What to Expect When You're Cake Tasting!

A sweet birch look with
gum paste flowers.

     When you are ready to design your wedding cake, call us to set up a tasting appointment. During your appointment you will sample some of our flavors and speak with the pastry chef in person to plan your cake. At the end, we will provide you with a quick sketch and a price quote for your wedding cake!

       You can start by looking through our photos and also pulling together images of cakes that you like.  In fact, you can bring images of almost anything that will help you design your cake!  That can be your invitation, color samples, lace from your dress, really anything that catches your eye.  If this sounds like more work than you'd like to do, we will have pictures and ideas that can serve as a jumping off point for you.  You don't have to bring anything with you to the tasting except some basic information about your wedding. (Where, when, how many people, just logistical stuff).

Silver metallics and tissue flowers
accent this pretty little cake.

     Once you've made your appointment and selected the flavors you would like to try you're ready to come in! We will bring out all your flavor choices in the form of cupcakes. We will also provides samples of the icings and cake fillings you would like to try, so that you can mix and match flavors and put together any combination that strikes your fancy.  Once you've had a chance to taste everything, I will work out a design with you.

    When it comes to design, I usually start by determining the size of your cake based on the number of people you would like to serve. Some couples want to go with one big cake, while others like to design several smaller cakes. Another popular trend I've been seeing lately is to combine a few smaller cakes with other desserts like cupcake, cookies, donuts, ice cream and anything else you can imagine!

   

Go big with this lovely flag cake.

Once we've figured out the size and shape of your cake, I like to hone in on the flavor selection. At our shop, you may pick a different flavor for each tier of cake, if you'd like. But ultimately, it's up to the bride and groom to pick their favorites. Next up, we select the icing which goes hand in hand with the design phase.

    Most brides and grooms will bring in a few inspiration images, which help me to get a sense of the tone and aesthetic of your wedding. We can either replicate something directly, or pick an choose elements that you like. We can even come up with something brand new based on what you've been imagining! We will work through all the details from the borders to the toppers. Color samples can be very helpful, as can invitations, photos, save the dates, etc. etc. Just bear in mind that as the cake gets more ornate, the price tends to go up. 

Weddings are all about Love!

     I usually like to draw up a little, very simple sketch which helps put all the pieces together. After we've decided on all the details, That's when I get out the old calculator and put together the price quote. There's no pressure to order on the spot, of course you may, but you should feel free to bring the quote home and go over it at your leisure. If you do decide you want to book your cake with us, we take a deposit of half and sign off on the cake contracts. 

        When we get closer to your wedding we'll check in with you to see if you have any changes you want made to your design.  Then, we start to make the decorations for your wedding cake.  First, we work on any decorations that need a lot of time to set up then we start baking, icing and decorating your cake!

It's Wedding Cake (Tasting) Season!

    I recently learned that 3 of the 4 days that see the most engagements take place in December. Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Years Eve are 3 of the most popular days to propose (the other one is Valentine's day). That means that there is a whole group of excited brides and grooms-to-be who are just starting to plan their weddings. In addition to that group, there are all those couples out there that are getting married this spring and summer who are at that fun stage where they've booked their venues, picked their dates, and are ready pick their food.

If you are like me, You will probably take a lot of silly photos like this.

Our Venue, Glenn Foerd, didn't usually allow
outside wedding cakes, but they were kind
enough to make an exception for our wedding.

    What does this all mean to your little local cake shop? Well, it means that even though the excitement and craziness of the holiday season is behind us, we are now entering into prime season for wedding cake tastings, bridal shows and general info calls. I thought I'd spend this post talking a little bit about planning for your wedding cake, what happens in a tasting and what goes in to booking your wedding cake. I've touched on this a bit before, but it's such an important topic, it's worth re-visiting.

    In my experience, the first step to planning your wedding cake is actually just picking your venue and your wedding date. Why does this matter? Well, it's going to determine if you can bring in an outside cake, whose cake you can bring in, who is within the delivery range, and who is available for your wedding date. It would be unfortunate to go through the excitement of finding the perfect cake and the perfect bakery, only to learn that they either aren't available OR that your venue does not allow outside venders. It's also very important to figure out what you are budgeting for your wedding cake, and how much guests you would like it to serve, since these are important factors to planning your wedding cake.

   

Ah, Pinterest. Why weren't you around when I got married?

   Once you've worked out some of the logistics, the fun part begins. You should start getting together some images of what you like in a wedding cake. Is your wedding rustic or modern? What's your color scheme? If you're planning a wedding, you've probably already become very familiar with Pinterest and other wedding planning sites and magazines. These are, of course, great places to start with your cake planning! You don't have to find a cake that is exactly what you're looking for, that's why you are meeting with a cake designer, but it's invaluable to have some images to use as starting points.

These are some of our different filling and icing flavors.

     You should also start checking out the websites of a few local cake shops, they should be able to give you some basic pricing information, and also you should get to know their aesthetic to make sure they are a good fit for your wedding. Don't be afraid to call for information, that's what we are here for! We do this stuff every day, while this is a once in a lifetime moment for you.

