Tastings are a wonderful opportunity to sample a baker's cakes to get an idea for their texture, moisture, and overall flavor!  And every baker constructs their tastings in different ways. 

Today's trend in tasting is to choose your cake flavor in which you will taste for the consultation.  As of recent, we did not offer this to brides.  The reason?  Because we are a small family owned and operated bakery.  The average sample cake tastes 3 hours to create from baking to icing.  If I were to make 3 sample cake samples per consultation, that's 9 hours of preparation just for 1 consultation.  Let's say I meet with 4 brides in a day (sometimes less, sometimes more).  Well, you can do the math.  Not to mention the time for the actual consultation and then let's not forget the wedding!  So custom tastings for every bride is just not a realistic option since we don't have a full time staff member to only bake sample cakes.  And why would you want that?  Don't you want the person who is making your wedding cake to make the cake you sample at your consultation too?  However, we have wanted to provide this service to our brides so we got together with some of our favorite wedding guru's and came up with a plan.  And here it is:

Consultation Tasting: Our tasting at the consultation will remain the same.  The consultation is when we will sit down and build your cake from scratch.  When we sit down to design your cake I will offer a free tasting at that time.  Those 3 flavors you sample will be 3 of the flavors I am creating that week for weddings.  This gives you an exact representation of what your wedding cake will taste like and gives us the time to focus on our weddings and special event cakes for that weekend.  After all, that is what we are here for...to make every wedding cake we create beautiful and tasty! 

Custom Tasting: Every other month we will schedule an evening at one of our favorite venues.  During our 3 hour block we will schedule 15 minute tasting sessions.  This tasting will be a mix and match tasting.  When you schedule your tasting  you will choose 3 flavors and 3 fillings to sample.  The samples will be presented in pieces, not as a slice of cake.  Bakery terms...deconstructed tasting.  This allows you to try and create different tastes and you can mix and match the different flavors and different fillings at once to see what flavor combination you like the best.  Since this will be a 15 minute session, it will only be used for tasting purposes and the design aspect of the cake will take place during our consultation.  Since we just had our Grand Tasting this past weekend, we hope to introduce our first ever Custom Tasting in March!  Be on the lookout in our blog, website, and social media for that date so you can sign up and choose your flavors!

We are so excited to be hosting another Grand Tasting!  First things first, what is a Grand Tasting!  Well, let me tell you.  It's a wonderful Open House style cake tasting.  Bring your family and friends and come taste some of our most popular cake flavors this season!  This tasting will give you an opportunity to taste our classics as well as some unique flavors you may not have considered for your wedding!

I'm sure you would love to know what flavors we will be serving.  Well, wait no longer!  We will have our classic French Vanilla cake with a light and fluffy Lemon filling, a moist Banana Foster cake with the rich Caramel filling, a decadent Chocolate cake with Bailey's Chocolate Mousse filling, a flavorful German Chocolate cake, the sweet Pink Champagne cake with Strawberry filling, and the traditional favorite Italian Cream with Cream Cheese fillings.  All cakes will be iced in our yummy Buttercream or Chocolate Buttercream icings.  Mouth watering  yet?

Once you have sat down and enjoyed a little sampling...of everything, then grab one of our albums and check out some of our previous cakes to get ideas for your cake.

Walk around from table to table and get inspired with our mock cake tables.  It's never too early to figure out how to display your wedding cake!

We would love to sit down with you while you munch on cake and answer any questions as well as discuss your wedding cake!

So, here are the important details you need to know:

Saturday, January 28th
11:00 am - 1:00 pm
Chateau on the Creek
Round Rock, TX

Well, it's almost here!  Time for the Austin Bridal Extravaganza!  The January show is my personal favorite.  Often times when I talk to brides and ask what they thought of the show I am met with, "Overwhelming!"  Well...let me give you a few tips for you aren't quite so overwhelmed!

My first tip...relax and enjoy it!  The Bridal Extravaganza is a one stop shop for all your wedding needs and planning a wedding should be fun...so don't stress about planning your entire wedding in one day because it won't happen.  Bring your mom, friend, fiance, whomever and make a day of it.  

Eat a light breakfast and skip lunch (trust me on this one...you will leave full).  Arrive early.  The Bridal Extravaganza opens at noon, so arrive a few minutes early to allow yourself to park and get in.  

Once the doors open start from one end of the room and work your way through to the other end.  Take your time and enjoy the booths.  You can get lots of ideas from different decorations placed in booths.  Ask the booth if you can snap a photo of something you like to remember for later.

As you make your way from booth to booth, check out their decoration.  Do you like it?  What about the people in the booth?  Are they friendly?  Taste their food...is it good?  Smell the flowers...are they fresh?  You should be able to get a good feel from somebody based on this.  If you like what you see/hear collect their information.  Ask a few questions like if your date is available, pricing, style, etc?  If you like what you hear put a star on their brochure and maybe add a few notes.  

If you find a wedding professional that you just love and know you want to work with, go ahead and sign a contract.  Bring checks/credit cards to leave a deposit.  This will make sure you aren't disappointed if you contact them a week later and your date is gone.

When you get home organize your brochures while it is still fresh.  I like to organize them by category. Put all your photographers together, bakers, etc.  If there was somebody you really liked put them on top.  If you didn't like them put them at the bottom.  That way you know your top choices when it's time to set up consultations.  

And while you are there don't foget to come grab some of our cake!!!

The holidays are a wonderful time of year for so many reasons.  But for many couples in love there is one more special reason...engagement season!  Yes it's true, 33% of couples will get engaged sometime between Thanksgiving and New Year.  And why not, it's the perfect setting for a romantic proposal.  

Maybe you are one of the 33% newly engaged couples and if so...CONGRATULATIONS!!  So now what...you have a ring, maybe a date, and probably a pinterest board!  Am I right?  Where do you go from here?

First things first, find your venue.  Securing a venue secures your date, so you are able to meet with other wedding professionals.  But, the size and decoration of your venue will give you the right direction for the rest of your wedding.  It will help you with your guest list.  You can't have 300 people at your wedding with a venue that only holds 150.  And the decoration or theme of the venue will help you as you choose your dress, flowers, cake, etc.  

Once you get your venue, when is a good time to meet about a cake?  The standard answer is 6-8 months prior to your wedding.  Usually that's when we start booking up our weekends.  Remember, we can only take 4 weddings per weekend.  If you are getting married during a popular month (like October) or a holiday (don't foget Memorial Day or Labor Day weekends too), you may want to book your date 8-12 months in advance.  Popular months and holidays will book up faster.

Sometimes there are just some weekends that are randomly popular and book up fast.  Take the weekend of June 17th for example.  That weekend is booked already and has been for over three months.  Why?  I have no clue. Just a popular weekend I guess.  

That is why I suggest calling us once you have your date secured and let's chat about your wedding cake.  You may still be figuring out the final guest list or even your colors and design.  That's ok.  We will design based on your ideas at the time and can always make changes as the planning stages progress. Besides, it allows us more time to get to know each other and learn your vision for your wedding!  On the flip side, is your wedding coming up crazy fast.  Go ahead and give us a call.  You never know what weekends are still available or if there is a last minute cancellation which opens up the perfect spot for your wedding cake!