Looking forward to the Herald’s 2014 Wedding & Special Events Guide, this series will cover the essentials to planning, prepping, and enjoying some of life’s most major events. This week, want your cake to wow? Here’s how to guarantee confection perfection.
1. Do your research.
Give yourself a three to six month window to search for the cake designer you believe would best suit your needs. Believe it or not, some bakers’ schedules start to fill up a year in advance.
Where do you start? Word of mouth is often the most powerful and reliable tool. Ask recently married friends, friends of friends, or even family members for their recommendations and reviews.
Next, do extensive online research. First, visit general wedding planning sites to skim feedback from real couples. Then visit your preferred bakery’s website to flip through images of their recent work. If their gallery has not been updated in a while, chances are that their style is also not up-to-date. You want to work with a bakery with vast experience and that seeks to actively share this experience with potential customers.
Before making your final commitment, be sure to visit the bakery in person and meet with the staff. It’s important to walk out of the bakery with an image of the cake — either drawn by hand or rendered via computer — so that there aren’t any surprises. If you don’t feel entirely comfortable with the bakery staff, you won’t be happy with your cake. The ideal cake designer is someone whose personality sets you at ease and with whom you communicate well.
Here are some of our favorites:
Wards Pastry
730 Asbury Ave, Ocean City
(609) 399-1260, www.wardspastry.com
Two tier, three tier, five tier, and even cupcake towers – Wards does it all magnificently. Be sure to check out their gallery of some of their recent wedding masterpieces at http://www.wardspastry.com/weddings.htm.
A Sweet Memory Cake Shoppe
721 S. Main St, Forked River
(609) 242-0153, www.asweetmemory.net
At A Sweet Memory, your wedding needs will be receive the utmost attention to detail. Each cake, cookie favor, and cupcake tower is an original design that is inspired by you. Check out their high quality of workmanship for yourself in their wedding cakes gallery at http://asweetmemory.net/gallery/wedding-cakes/.
2. Keep communication lines open.
After you’ve booked your cake designer, you will begin to create the cake. Share photos of cakes from magazines or websites that have dazzled you. Brief your designer on your wedding’s important features – location, dress code, the design of your dress, color scheme, flower choices, and the menu. Some pros even request that you share your invitiation with them, as they may find its look and theme inspiring.
Next comes arguably the best part of the process – taste testing. Be sure to taste four or five cake-and-filling combinations before you settle on your favorite. Some fruit flavors, such as mango, are best suited for summer weddings. However, white chocolate and raspberry are excellent year-round picks.
Keep in mind that price will be based on the size of the cake, the amount of labor needed to create it and the cost of its ingredients. More reputable bakeries often charge more.
3. Feeling uninspired? Try a cake trend.
Matching the bride’s dress to the cake has been a big trend these past few seasons. There’s also been a marked return to classic buttercream frosting. This original style of frosting tends to look more realistic and has a richer flavor than modern frostings.
As for shapes, ovals have burst onto the wedding cake scene. Round is traditional, square can be a nice twist, but oval-shaped cakes allow designers a lot more room to get creative.
4. Avoid these cake mistakes.
• Waiting until the last minute to start the design and ordering process. Custom cakes are a whole different ball game than a personalized birthday or anniversary cake. Special ingredients and decorations may need to be ordered or even created from scratch, which takes a considerable deal of experimentation. The more time the bakery has to perfect your custom details, the more you’ll love the finished product.
• Allowing too many chefs in your proverbial wedding cake kitchen. When there are too many people providing design and flavor input, it becomes difficult to remain focused and calm. It’s best to keep your tasting entourage down to one or two people at the most. Your confection decision is ultimately up to what feels good to YOU.
Villas – It's so cold people are wearing 2 pairs of pajamas to Walmart.
