Married for a MONTH!

Last week (exactly last week, actually), Justin and I celebrated one month of marriage. Woo hoo! Who knew that a month could pass by so quickly?

Justin and I decided that we didn't want to wait an entire year to eat the top tier of our wedding cake; we don't have the space in our freezer, and we were concerned that in 12 months our cake would simply not taste as good as a fresh one. So, the top tier was defrosted in preparation for our evening!

After a delicious dinner, we popped open a bottle of champagne and prepared to cut into our cake!

I was surprised at how good the decorations on the outside of the cake held up! Yes, some of the lace work cracked and is no longer straight, but considering it was wrapped in plastic wrap and aluminum foil for a month, I was impressed!

Oh, how I wish I had the pro pics of the entire cake from the wedding day - can't you tell it was ridiculously gorgeous?!?! Ohhhhh ok...I'll let you have a peek of the entire cake in all its glory, as captured by one of our guests:

I was in love with it. Clearly.

We had selected two different flavors of cake for the wedding: chocolate kahlua creme and amaretto. Justin and I had no idea what flavor the top tier was going to be until the knife went into the cake! Surprise - it was amaretto (which was great, because both of us had the chocolate kahlua during our reception)!

Um...I was really excited about eating some cake, can you tell???

And I'm sure you are wondering, how did it taste? I was definitely a bit concerned, as month (or year) old cake has had mixed reviews from a number of other brides. However, we were extremely lucky; our cake tasted just as good as it did on the day of the wedding! It was still extremely moist, and the flavor was fantastic! I think that the white chocolate fondant was what helped; I'm no scientist, but I think that the fondant sealed in the freshness of the cake! Yum!

One month certainly went by in a flash; Justin and I have really been enjoying our time as newlyweds, and we are excited for what lies ahead of us!

I am chomping at the bit to begin our wedding day recaps; I can't wait to get my hands on our photos so that I can share our special day with you all!

Wedding Cake: Take 3

In my previous cake-related post, I was pretty frustrated with the entire cake designing process. Since we were only about a month and some change out from the wedding date at that point, panic had officially set in. Must...find...baker...NOW!

I consulted various wedding vendor directories for my area, and frantically sent out emails/inquiry forms to about a dozen, hoping that they would be available on my date! After sending out the S.O.S.'s, I sat back on the couch for a moment of respite. About 20 minutes later, my phone rang. It was one of the bakers, returning my inquiry...talk about a quick response! She was very sweet on the phone, and we set up a meeting for later on in the week.

On the day of the tasting, Justin, my mom, and I met up at The East Lake Cafe, which is where Cakes by Nomeda is located. The cafe is only open for breakfast and lunch, so when Nomeda met us at the door, we had the restaurant to ourselves. We sat down around the table, and she presented us each with a plate full of FOURTEEN different cake samples!

I instantly began to drool at the impending deliciousness.

Nomeda makes both American and European cakes. At first, I was confused; I had no idea about this! But, once we started to taste them, we could detect the difference in texture between the two. You are most likely familiar with American cakes (I think...). However, in comparison, the European cakes were denser and had a smoother texture to them. Both were delicious though! I'm sure you are curious to know the different flavors we tasted! They are as follows, starting at the top and working clockwise around the plate:

American cakes:

Chocolate with toffee creme

Chocolate kahlua creme

Red velvet

Vanilla with vanilla buttercream

European cakes:

Signature cake (it features nuts as a layer; you can choose pecans, macadamia nuts, etc.)

European chocolate cake

Hummingbird cake (a spice cake with pineapple and pecans)

Champagne cake with strawberry creme

Amaretto creme

Orange creme

Lemon creme

Raspberry creme

Mango creme

Vanilla creme

We worked our way around the plate, eating half of each sample so that we could go back a second time to re-try any that we liked. We instantly eliminated the berry creme-related flavors, as the three of us all tend to gravitate towards the richer flavors (I'm a fiend for chocolate). All of us enjoyed the hummingbird flavor; it was one of the most unique cake flavors I have ever had, but it was absolutely to die for! It reminded me of coffee cake almost (it features pecans, pineapple, and banana; it is a southern cake). Although, it did come with a higher price tag per slice than some of the other flavors. After finishing the samples, we each shared which flavor was our favorite. Justin quickly stated that the amaretto was his, and my mom liked the chocolate kahlua creme. I was stuck between the hummingbird cake and the chocolate toffee creme. Thankfully, the cake flavor only has to be solidified a week or two before the wedding, so we had time to think about it at this point before making decisions!

