Sweet tips for buying your wedding cake
Topping a cake with a family member's topper
-- such as your parents' topper -- will never
go out of style.
From butter cream to fondant, there is no
shortage of choices
JUST TO WHET the appetite:
butter cream, made with real butter, has
the consistency of whipped butter and will
melt in extreme heat or humidity
(a serious consideration for East Coast
summer nuptials); whereas fondant - a mixture
of sugar, gelatin and
corn syrup - can easily be molded into various
shapes and should not be refrigerated.
Swiss dots are tiny raised dots or decorative
buttons that look like small pearls.
Dragees are "round, edible sugar balls
coated with silver or gold, according to
the
online glossary at one stop-shop theknot.com.
As with all things nuptial, budget determines
where a couple starts to look for a cake.
Catering and reception halls, commercial
bakers
and even neighborhood bakeries and supermarkets
offer a wide range of choices at moderate
prices.
Homemade cakes are also an option, especially
for small, intimate weddings.
Many couples choose to hire a cake designer.
Wedding cakes are most often priced by the
slice,
which can cost anywhere from $1.50 to $15-and-up.
Like New York-style pizza, $1.50 gets you
the basics.
Opt for a topping, it costs more. Select
a slice with "everything" and end
up paying $3-$4 per slice.
The same with wedding cakes: a slice of the
standard, round-tiered pound cake with icing
runs about $1.50.
Sprinkle on some almonds, it costs more.
And a cake that sells for $15 per slice should
be made
of the finest ingredients. Warning: Some
catering halls charge an extra fee per slice
to cut the cake,
which can run as high as $2. So make sure
to ask about any additional fees before selecting
a cake,
and perhaps, the venue. On principle, I might
take my business elsewhere. Cost-cutting
tip:
Order a special small cake with all the bells
and whistles for the cake-cutting.
Then, order a sheet cake without the decorative
items to serve the guests.
The sheet cake tastes just as good but costs
a lot less. Now, what's the best way to find
a cake designer?
Start by word of mouth. Ask friends and family
first. Don't ask caterers or event planners
who may have
a vested interest in your decision (such
as promoting a friend's business or making
a commission on the sale).
Theknot.com also posts a list of America's
top designers.
A CAKE FOR ALL SEASONS
What's exceptionally hot this season depends
on who is doing the talking. "Old-looking
new things,"
are in demand this season, says Margaret
Braun, Manhattan cake designer, known for
her
elaborate, hand-sculpted cakes. That is,
cakes with classical features and textures
that have a
contemporary look, says Braun, author of
"Cakewalk: Adventures with Sugar."
For example,
Braun has had several requests for traditional
cakes in exceptionally bold colors. Magenta
and orange
are hot this season, she says. Cheryl Kleinman,
a Brooklyn cake designer who charges $8 a
slice,
has noticed that pastels have replaced white.
"This summer every weekend, I'm making
a celery-green
or pastel-pink cake," she says. Cakes
topped with fresh flowers, a popular trend
in recent years,
is now on its way out, says Kleinman. "Icing
flowers" are in. Icing flowers look
real but are made
of sugar paste, which has the consistency
of play dough. They're made of the same material
as the
popular strong mints Altoids or candy Necco
wafers, she explains. Toppers are also making
a comeback.
Topping a cake with a family member's topper
- such as your parents' topper - will never
go out of style.
"But for a long time, no one was using
those plastic (mass-marketed) bride-and-groom
toppers because
they were so ugly," says Kleinman.
Contemporary toppers make a stronger personal
statement.
Monograms that introduce the bride and groom
are popular.
TO GROOM OR NOT TO GROOM
Grooms cakes, a long-held tradition in the
South, have migrated north and west. Wit
and whim
define these smaller cakes set aside for
guys. Groom cakes - often a gift from the
bride to the
groom - focus on the groom's interests or
hobbies. Grooms cakes can take the shape
of a trout for
a fisherman or a pile of law books for a
lawyer. "I'm doing more grooms cakes
than I've ever done,"
says Braun. Recently she had a request for
a "game of life" cake, where each
square showed a
different stage in the groom's life. "The
last square, of course, was babies and lots
of grandchildren,"
says Braun. Now if that doesn't make him
run the other way, nothing will. Braun speculates
that
21st century grooms are more involved than
male counterparts past decades.
"Today's grooms are reading Martha Stewart
Living, too," she says. And despite
recent financial problems,
Martha Stewart still may set some trends
herself. Martha Stewart's Weddings magazine
for the summer 2003
features a candy-covered cake. Inside, there's
an assortment of full-page photos of cakes
decorated with jelly beans, nonpareils, peppermint
and licorice, to name a few.
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