Say What??
February 22nd, 2008 @ 4:33 pm by Mrs. Sundae
I am painfully clueless about certain aspects of wedding planning, and this week I was lucky enough to stumble upon another arena of which I have basically no knowledge…. wedding cakes. I’ll start by saying that I love cake. I might actually consider cake one of my favorite foods. So I was really excited to start interviewing bakers, and tasting and discussing their creations for what will possibly be the most special cake I’ll ever order. I don’t want anything overly elaborate, most likely something like this (but with only three tiers and fresh flowers):
(April Reed Cake via Style Me Pretty)
This week I began my quest for a baker. I started around the Lake Geneva area and was quickly dissapointed. One baker told me that we had to pick one flavor to taste in advance of our appointment, and that we only get to taste that one type. You just have to hope for the best with the other flavors. I practically got into an argument with another baker trying to explain that I didn’t want a fountain in the middle of my cake and that plastic stairs really aren’t my thing.
So in 20 minutes of phone calls I swiftly eliminated all bakeries in the vicinity of our venue. Now I am finding that I’ll have to pay at least $100 delivery fee to have the cake safely transported from elsewhere in the state, plus, I had no idea how expensive wedding cakes are (note: aforementioned cluelessness)! So, dear readers, I reach out to you. Do any of you know a great bakery around the Lake Geneva area? How much did your cake cost per slice?
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16 Responses to “Say What??”
Also, it never hurts to ask your venue or caterer for ideas. Many of the best cake people do this at home and don’t advertise. They get their work from word of mouth.
Bakeries are not always the best place to buy a wedding cake. While they may make fabulous baked goods they often cannot decorate a cake. Cake decorating is an art and not the same as baking, in fact companies that make wedding cakes have seperate staff for the baking portion and the decorating portion.
I live in the DC area and I found an amazing baker who works out of his home through my coordinator. His cakes start at $3.50/slice and they are soooooo good.
I got married at the Abbey and we used Cakes by Dea, out of Marengo, IL (so, not far from Lake Geneva but definitely a hike from Chicago). I totally, TOTALLY understand what you mean about the fountains in the middle! Some of the places out there have some interesting ideas for cake design.
Dea’s contact info is:
Cakes by Dea and More
708 Busse Rd
Marengo IL
815-943-0942
Dea is old-school (no email, website, etc.) and does not do fondant frosting, but that woman works MIRACLES with buttercream! Our cake was substantially less than $2/slice and if there was a delivery charge, it was $25 or less. Her cake was by far the best we tasted and there was none — I mean NONE, minus the top tier that the Abbey staff rescued — left at the end of the night!
I can give you more feedback/info on our experience with her if you want to email me: aliya dot pitts at gmail dot com. If you want flowers on the cake, I recommend you have your florist do it.
Another cake vendor whose cake we tasted was Cakes by Ann in Kenosha, WI: http://www.bridal-cakes.com/index.htm. She gives you a ton of samples (and I’ve also had these cakes in person at my husband’s cousin’s wedding) and they’re DELICIOUS. We did not have the greatest experience w/Ann, though, and that’s why we sought out someone else. Dea is worth the tasting trip to Marengo!
I ran into the same problem. I’m having 300+ guests at my wedding and the starting costs per slice were at least $5 - $7. $2100 for cake? ridiculous. So… I did a lot of research. I started looking at fake cakes, which have real cake inserts, and thought about just serving sheet cake. Or I thought about just getting a one tier cake decorated really nicely and sitting on top of a tall, elegant stand, and serving sheet cake. Or… just buying a bunch of different one-tiered cakes, putting them on different tiered stands, and decorating it with flowers. I think any of these could work. I also looked into cupcake towers, which can be cheaper, depending on where you go. But ultimately, the design I wanted was really simple… actually extremely similar to yours. I realized if I could just find someone to bake a plain cake, I could decorate it. Fortunately, one of my friends works at a bakery and said she could make a tiered, plain, white, fondant cake at home easily, and that the design I had picked out would take next to no time and have minimal costs. So… those are all the options I spent hours mulling over. Hope it helps.
This cake was one of the inspiration cakes I took to my baker. I don’t know of any in the area you need, but our cake is $3.00/slice.
I would also look in Milwaukee. I think there are many cake decorators there that would have a smaller delivery fee.
I’ve seen advertisements for Creative Cakes in Burlington that look nice. The Yellow Pages says their web address is http://www.creative-cakes.com
good luck
Thank you all SO much for your help. I think that I found someone from all of your help 
I am getting married in Milwaukee and using Sweetness by Alice. Aly (Alice) is a pastry chef and just started her own business. She is AWESOME and I can just tell she is so passionate about her job. She used to work at the Jean Phillipe Patisserie at the Bellagio in Vegas and Mason Street Grill at the Pfister in Milwaukee (which is one of the best restaurants in the city). She would definitely drive out to Lake Geneva also (she lives in Milwaukee - its not that far). Her email address is: sweetnessbyalice at gmail dot com
One cost saving idea when it comes to your wedding cake - have a “fake” cake on display and sheet cakes in the back to be served. We had a 5 tier cake at our wedding, but only two were actually cake (the top to save and the middle to cut)…the rest were styrofoam. Having the sheet cakes allowed us to give larger pieces, save the cake cutting until after the meal because the sheet cakes were already cut, and really cut down on our costs. The best part was that no one could tell the difference…because it was decorated beautifully! Happy planning!
It is true that the Safeway bakery might be more than you think… I have a friend who is a fantastic pastry chef, who has worked at some of the best restaurants in Denver, and now runs the bakery in a large Safeway. When he and his wife decided to have kids, he decided he needed decent hours and decent benefits. Its more common than you would think.
I’m with Jen B on the fake cake. It’s actually a lot cheaper, and you might be able to convince a bakery to decorate the fake cake, and then get the sheetcake from a place you really like.
If I lived in your area I’d offer to do your cake, but I’m a few states away!
[...] post about our cake conundrum lead to some unbelievably helpful suggestions from Weddingbee [...]
Try Costa Confections in Belvidere, IL.
I believe they deliver to Lake Geneva
They have a great website.
I make cakes and would be happy provide my services to you. If you are interested, please reply. Thanks.
I forgot to mention I’m in Burlington, WI.
Mrs. Sundae, Chicago/Lake Geneva, WI
Age and Occupation: 28, Knowledge Manager
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Investment Advisor
Engagement Date: July 20, 2007
Wedding Date: September 2008
Blogging Since: February 5, 2008
Venue: The Abbey Resort
About Me: It’s hard to believe that by the time Mr. Sundae and I get married we will have been together for almost ten years. When we first met in college we split dollar pitchers and now we share the mortgage payments. Despite our love for the city we are looking forward to tying the knot in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
Honestly, I would give some of the grocery stores a try. I am always amazed to see what comes out of there! We have one chain of grocery stores in my area that are known for wedding cakes and they are so tasty, inexpensive and beautiful. They employ award-winning cake decorators.
You may not find anyone, but its worth a try before looking out of your venue area.