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I’ve been waiting (not so) patiently for our cake tasting ever since we made the appointment back in October (or, to be honest, since we got engaged). I mean…it’s cake. It’s hard to go wrong.

Unless you’re like Foxy and don’t eat sweets, cake included. Needless to say, this was not his favorite wedding related task. (Not to mention, we combined it with a flower consultation on the same day—poor Foxy, he’s a trooper!) However, as luck would have it, Foxy Mama was able to make the drive down from NY to meet up with us again, as she did for our linens/room assignment meeting. Having her there was a total life saver.

But back to the cake: one of the awesome things about our venue is that said cake is included in the catering cost. They commission it out to a wonderful, little local place called Desserts by Rita; thank goodness, too, because I really didn’t feel like having to research local bakers and be continuously shocked at how much people can charge per slice or as a cake cutting fee. The easier, the better, I say! I was ready to get this party started.

First things first:

flavors and the official tasting.

If you ask me, they were ALL delicious. Just.. beyond.

I clearly needed a minute alone with fiesta that was happening in my mouth.

I think we did a pretty good job, seeing as my mom and I were the only two really “tasting.” To be fair, Foxy did have a tiny bite of the red velvet, though he seemed none too thrilled. It’s OK. More for me!

Seeing as we’ll be having a three tier cake, we decided to do different flavors on each tier. The bottom/largest tier will be the raspberry devils cake (you have NO IDEA how good that stuff is), raspberry icing, and vanilla cake. The middle tier will be lemon cake, vanilla icing, vanilla cake, and the top/smallest tier will be red velvet cake with vanilla icing (Foxy’s choice). I’m so very pleased and so very excited about it all! The best part was that Foxy Mama treated us to a take home treat of cupcakes in all the flavors we chose.

You will notice how I already ate half of the vanilla cupcake, as well as took a swipe of icing off of each of the others. It was a good breakfast, let me tell you.

Now for the tricky part…what will this flavor explosion of a cake look like? I have of course been collecting inspiration pictures for months, liking this and loving that but never really making a commitment to anything. I kept leaning towards the more simplistic cakes with textured icing.

Image via The Bridal District

Image via Style Me Pretty | Photo by KT Merry

Image via My Sweet and Saucy | Photo by Frenzel Photography

However, I wasn’t quite sold on just having a textured cake with a flower or two on it. While I adore the look, I was just looking for something.. more. Which is exactly what I found on Pinterest, the night before our cake tasting.

Image via My Sweet and Saucy | Photo by Gabriel Ryan Photography

How unbelievably cute is this cake?! I think I love it even more because the petals are conveniently more or less our colors. When I saw this picture, I just swooned. And I just knew. It was seriously like the feeling I had when I tried on my dress. Is that weird…?

Either way, I am thrilled to announce that our cake will ultimately have the best of both worlds.. a nice, textured buttercream icing with colorful fondant petals on each tier. Now to decide on a cake topper!

How did you decide on the look of your cake? Did you eventually “just know,” or was it a process?

This article was originally posted onWeddingbee.

There’s no point in dragging this out. Yesterday, I wrote about trying to decide between cupcakes and mini cupcakes for our wedding. It all sounded so cute and fun, but we changed our minds. We want cake. Wait. I want cake.

This is one of those situations where Mr. Mink has been totally easy-going. He doesn’t care if we have cupcakes or a traditional cake. He just wants to get to the part where we have a couple tastings! Every time I started taking about cake and cupcakes, Mr. Mink would joke that we were going to have his mother’s red velvet cake for our wedding cake and we could smoosh my mother’s chocolate chip cookie fingers (almost shaped like biscotti) into the sides. I finally stopped talking and just looked at the inspiration pictures I saved to my Pinterest boards. Almost every image was of a cake.

I think I was swayed by two things. First, the pictures of couples cutting their cakes are appealing to me. I know we could cut a one tiered cake or a cupcake, but amidst the non-traditional decisions we’ve made, I like the idea of doing something traditional. Second, I love the variety of cake designs. Some of the cakes out there are works of art.

From Style Me Pretty / Cake by Tallant House / Photo by Red Box Pictures

Between us, we know quite a few people who make cakes, cupcakes, and all sorts of sweet treats. Deciding against cupcakes simplified the dessert decision in a big way. Our list of bakers to investigate shortened dramatically.

I decided that it would be best to show potential bakers some pictures of cakes I liked and realized that there’s another decision to be made: fondant vs. buttercream.

I’m sure you know the pros and cons of using fondant. Fondant provides a smooth, even finish. It’s a great base for flowers or intricate designs. Some say they hate the taste of fondant, but I read that there are different kinds of fondant. Apparently, the most readily available brand is the one that doesn’t taste great.

From the Mod Wedding Blog / Cake by the Vanilla Bake Shop / Photo by John & Joseph Photography

Buttercream, on the other hand, is soft and often allows for texture on cakes. Plenty of bakers can smooth buttercream into looking a lot like fondant, though. I think most people agree that buttercream tastes pretty great.

Cake by Maggie Austen

I loved many of the sleek, simple cakes I saw that were covered in fondant. I definitely wanted something that looked sweet and not too fussy.

Cake by Maggie Austen

I loved the idea of being able to add a design that might get lost on a buttercream cake.

Cake by Sweet and Saucy

On the other hand, I find the texture on buttercream cakes so appealing. I think they look romantic and they’d fit into the look of my vineyard wedding beautifully. In most cases, it seems as though buttercream cakes are less expensive.

From Love and Lavender / Cake 1 by Sweet & Saucy / Cakes 2 and 3 by Maggie Austen

I might wait until I see some local bakers’ portfolios to make a final decision on this one, but I’m curious about taste.

Have you had a good tasting fondant cake? Do you have a preference when it comes to fondant vs. buttercream?

This article was originally posted onWeddingbee.