WEDDINGS: Say Bake to the Cake: Some regional pros give inside advice to help you plan one of the most visible parts of your ceremony
WEDDINGS
Say Bake to the Cake
Some regional pros give inside advice to help you plan one of the most visible parts of your ceremony
By Katherine Cox
Every couple wants to put their personal touch on their special day, whether it’s the venue, the vows, the theme, or the cake.
Yes, the cake.
The cake is one area that a couple can truly display their personalities and interests. On display at the reception, the cake can speak volumes about the bride and groom.
“Most of the time, the wedding cake is a showpiece,” says Irene Marston of Irene’s Cakes by Design in Ludlow.
There are endless varieties of cakes and designs to sift through, and wedding cake makers suggest the first place to go is the Internet. There, couples can explore photos of cakes and learn more about specific bakers so that when they meet, they can discuss options and narrow down their decisions.
“We tell couples to go with the design they like, then we can make the cake fit their budget and theme,” said Ronna Gendron of Ronna Gendron Cakes in Alstead, N.H. “I have some couples who know exactly what they want: the look, the flavoring. Others have no idea.”
Gendron’s specialty is “the artistic part”: making flowers and figurines from edible gum paste, a malleable dough that dries rigidly. “I love getting creative with flowers,” she says.
Design elements can range from real flowers to edible flowers, casual or elegant, and lifestyle themes writ large in sugar. Gendron especially likes clients who want their special interests incorporated into the cake design.
“I love it when they get unique and personal,” she says — that allows her to work more creatively.
For one couple from New York, Gendron made a huge cake to resemble an apartment building.
Another couple whose dogs were a big part of their lives had chocolate paw prints all over the white cake.
Yet another couple who were getting married on a ship chose a life-preserver motif. “They also felt like they were saving each other,” Gendron says.
Timing is crucial
Even if a couple has no fixed idea of what they want their wedding cake to say about them, bakers in the region urge brides and grooms to think about whom they want to make their cake and to do so as soon as they have a date.
“The sooner, the better,” says Dave Kelly of Sticky Fingers Bakery of Dover.
Timing is crucial, especially if it’s a busy season for weddings, so Gendron suggests that couples book early. Four to six months is the typical lead time for most bakers. Irene Marston agrees. “Four months is the minimum. By then you should have everything booked,” she says.
Consultations and tasting help nail down designs and flavors — and costs.
“I really love the consultations,” Gendron says, nothing that “the personalities of couples come out.”
“I love to hear the different stories, how they met, how their other [wedding] plans are coming,” she adds.
The cost of a wedding cake is wide ranging, with the guest count being the first consideration. Most bakers charge by the serving, which can range from $3.50 a serving to $5. Guest count can help determine the size of the cake and the number of tiers. Then it’s down to the flavors of the cake and filling, and the type of icing. Finally, the design. This work can run anywhere from $25 to $75 more, depending on how elaborate the motif. In the end, cakes can run from $175 to $450 and up, said Kelly of Sticky Fingers Bakery.
The variety of flavors can run from classic buttercream frosting to fondants; vanilla, chocolate, carrot, and red velvet cakes; and infinite choices of fillings that include chocolate, lemon and berry (the most popular).
Tastings are part of the process (“the fun part,” Gendron says) of buying most wedding cakes.
The couple “can put together whatever combination of flavors they like,” Marston says, and her list of cakes, fillings, and icings offers is eye-popping in its possibilities.
Special dietary issues can also be accommodated, with some bakers now providing gluten-free cakes, or even vegan and dairy-free offerings.
“Most [couples] want the cake to be a reflection of them,” Marston says, and suggests that when couples are sorting through pictures to be sure the photos are close-up and show details, which will help the baker match them.
Another good place to start might be the dress, she said, the features of which can be duplicated in the icing, or, similarly, the design of the invitation.
“From there I can do a drawing and come up with something they want, not just a cookie-cutter design,” she says.
Despite the individuality of wedding cakes, bakers are noticing trends. This year, several wedding cake makers in the region have noticed the growing popularity of a birchbark cake.
Michele Worden of Custom Cakes in Brookline says that one bride she worked with was going to use real birchbark.
“Why don’t you let me try to make it,” Worden suggested to her client. It turned out successfully.
And that also illustrates another trend.
“Here in Vermont, there are a lot of nature themes – leaves, branches, trees.” Marston points out. “Real flowers are giving way to edible flowers, wedding dress designs are popular, and some bakers are seeing a return to the traditional white-on-white wedding cake.”
In the end, however, there are only two factors to consider.
“You want it to look nice and taste great,” says Marston.
Three tips for selecting your wedding cake
Sharon Myers of Sharon Myers Fine Catering in Brattleboro (who made the cakes in the two photos in this story) suggests the following tips:
• Cupcakes seem to be the rage right now. They give you an opportunity to offer two or three varieties to your guests.
• If chocolate is your favorite and your groom/partner loves lemon, you can ask for different tiers to be different flavors. Or do two cakes for a real splash.
• If you are going with a fruit filling, be seasonal and decorate the outside with the same fruit. Instead of paying for expensive sugar flowers and fondant, go with fresh blueberries, strawberries, or raspberries. It will look fresh and seasonal, especially with local berries.
