for Christmas. I’ve made 4 already and it’s less than a month later. I even considered (during a budget crunch moment) that I could make my own cupcakes and save money on the wedding. That was shot down by my parents (who told me I was crazy) and the reception hall (only licensed bakers allowed). It was only natural that I wanted cupcakes at the wedding. My photographer even forwarded me this photo from Cupcakes Squared in San Diego… and I fell in love.
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For some people, the cake is the centerpiece of their wedding reception. But in this economy, many may not be able to afford the grand wedding cake of their dreams. Here are a few tips I learned along the way to save money on your cake:
 From marthastewart.com • Ask for a smaller wedding cake for display in the reception room and order sheet cakes for the servers to cut and serve to your guests. This will save a lot of money in labor fees!
• Stick with one flavor for every layer. When you have too many different things, it gets costly
• Use false tiers to create the look of an expensive layered cake. Just don’t forget they’re fake when you and your fiancé are cutting the cake!
• Have cupcakes instead! These small treats do not require the same amount of décor from the baker and you should not have to pay a cake cutting fee to the venue/caterer.
Do you have any other suggestions for saving money?
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