Wedding Cake Woes
It is tradition to serve cake or another special dessert at weddings. The cake or special dessert appears in numerous photos, by itself and when the bride and groom cut it. Therefore, it is important to carefully choose an experienced baker to make your special dessert.
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen at a wedding last week. The bride allowed a friend’s mother to make her cake. Apparently, the mother makes nice sheet cakes and figural cakes, but a multi-tiered wedding cake was another issue. The cake was delivered in separate layers, which is usual. When it was assembled, however, it was immediately obvious there was a problem. The cake looked like the Leaning Tower of Pisa and was in imminent danger of totally collapsing. It had to be disassembled, then placed in a refrigerator in an effort to help stabilize it.
Refrigeration helped a little. When it was time to serve the cake, it was reassembled and decorated with flowers, which helped hide some, but not all, of the problems. The bride did not see the cake when it arrived so it was a bit of a shock to see it and to have her guests staring at it while she and the groom cut it. The baker was embarrassed and upset by how it looked and she ended up refunding half the cost of the cake.
Situations like this can be prevented. Before allowing someone to bake your cake or other dessert, ask about their experience. Though the person may think she/he can bake a beautiful cake or dessert, she may not understand everything at stake if she isn’t able to perform as promised.
Ask to see photos of the baker’s work and be sure to look at photos of cakes that are similar in shape to what you want. Ask to sample the cake, filling, and icing, the pie, cheesecake, or other dessert. Cake should be moist; the filling thick enough to provide a flavor contrast. If your cake will be placed outdoors, find out if the baker knows how to prepare the icing so it won’t melt on a warm day. It is easy to do, but not all bakers know the tricks of the trade, particularly non-professionals.
If your reception or party will be outdoors, sun, wind and insects may be problems. No dessert should be placed in the sun. If shade is an issue, you may need to rent or borrow a small canopy to place over the dessert. A cake containing pillars between the layers is more apt to topple in the slightest breeze than a stacked cake. A large cake will also be more difficult to handle than a smaller cake supplemented by sheet cakes. Pie, on the other hand, holds up fairly well in outdoor conditions; many other desserts do not, however, and shouldn’t be placed outdoors at all.
With attention to detail and by asking the right questions, you can prevent the situation that occurred last week. Though well-meaning friends or family members may want to “help” you, feel free to decline if there is any possibility that they lack the experience to create a beautiful and professional looking dessert.
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