      Also think about what flavors your might be interested in for your cake. Are you more of a
traditional, chocolate or white cake couple, or do you want to surprise your guests with a banana cake or passionfruit filling? Icing choice is another thing to consider. I've touched on this in my previous posts "In Defense of Fondant" and "the Beautiful World of Buttercream." There are very important pros and cons to both icings. You should definitely plan on tasting both icings at any bakery you visit, since they can really vary widely from shop to shop.

   

Some sketches of wedding cake ideas.

  Once you've figured out a few bakeries that are a good fit for you, your budget and your venue, you should start setting up tasting appointments. A tasting appointment is a chance for you to come in, taste some cake flavors, design your cake, and get an exact price for your design and flavor choice. While each bakery treats them a little differently, they are often complimentary and very helpful. That being said, please be conscious that tasting are expensive for a cake shop, both in terms of materials and time. Once you've made some appointments, you're ready for the best part : the wedding cake tasting. I'll cover that in the next post. "What to Expect During Your Cake Tasting."

Grand Openings are a Great Time to Party!

     Hi Friends! It's been a while since I've posted and I'm very sorry for that. A LOT has happened since my last post, and that is why I have been so negligent of this blog. So, I'm going to start by writing a long overdue post about our grand opening and all the people we want to thank.

Sean and I grinning ear to ear during our grand opening.

 
  The big news is that we finally opened our shop at the Beginning of November. We soft opened on the 3rd and we had our official Grand Opening on the 6th. We celebrated by inviting our neighbors in for a cookies and milk party. We provided the cookies, the milk and a fun cake and our neighbors supplied the excitement. We were so thrilled to see so many families in our shop. People seemed to really enjoy the ambience and many of them treated themselves to some of our baked goods. It was a really great night!

Our customers seemed excited about our milk and cookies party.

  We followed up that party with our "Friends and Family" party the next evening when we had a private shindig with all those wonderful people who helped us along the way and kept our spirits up when it felt like we would never get it all done! I think we filled the shop past capacity, but it was a great group of people. We are really so lucky to have so many terrific people in our lives!
 
   With that in mind, I want to thank all the remarkable folks who helped make this happen. Thank you first and foremost to our parents. David, Kelley, Skip, and Dorothy, we absolutely would not have this shop without your support, your guidance and your overall fabulous parenting! Jamie, Katie, Alexis and Brian, you guys are phenomenal siblings, thanks for being there for us, you're the best!
 

Cake cutting is no longer just for
weddings. This is the second time
we "cut the cake."

     Next up, we have to thank the creative team that made the physical space of our shop into a reality. Val and Trudy at Ennis Nehez, your amazing eye for design, your quick problem solving skills, and your excitement for our project helped us envision a space more fabulous than we could ever dream up. Jonathan and your team with Duck Rabbit turned this shop into a beautiful reality that functions. I can't tell you all how many compliments we get on the way our shop looks and feels every day, it's really amazing. You turned our vague descriptions of our aesthetic into something real and breathtaking. Ingrid, thank you for being such a fantastic, patient building owner. We hope to be your tenants for a long, long time. Thank you to our neighbors for putting up with our construction, the noise, dust and traffic.

Tuba Dan entertaining our guests.

  Ben, Katie, Jesse, Jessie and Josh, thank you guys for helping us with some of the smaller, but super important elements of our logo design and branding elements. Ben and Katie, the logo is magnificent! Jesse and Jessie the wood-working is pitch-perfect!  Josh, the window signs are great and thank you for supplying us with your adobe software expertise! Susannah, thank you for helping us get the shop up and running. We could not have opened without your help. Our first week would not have been nearly as successful without your skills and eye for detail.  Dan "Tuba Dan" Nosheny, thank you for providing perfect accordion accompaniment for our opening party.
 

Nothing says "party" like balloons.

     We want to thank all of our mentors. Thank you Alex, Amy, Peri, Maureen, Kate, Susannah, Katie, and all the other wonderful decorators I have worked with. Your talent and artistry inspired me to work harder and become a better decorator. To the wonderful ladies at John and Kira's, Angela, Lorraine, Corrine, Heather and Megan, you showed me how fun work can be, even when your exhausted! To the crew at Culinart and Compass, thanks for teaching me the value of hard work and attention to detail. You set a great example for me to follow and taught me how to work as part of a team. Thank you all. Amy and John, Thank you for being great mentors to me and helping me hone in on how I envision myself as a business owner, even if I still don't really think of myself as one.
 
  Thank you to all of our friends who have been keeping up with our progress, either in person or via social media. It's so great to have your "likes" and well wishes to come home to each day. We miss you and if you are ever in Philly, come visit us. Also, thank you so much to those of you who don't know us, but have come by the shop to see what we're about. We are so grateful for your support, and I hope we can surpass your expectations!

     We've been very very busy keeping our shop up and running. I will try to write another post soon, but I'm not going to make any promises about when. In the meantime, stop in and say "Hello!"