The cake was yet another in a list of things I didn’t think I cared about, . . .well, I did care that the thing was tasty, but there was no “plan.” The cake to me was no big deal and in fact, I didn’t even care if we had a “cut the cake” moment. My mother was equally ambivalent – she just wanted it to be white “for the photographs.” And Fred just wanted to make sure there was a cake.
When the bakers gave us books to look through, we must have said “that’s nice” thirty times. And they ask more questions than the dress people! Traditional circle or square? Unique shape? Fondant or butter-cream? Real or sugared flowers? What’s your theme? What are your colors? Flavor? Filling? Fruit? Some of the cakes I have seen look more like sculpture than dessert!
“It was so much easier when I was young,” one of the baker’s said. “You just went to the bakery and told them you were getting married, how many guests, and picked chocolate or vanilla.”
I think I put on about five pounds with all of the tasting I did. One baker gave us a quarter of a cake for each sample and as a result, Fred had to buy a bottle of Pepto Bismol.
In the end, we chose The Sugar Woods. The baker (artist) was able to piece all of the dribble my mom and I were spouting into a simple, meaningful design that made me more excited than I ever thought I could be about a cake. She wipped out a sketch that blew us away. Her shop is actually in her home which is out of town down a winding road in a log cabin. The studio was filled with baking pans and utensils I have never seen. Her cakes looked like art but tasted incredible too - I would swear she uses organic ingredients but if not, they are of much higher quality than the bigger places.
I will keep the design a secret for now, but we are planning on a white vanilla cake with raspberry and lemon filling and a thin layer of meringue flavored butter-cream frosting.
She may love making cakes, but not as much as we are going to love eating them!
