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Wedding Cake


MichelleW

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I am looking for a baker for my wedding cake and, based on the restaurant suggestions that come up on the wedding planning websites, I don't really trust those women when it comes to anything food related.

However, I do trust y'all. So where would you suggest for wedding cake? Don't worry about price for now, although if you were a bride recently, all the better. I have plenty of legwork to do, though, so I'm happy to figure out the details later.

I am intrigued by Sticky Fingers Bakery because I hear they can do a dairy free wedding cake. I'm lactose intolerant so that would be keen, but it's not a dealbreaker because, frankly, I go ahead and consume the lactose all the time in the interest of having an excellent meal (plus, in my experience, fondant is some nasty-ass stuff and I'd prefer buttercream).

Thanks in advance. (And if you were wondering, yes wedding planning sucks.)

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Ann Amernick did our cake in 2004. Not sure if she is still doing them but if she is, she is worthy every penny. And it was a pretty penny.

We did 11 or 12 cake tastings and they were all literally terrible except for Ann's. Famous people, not famous people, highly recomended on the wedding planning sites. All of them stunk.

The look of the cake was meaningless to me, I just wanted it to taste good.

Folks are still talking about how wonderful the cake was!

Jennifer

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Agreed, Ann Amernick's stuff is amazing. I would try contacting her through Palena (where she is pastry chef) to see if she still does wedding cakes (I wouldn't get my hopes up, however).

I'm with you, BTW, about fondant. It may look great, but looks are a distant second to a great tasting cake!

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Heidelberg Bakery in Arlington did ours, with marzipan instead of fondant (looks roughly the same, tastes MUCH better). But they're pretty limited in terms of design - if you want something more complicated, by golly if Keith could come up with a ventworm cake he could pretty much do anything. Plus, the ventworm cake was really, really good.

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I'm looking for recommendations for a baker for our wedding cake. We're getting married October 20th at the Sequoia in G-town.

I've never done this before and have no idea what cakes cost. All I know is what I learned from this exchange with my lovely fiance:

ME: Stacy recommended this cake place to me. Apparently it's run by this guy who used to be at Cake Love. Check it out. http://www.fluffythoughts.com/

SHE: They're a bit high priced. The other place we went to was much cheaper. $3.50 a person. Fondant was included. Fruit filling was included.

ME: Yes, dear.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Also any pitfalls to watch out for when finding a baker...

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I might be in the minority, but I LOVE wedding cake!

That said, my wedding cake baker was Andrea Webster and she was fabulous but moved out of the area.

I have heard good things about Fancy Cakes by Leslie and on the less expensive front, Heidleburg Pastry Shop.

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I don't see a mention on the other thread - Alexandria Pastry Cafe does very nice cakes. Some friends used them many moons ago for their wedding and the cake was lovely and delicious (and memorable - not too often am I able to recall the cake). I believe they had a different flavor for each of the two/three tiers - one was a lemon-apricot mousse filling that was fantastic. The fondant was done in a dotted Swiss pattern and was simple and elegant.

Another thought and I don't know if they do wedding cakes, but Castro's Bakery (one at Seven Corners, the original on Washington -or is it Wilson- Blvd a bit west of Ballston) has amazing cakes with fruit filling and the lightest, creamiest icing you could imagine. Then there's that chocolate cake with the dulce de leche filling....mmmmm.

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The Watergate Pastry shop does really nice work for far less than a lot of other places.

Really, WHO REMEMBERS THE CAKE? There is just so much else to worry about . . .

We still get comments from people about how good the cake was at our wedding. The Ritz in Pentegon City did a fabulous job preparing a wonderful chocolate hazelnut cake. When we celebrated our anniversery last year at Maestro, they had a much smaller version of the same cake (my wife's request) waiting for us for dessert. I have eaten the desserts there two other times and they do nothing to surpass that wonderful cake.
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Anyone know where one can buy ready-made fondant in the DC area? My friend wants to bake her own wedding cake, but doesn't want to make her own fondant.

As an aside, I'd like to open her mind to non-fondant options, and if anyone has any suggestions I'd be happy to hear them.

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Anyone know where one can buy ready-made fondant in the DC area? My friend wants to bake her own wedding cake, but doesn't want to make her own fondant.

As an aside, I'd like to open her mind to non-fondant options, and if anyone has any suggestions I'd be happy to hear them.

Keith Ryder (bkeith here on DR.com) sells great-tasting ready-made fondant. Website.
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As an aside, I'd like to open her mind to non-fondant options, and if anyone has any suggestions I'd be happy to hear them.

Coming from Europe I can only recommend using marzipan instead of fondant. I do have to say though, that it is kinda hard to find good marzipan (=without added almond extract) anywhere. And you might not have the equipment or time to make it yourself. And third, many people might dislike the fact that the color will not be white (unless you coat the marzipan layer with white chocolate - and even then it is not really white).

Marzipan covered cake:

tauf01.jpg

Another possibility is to go completely different .... I made this cake for a friend in Germany on the go (he didn't tell me that he didn't have a cake until 2 days before the wedding) ... It is a (low-fat) banana bread recipe on the inside, layered with a almond (=marzipan)/pastry cream/rum filling. Topped with a mirror out of ganache ... the sides decorated with ladyfingers and finished with (real) flowers ....

nadine.jpg

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Anyone know where one can buy ready-made fondant in the DC area? My friend wants to bake her own wedding cake, but doesn't want to make her own fondant.

As an aside, I'd like to open her mind to non-fondant options, and if anyone has any suggestions I'd be happy to hear them.

In case BKeith is not available, another though more expensive and likely less tasty source for fondant is Fran's Cake and Candy Supplies at 10396 Willard Way, Fairfax, VA. A few months ago, I bought a 2 lb tub of pink Satin Ice brand fondant (they call it rollable cake frosting) for $14.50, with the white tub only available in a much larger size. I didn't think the Satin Ice tasted very good though. I think Fran's also had a different brand. They also sell premade royal icing flowers and various cake decorating supplies that might be helpful for your friend in making her cake.
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My wife and I were really pleased with our baker. She's a former pastry chef who found that, when she got married, she and her husband had a wide range of pretty cakes to choose from, but that none of them tasted as pretty as they looked. She wanted to fix that. Now, we're big on taste, so this was right up our alley:

image1016.gif

We couldn't decide on one flavor, so...

Top level: Banana cake with cinnamon icing

Middle level: White chocolate with hazelnut filling

Bottom level: White chocolate with lemon raspberry filling

http://theicingcakes.com/

It was delicious. The baker was really nice and probably our favorite wedding vendor. She even made us a second, smaller cake for our one year anniversary!

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It's funny, the person I would recommend is a friend of mine and her link is above in Dan's post. I didn't think she (not a he as referenced in Dan's post) ever actually worked at Cake Love, but either way, her cakes are nothing like Warren Brown's and totally decadent. Lara is a sweetheart as well, she has done birthday cakes for several people I know and they have all looked and tasted great. I would highly recommend contacting her at Fluffy Thoughts if you are looking for a great tasting wedding cake.

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