Monday, April 29, 2013

The Sweetest Thing

So now that we kind of sort of have our cake topper sorted out, maybe I should tell you about what it will be perched on?  Honestly, the cake is my favorite part of any wedding, or day, or basically life.  I LOVE cake.  And I posted earlier about the first stop on our journey to find a cake.

We decided to cut our losses with that baker, and move on.  I'm sure the cake they would have made would have tasted fine, and looked nice, but I just wasn't feeling it.  And sometimes you have to go with your gut.

Once we started to look for bakers again, I contacted a couple and one sent me a photo of a chevron cake she had done, and it just looked messy and not very crisp.  I started to think my idea of a beautiful chevron cake in fondant might not be possible, or at least I didn't feel confident that it would look perfect.  And besides, what the cake looks like is important, but I think that what it tastes like is even more important; it is crucial to have a delicious cake!

A long time ago, I noticed that Central Market, an awesome grocery store (where Top Chef did some shopping when they were in town!  I saw them filming there!), makes cakes.  Not just your typical grocery store sheet cake either.  Beautiful, tiered cakes!



Three cake examples from Central Market.  Above three images via Central Market

They don't use fondant, so the cake won't be quite as smooth and fancy.  But they do have the ability to make stripes or other designs in the frosting, and it will look beautiful.  We set up an appointment to meet with a baker there, and part of setting up the appointment included us picking 4 flavor combinations for a test cake.  We asked for lemon cake with raspberry and lemon filling and white whipped cream frosting, white cake with strawberry filling and white whipped cream frosting and white chocolate truffle, champagne with champagne filling and white chocolate truffle, and marble cake with caramel filling and chocolate whipped cream filling.  And then we patiently waited two weeks.

When we went for our appointment, she brought out the sample cake (which had all four flavors, each quarter different), we drooled over it, and we talked about design.  We were just throwing out ideas, but they are able to make one tier taller than the others, like I hoped, and it will be three round tiers with stripes on one tier, the other two smooth.  We also discussed logistics, in that they make the cake the morning of the wedding, and then we would have to pick it up to bring it to the venue.  Then we took the sample cake home, and I dove right in.

I had had a slice of Central Market cake before, so I knew it was tasty, but OH MAN it was delicious.  The lemon raspberry was my favorite by far, but the strawberry was also tasty.  I think we should only have one fruit flavor, though, and mix in a chocolate or something.  The chocolate/marble caramel was also amazing, and was actually my second favorite (strange coming from someone who never picks the chocolate dessert). The champagne was... weird.  It tasted EXACTLY like the pink sweetheart conversation heart candies.

I am so mad they changed the flavors for these.  I used to love the white, yellow, orange, and green ones (in that order)!!!  But always hated the pink and purple flavors...  Image via Google Image Search

We later had my parents up to taste the cakes (because we couldn't justify eating an entire cake by ourselves....  but lets be honest, I probably ate over 50% of the cake anyway!), and they agreed that the lemon raspberry was the best.  My dad thought the chocolate/marble caramel was too sweet, so we were thinking maybe the hazelnut or almond fillings instead of the caramel.  I later went by the Central Market bakery and bought a marble hazelnut fudge slice of cake to taste.  We decided we don't like the heaviness of the fudge, and I wished you could taste the hazelnut more (Nutella, anyone?), so now I'm hoping sometime there will be an almond flavor to try!

We haven't signed on the dotted line yet, but it is imminent!  Plus I love that on our anniversary we could always go in and order a little cake, instead of saving the top tier, and it'll be fresh and delicious.

Did you have a "grocery store cake" at your wedding?  And did you love the flavors of the old conversation hearts too?  Ugh, I could (and have) rant about how upset I am that they changed the flavors for hours!

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