After tasting the cake, it was time to discuss the design! We paged through Nomeda's HUGE book of previous cakes; there were so many lovely cakes that she has made in the past! At that point, I pulled out my design inspiration picture, along with my cake topper:

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I took a deep breath, expecting a similar response to the previous baker. Instead, I was met with excitement! Nomeda informed us that she has had 2 years of training in specialty lacework for cakes, and that creating a design similar to my inspiration would be an awesome challenge for her! After inspecting the design, she told us that she would make the lace design itself out of fondant, instead of piping it on the cake. When it is time to cut the cake, the lace can be pulled off easily. Awesome! We decided that the lace work should be in white, and the cake itself should be a beige/champagne colored fondant to match the tree on our cake topper. I know, some of you may be thinking, "yuck...fondant tastes awful," but guess what? Nomeda imports white chocolate fondant from Switzerland. It is rolled out to be only about as thick as a few sheets of paper, and it tastes good! Typically, bakeries use a sugar fondant which is thicker, tougher, and might not be pleasant to taste. I was so happy to hear that the fondant on our cake would be edible!

Then came the issue of pricing. I was on pins and needles to hear the quote, because after pricing out the previous bakeries, I was starting to realize how incredibly expensive wedding cakes can be! However, I was incredibly surprised (in a good way!)! Nomeda charges a very reasonable price per serving for her cakes, and she DOESN'T charge any extra fees for her design work. SCORE! On the way home from our meeting, my mom and I stopped by Publix to price out the same size of cake, just for a comparison. Guess what...the same size cake at Publix would have been around $100 more (and you have to select your design from a book)! I couldn't believe it.

So...as you can probably deduce...our deposit was in the mail ASAP! I am really looking forward to working with Nomeda, and I can't wait to see how the cake turns out on the wedding day!

Did you taste any unique cake types/flavors at your tastings? What flavor(s) are you hoping to select/did you select?

Wedding Cake: Take Two

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Wedding timeline lists seriously make me feel ill. Yes, I know that they are created in order to give structure and organization to the wedding planning process (which I can appreciate), but whenever I deviate from the timeline I start to feel like I'm going to break out into hives!

However, I am here to tell you all that it is not impossible to make plans/schedule vendors at times that differ from the given timeline! Yes - you can do it! Case in point: my wedding cake. According to most wedding planning timelines, you should have your cake baker booked at around the 6 month mark. Oh hmmm...yes...it is April now, the wedding is only a month and a half away, and I am JUST NOW booking my cake. Yeah, before you revoke my bride card, hear me out!

The first reason as to why I'm so behind: I was living in Virginia! That REALLY put the brakes on with wedding cake tasting. It is just really difficult to taste wedding cakes when you don't live in the same state as the bakeries! Mr. Buttons and I tried out Publix cake when we were home for Thanksgiving, but we weren't ready to sign the contract after that experience.

Well, we moved back to Florida, and for a few weeks I was on a mission to complete unfinished tasks, which included the cake! Justin and I went to a very nice bakery in town that is known for amazing cakes. We tasted them, and we were impressed. However, when we started to talk to the baker herself, we were less than thrilled. After sifting through hundreds of cake photos, I had pulled one (yes...one) picture as my inspiration. It was everything that I wanted:

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When the baker asked me about what I wanted in regards to the design, I proceeded to show her the photo. I also mentioned how I was looking for something very simple. She looked at the photo, then looked back at me and oh so bluntly said, "that design is NOT simple." Mmmmmok...well perhaps I didn't quite phrase it right? Yes, I realized that the work involved might be detailed, but the look of the cake itself is not what I would consider elaborate. Sheesh lady, how about a "wow that is really pretty," or even a "yes, we can definitely create this!" Regardless of whether or not she understood what I was originally saying, I was put off by the encounter...as well as the outrageous "design" charge that she quoted because of the work involved.

After that particular meeting, I was feeling a bit dejected and frustrated about the cake situation. So...I put it off...until last week, when I found the best cake baker EVER! But, you'll have to wait, as that story is for another time!

How many different cake bakeries did you try out before you found the one?

Cakeee! Nom nom nom…

We had our first cake tasting…nom nom nom!

Justin absolutely loves Publix cake (for those of you who don't have a Publix, it is a grocery store chain). And, with good reason, because it is delicious! We definitely want to consider it as an option. Thankfully, Publix offers complimentary cake tastings, so we were all over it!

