Wedding Blog

Our first round of cake tasting went well, all things considered. The people who helped us were very nice, and obviously well versed in weddings. We were seated at a little bistro table (the bakery is tiny) and given 2 pieces each of the four types of cake that I had listed. Those flavors again:

• Genoise cake with vanilla mousse and fresh strawberries covered with white chocolate ganache
• Chocolate cake with chocolate mousse covered with chocolate ganache
• Red velvet cake with cream cheese filling, covered with white chocolate ganache
• Signature cheesecake with raspberry filling, covered with chocolate ganache

Clockwise, from the top left: red velvet with cream cheese frosting, genoise cake with vanilla mousse and sliced strawberries, chocolate cake with chocolate mousse, and their signature cheesecake.
Doesn’t it look yummy?

Mr. French Fries and I quickly hatched a plan before slipping into a sugar coma: we would take a few bites of each, think about our favorites, and then go back for a 2nd round just to make sure.

We started out with the chocolate/chocolate combo, and as if there was any doubt, it was my favorite. If there’s chocolate in it, it’s 99.9% guaranteed that I will love it. Mr. French Fries liked it, too, but isn’t as much of a chocolate fiend as I am (honestly, I don’t know what’s wrong with him!). We moved on to the genoise cake with strawberries. We weren’t quite sure what genoise was before our appointment, but basically it’s a really soft vanilla cake. This cake was Mr. French Fries favorite, by far — our “two bite” plan that we agreed upon at the beginning went out the window and he went to town on the cake. I had to remind him that we had two more to try!

We moved on to the red velvet. Normally, I really like red velvet, but this one didn’t do it for me. The cream cheese frosting was great, but the cake was a little dry, in my opinion. It could have been a fluke, but I already had my winner solidified in my mind — the chocolate combo. Mr. Fries wasn’t thrilled with the red velvet, either, so it was easily crossed off the list. The last cake that we tried was the cheesecake. Like I said in my last post, we both had eaten it before, and we both love it, so it was a natural pick for us.

We talked with the wedding consultant, who informed us that we needed to pick either a 3-tier cake to feed 100 people, or a 4-tier cake to feed 150 people. We decided to get pricing for a 3 tier, but that might be stretching it if we end up with more than 100 people at the wedding. So, the verdict is still out as to what we will pick if we go with this particular baker. Anyway. We were informed that the top tier of the cake would be ours to keep to freeze for our anniversary to eat after the honeymoon, so we picked cheesecake for our top tier. We agreed that Mr. French Fries’ favorite and my favorite would comprise the other two tiers, so the second tier would be genoise with sliced strawberries, and the third/bottom tier would be chocolate/chocolate.

The entire cake would be finished smooth with white chocolate ganache. I could bring in the ribbon to match, and I think they can make white sugar peonies to put between the top/middle tiers. It was such a delicious way to spend a Saturday afternoon. We’re not completely sure if we’re going to pick this particular baker or not. We have a few more tastings lined up, so after we go through those, I’ll report back with our final decision!

How many different bakers did you try before you found your wedding cake baker?