Mmm… Just Cake
April 5th, 2007 @ 6:13 pm by Mrs. Lemon
I didn’t really have much of a choice in my cake vendor. My reception venue requires that we use their services or else they impose an additional $4/slice cutting fee. Luckily that was never an issue, since my cake artist is the uber amazing, two-time Food Network Challenge Champion, (and maybe three-time champion… hint hint… if you watch the Award Cakes show on April 8th) Marina Sousa of Just Cake. I’d been waiting on pins and needles to go to our cake tasting and see if the cakes tasted as good as they looked, and I was even more impressed after I left!
We (my parents and Mr. Lemon) visited her little shop in the seaside town of Capitola (near Santa Cruz) on Sunday, and waded through the piles of cake pictures to see what we liked while we feasted on the oh so delicious samples. Unfortunately, Mr. Lemon and I suddenly realized that we were each had COMPLETELY different ideas about what we wanted in a cake. He seemed to gravitate toward round cakes, especially the unique designs and “topsy turvy”/Mad Hatter style cakes like these:
I, on the other hand, was in love with square, clean and modern cakes:
So… it was time for a compromise. Mr. Lemon got his topsy turvy cake shape, and I got my modern design with an indented fondant pattern with an extra bit of color on the cake.
Here’s the masterpiece that she sketched out for us during our meeting:
The flavors were equally as difficult to select… my Dad couldn’t stop raving about each flavor, and he usually passes on eating any sort of cake. We decided on Chocolate with mint cookies and cream and chocolate ganache for the main cake, and Meyer Lemon with lemon mousse, lemon curd and fresh berries for our extra sheet cake servings. Trust me when I say that all the flavors were amazing… I gobbled up every last bite of the serving plate… and I just caught myself drooling here at my computer recalling the tastes.
I just knew cake tasting was going to be my favorite part of the planning process!
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10 Responses to “Mmm… Just Cake”
That is going to be a beautiful cake. It sound slike fun to have such an amazing baker making your cake.
I’ve always wondered about fondant cake: do they actually taste good? Because I think fondant tastes like poo.
Congrats on developing a plan for a cake that embraces your combined ideas! Wow, this is what marriage is all about (sniff, aw….)
lol @ iris. though i do agree with her!
4/slice just to CUT the cake? Goodness. I hope my cake doesn’t even COST 4/slice!
i think it’s going to turn out pretty cool. 
Miss Lemon: I love the cake and Capitola. I am getting my grooms cake from Mikes Amazing Cakes in Redmond, WA. Check him out.
i too love square, clean and modern cakes! the compromised cake looks wonderful. good job! 
I can’t help but wonder how much it would cost to have such a person do your cake…Your reception hall must be quite the affair if they require you to have a baker featured on The Food Network.
I also wanted a squared layer cake … but my mom told me that I shouldn’t have one because square or rectangular cakes were considered bad luck at weddings! Presumably you have a round cake to mirror the symbolism of the wedding bands … Has anyone ever heard of this? My mom’s English, so I’m wondering if that’s where it’s coming from … (sorry in advance if there are duplicate posts from me! was having trouble posting …)
Mrs. Lemon, Los Angeles/Monterey
Age and Occupation in 06: 26, Graduate Student (Public Policy)
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Environmental Consultant
Engagement Date: April 7, 2006
Wedding Date: July 7, 2007
Venue: Rosary Chapel & Monterey Marriott, Monterey, CA
About Me: My FI and I met online, but we like to tell people that we met at a "cookie shop" which is the technical location of our first encounter. He proposed exactly 1 year, 1 month and 6 days after our first date (it's the only part of his proposal speech that I remember), and we're planning long-distance from Los Angeles for a July wedding in my hometown of Monterey, CA. I have a passion for all things "cool, cute and quirky" and I enjoy video games, reading blogs (WeddingBee, trashy celeb, consumer & political) and crafting in my spare time, if I have any!
While Just Cake was decent, we were not as impressed as we were when we tried other vendors in the area. However, if you are forced to go with a cake person - she is not a bad choice. I have had many friends that are forced to go with a not so stellar baker.
The Bay Area has such great talent when it comes to cakes and we had a great time sampling so many. The best of the bunch was Elegant Cheesecakes - the flavors couldn’t be matched by any other and the design work was out of this world. She is truly remarkable. We ended up choosing Cakeworks (for budget purposes) but we were especially impressed on the day of with what we were given. Her cake tasted wonderful and was beautiful to boot!