Visions of wedding cakes

I dreamt about wedding cakes last night. Luckily, I think yesterday's cake tasting for my cousin's wedding is the last one. We went to four places, including two places in San Jose that just focus on wedding cakes; a local wedding cake designer whose space doubles as a cupcake shop; and a bakery/deli that happens to do wedding cakes, too.

Though you might think the places that just focus on the wedding cakes would have the edge, I don't really think that is the case. At both places we went to that just do wedding cakes, we found the cake dry and the fillings not very flavorful. At those places, there were long lists of cake varieties and fillings, but pretty much everything is an "upgrade." So even if the base price for the cake is $500, by the end it goes up a few hundred dollars. Want fresh strawberries? That will be $1 a person, but for $25 per layer you can get strawberry gel. Hmmm, no thanks. I think these places focus more on the decorating than on the flavor. The cost was also $200-300 more than we were quoted at the two places that actually had good-tasting cakes.

There is something to be said for a smaller shop where the decorater and the baker are one in the same because I think they will strive for the best of both - a good-tasting and good-looking cake. My cousin has the final say on her cake, but I think we are looking at a three-layered cake with chocolate cake and kahlua hazelnut cream layer, a layer of French vanilla and strawberry buttercream, and a to-be-decided layer from the local bakery that delivers. As for the other bakery with the amazing buttercream made with pastry cream, my cousin couldn't find a place with a refrigerated that would deliver so it's kinda out of the runnings. My mom and I, however, do have plans to order a cake from that place for my cousin's bridal shower since we would easily be able to transport a smaller cake by car!

The final slice - or maybe not

Yesterday we went to Capitola for what I thought would be the final cake tasting for my cousin's wedding. We already had a good feeling about the local bakery - and we knew this place doesn't deliver to San Jose, where the wedding will be next May - so we were going into it thinking we probably wouldn't go with this bakery.

Then we tasted the buttercream frosting at Gayle's Bakery on Bay Avenue. For anyone who hasn't made buttercream, it is basically made with lots of butter, lots of sugar and whatever flavoring you want to add. I've made it a few times and it is hard to get the balance between creaminess and sweetness right, without going too far.

The buttercream at Gayle's - which can be tasted any day of the week since they sell cake by the slice in their bakery/deli - is almost like eating whipped cream. The secret seems to be the use of pasty cream, which I've never heard of before. It works wonders for a topping that complements any flavor of cake and filling without overwhelming it.

We tried a devil's food cake, vanilla genoise, hazelnut and a lemon cake, with a variety of fillings. All of that didn't really matter once we tried the butter cream and we were sold. The only problem is they don't deliver outside of Santa Cruz County - and a wedding cake is not something we want to entrust to a cousin or friend of family for a two-hour drive across curvy mountain roads.

My cousin vowed to look into refrigerated delivery trucks, so she is still up in the air. Last word from her is that she wants to try out a couple other places in San Jose because now she knows how good a wedding cake can taste. So it looks like one more weekend, at least, will be taken up with wedding duties.

Photo by Melissa Flores
A slice of mocha cake with vanilla buttercream frosting from Gayle's Bakery in Capitola.

Easy as cake

Today I continued my duties as maid of honor with the first of three cake tastings and the second of three gift registries.

You'd think tasting cake would be, well, a piece of cake. But so far it hasn't been so easy. We tried to go to a place that advertises free cake tastings once a month - but they canceled twice because they had too many cakes to decorate. Then my cousin, the bride to be, called another local place only to have the cake decorator say she doesn't really do wedding cakes except for friends and family - despite the elaborate Web site she had promoting her services.

But we finally had our first tasting this morning in Santa Clara at 11 a.m. As always, my cousin was running late. When it became clear we weren't going to make it on time, I called the bakery to say we would be a few minutes late, and the person who answered said she hoped we made it soon because she had a noon appointment. Of course, the bakery is in the middle of this industrial part of town and it has a VERY small sign. We missed it the first time around and ended up having to cross Lawrence Expressway to turn around. Then we had to cross it again to go back towards the bakery and still couldn't find it. About the third time around, I spotted the small sign and we got there 10 minutes late.

But as it turns out, someone else had shown up unannounced to order a bridal shower cake and the cake consultant used the time to help them. We were able to taste and peruse the designs while she finished up.

We tried five cakes - a rum-soaked tiramisu with mascarpone cheese, chocolate with chocolate mousse, carrot cake with cream cheese, red velvet with cream cheese and a poppyseed with lemon curd. I personally loved the tiramisu and the poppyseed. We also tried some of the other fillings available, including a delicious strawberry preserve and a mocha truffle.

I learned a lot about wedding cakes this morning. Fondant is very expensive. Decorators charge for each tier that they decorate. Delivery is extra. Now that I know the ballpark figure for a cake to serve 125 people, I do feel a little guilty for the piece of cake I took at a friend's wedding a couple years ago and misplaced due to having had a bit too much champagne. I probably wasted $10 of cake.

The joke of the day is that at the wedding, my mom, who is paying for the cake, will be going around the reception hall making sure no one wastes the cake.

We have two more tastings to go, but one thing is for sure. I will not be buying a bridal shower cake from any of these places - I think I'll go with a cheap sheet cake from Costco!