When I called the bakery to place the order, however, the woman who I spoke with was clearly not used to the ordering process…or was in a hurry and didn’t feel like taking five minutes to talk to me. When I said I wanted to try some cake and filling flavors, she quickly asked me, “ok, so which ones?”

“So, could you tell me how exactly you set up the tasting samples please?”

“You just tell me what cake flavors and fillings you want to try.”

"Do I need to tell you combinations or anything?"

"Nope."

Hm, seems simple enough. I named every cake flavor on the list (chocolate, marble, vanilla, and red velvet), and then the fillings that I would like to sample (cannoli crème, vanilla crème, lemon, and chocolate pudding). I also asked her if they could do a sample with the almond flavored cake that I absolutely love. I have asked for it in the past for my birthday cakes (from the same exact store), so I know that they make it. However, the bakery lady assured me that they don't have that flavor. I was a bit peeved, but decided to just leave it be for the moment...as I could always do another tasting. So, the order was done! The woman at the bakery told me to come and pick the samples up the next day.

When I went to pick up the cake samples, I was a little confused when I looked into the box. I figured (foolishly) that they would give me slices of the cake, and the fillings on the side so that we could test them out in different combinations....or something like that. Wrong! There was a long, thin strip of each cake flavor. Each strip contained ALL of the filling flavors with buttercream frosting on top (except for the red velvet cake, which had only cream cheese frosting). Right off the bat, I wasn’t thrilled. I had asked to try lemon filling, and it was featured throughout the samples. Ummm chocolate cake with lemon filling? Ewwww. And, I also noticed that the filling that I was most looking forward to tasting, the cannoli cream...which I specifically requested that I was most interested in, wasn’t included anywhere. Single tear.

See the lemon creme in between the chocolate cake and marble cake? Yikes...

Despite the confusion, we soldiered on and sliced up the samples. Our verdict? I’ll admit, I was kind of disappointed. The red velvet cake was the hands-down favorite (it is fabulous). Other than that though, we could take it or leave it with the rest of the flavors. The chocolate pudding and vanilla crème filling were fine, but pretty bland. In the end Justin and I agreed that we would prefer buttercream frosting in lieu of a filling.

So, what did we take away from this? Publix could be a good option for the cake. We would definitely need to taste some more flavor combinations beforehand though! Budget-wise, Publix would be a very checkbook friendly option as well, so that is another plus! We decided to keep Publix in the running, but to keep an eye out for other options that arise in the meantime.

Did you have a hard time deciding on a bakery for your cake? How many tastings did you have before solidifying your choice?

Sitting in a tree...

Lucia wants to know what is in the box!

It’s here! It’s here! Justin and I were sitting on the couch yesterday evening, when there was a knock at the door. For some reason unbeknownst to me, our mail carrier passes our apartment some time between 5 and 7 each night. I have never seen that before in my life…very strange! Anyway, like I said, there was a knock at the door, and when Justin emerged in the living room with a box, I knew exactly what was inside!

I immediately opened the box, and then waited a few seconds…holding my breath…hoping that when I removed the layers of paper protecting it, that it would be the cake topper that I had imagined.

…sigh of relief…it is!

I am such a tactile person; being able to touch the topper and inspect it up close was quite a relief! The tree base and the birds are made of spun cotton; they are plush! I love the details of the moss and sparkle on the bottom of the tart tin…just enough to add a touch of vintage glam!

Once again, the topper was made by Crystal at Vintage by Crystal…check out her Etsy shop or her website!

Crystal was wonderful to work with; I liked the initial inspiration of the birds in a tree cake topper that I showed you here...but picky bridezilla me decided that I wanted a few minor changes. Crystal was extremely amenable to my wishes, and was willing to change details of the topper, from the base (she has an assortment of vintage tart tins and boxes you can select from), to the details on the bride and groom bird (which is what I requested).

Was/is there something involved in your planning that you can’t wait to get your hands on in person?

The Icing on the Cake...

Ok, so perhaps this isn’t icing…but I’m looking for a cake topper!

As much as I love the traditional little figurines that adorn the top of the wedding cake, I am looking for something a little different…

My obsession? Cute and adorable bird cake toppers! I have been scouring Etsy for some options…and I can’t decide!!! Check out my inspiration, and give me your opinion!!!

soduel

I love the lace detail on this one...and one of our colors is blue...hmmm

Rain’s End

emiliefriday

suebeehb

RedLightStudio

Sooooo...thoughts? Are you partial to any of these toppers in particular? What do you think about non-traditional cake toppers? Have you seen any cute ideas at weddings, or have you had a great one of your own?