Wedding Cake, revisited

June 29, 2012 2 Comments
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You might remember our wedding cake:

and how we painstakingly picked out the flavors (vanilla pound cake with blackberries, lime yellow cake with strawberries, and chocolate/chocolate/chocolate/raspberry for the top tier).   The ruling was, serve all the cake! Let them have their cake (and open bar) and eat it too, duh.  Why save anything when our guests want to stuff their faces with yummy cake?  I also promised to eat the heck outta that cake, and oh yeah I didn’t do much eating that night.

But anyways, you can imagine our surprise the next day when we returned to the venue to collect intentionally left items, and our venue rep told us not to forget the cake in the freezer.  Cake in the freezer? But why?  The caterer told us not to save the cake, that they would happily whip up another “top tier” for us a year later.   So whatever, we had cake! We took home the top tier (chocolate! YES!) and stashed it in our freezer for a year.

Fast forward to June 21, 2012 (we were at the beach for our actually anni, 6/19).

Hello seemingly giant refrigerator with PITA (pain in the arse) pull out freezer basket drawer thingy that everything falls behind and I curse, daily.

 

Hello overstuffed freezer basket drawer (probably the reason things fall behind).

And yes I love Trader Joes.

 

But what’s that?!  No, not the froyo. Look for the UFO shaped object covered with aluminum foil and taking up precious space in our stupid freezer.  I see it!

We figured after saving it for an entire year, we might as well defrost and eat it,

or try to eat it!As I shared on Instagram, it didn’t look very good, but….

it honestly tasted great!

And now there’s none left!

So the moral of the story? Go ahead and freeze your wedding cake for your first anniversary. There’s no harm in trying, and then stuffing your face!

Did you save your wedding cake (or try), or do you think you will?

first awesome picture by Studio Juno, all other “normal” pics by me

Filed Under: cake, caterer, eat your heart out, newlyweds, wedding

Final Catering Tasting!

March 4, 2011 5 Comments

It’s hard to believe we’re only 3.5 months out.  My personal trainer asked me how many weeks that was, and I shocked myself with the number 14.  She asked if I knew how many days that was – and I respectfully declined to do the math.

Regardless, we must taste the food we want to put in front of everyone! Our hors d’oeuvres, vegetarian entree, and cake were chosen!

After 4 catering tastings with separate companies, we decided on Windows. But after tasting so many hors d’oeuvres once we decided on Windows we wanted to go back and revamp a few details.

First up: tasting the Vanilla Salmon & the Salmon and Coconut Skewer (in order of appearance):

 
I  know they look oh so similar, but trust me, the flavor difference is there.  We chose the Salmon and Coconut Skewer because of the flavor brilliance.  The coconut jelly on the bottom is made from gelatin and coconut milk.  The Sirasha sauce on top is amazing. Together with the salmon = flavor brilliance. yeeeum!
We settled on our vegetarian entree choice:  Giant Spring Roll.  
And yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like: a huge, vegetarian egg roll. 
Or as they put it “wok fired Napa cabbage, tofu, firecracker peppers and snow pea shoots with a chili-lime vinaigrette.”
In short. amazing yumminess:
nom nom nom.

And the cake! YES! The cake!

Chocolate Raspberry:  Chocolate cake with Old-Fashioned Dark Chocolate Mouse and Fresh Raspberries with Chocolate Buttercream. (yes, please)

Vanilla Blackberry: Almond Sponge Cake filled with Vanilla Cream and Fresh Blackberries with Light Amaretto Whipped Cream.
(no need to ask twice)

Strawberry and Lime Shortcake:  Lime-flavored sponge cake, Strawberry Syrup, Vanilla Mousseline and Fresh Strawberries with Vanilla Buttercream
(HELLOsummerwedding yes!)

Carrot Spiced Cake: classic Carrot Cake filled and frosted with Cream Cheese Frosting
(can’t go wrong)

Deliciously amazing & fantastically scrumptious.
Then we took two of the rounds home and my wedding dress diet was blown to pieces, as was the cake.

So we’re ordering them all.  Seriously.
The bottom tier of the cake will have the Strawberry-Lime, followed by the Vanilla Blackberry, topped with the chocolate (my all time favorite cake evah).  And the Carrot Cake? Mike gets a special groom’s cake, since he loves it and I do not share the same sentiment. perfection.

Oh that?
Our point of contact at Windows set that aside for us to see.  She knows our colors and decoration scheme and shared it with us, leftover from their holiday party! I love me some good customer service (and cake)!

Happy Weekend! Giveaway winners will be posted tomorrow!

Filed Under: BlogBook, cake, caterer

Wedding Cake Inspiration

January 25, 2011 12 Comments

In about two weeks we meet with our caterer again to finalize our menu! To be determined are hors d’ oeuvres, our vegetarian entree, and most importantly THE CAKE!

I scoured the internet for cakes I love.
And boy, are there a LOT of pretty cakes out there. Here are some of my favs:

Credit due: (from left to right)
Top row:  The Cake List, Wedding Cakes by Jim Smeal,  Cake Central
Middle: The Icing on the Cake, Unknown Artist, Pastry Girl Cakes
Bottom: Unknown Artist, Wedding Cake Pictures, My Friend’s Wedding!

If you can’t tell, I’m in love with the clean lines of square cakes with simple horizontal lines.   I also enjoy the disproportionate sizes, when one layer is much larger than another.
Cakes are so pretty, and yummy!

What did your cake look and taste like? Or what do you envision it to look like?!

Filed Under: BlogBook, cake, caterer

Caterer Chosen!

December 18, 2010 2 Comments

Finally.
After about 6 months of weighing pro’s and con’s, and four yummy tastings, we decided on a caterer!  The funniest thing about this? Is the fact that the first caterer really hit it home.  I loved their food (albeit we need to change the vegetarian entree, but they have many choices).  I loved their service.  I loved their price.

But because this opportunity to eat great food for free, while every need and idea about food you love is tended to, doesn’t come along often — we shopped around.  I know our budget scared some caterers.  Many catering companies snubbed my RFP (request for proposal) when they saw the total budget number.  Still, we found a total of 4 companies willing to work with us.  Those four tastings were heaven (especially when they involved cake)!

When it came time to make a decision we looked at many details.  However when we dropped the name of the two finalists, one thing consistently happened: people raved about one and said the other was decent.  It happened time and time again, with different vendors and others in-the-know.  We then realized we had apples and oranges.  It was a no brainer: go with the top-tier catering company.  They have the experience.  They have the crowd popularity.  They have everything we need. 
And on my wedding day, I want to know the food and catering will go smoothly, if not also wow the guests.

And so, we chose Windows!  
Now to iron out details, sign the proposal, drop the deposit, and schedule a cake tasting!

This is our biggest budget item and a HUGE decision!
Time to celebrate ~ Let’s eat!

Filed Under: BlogBook, caterer, wedding

7 Months away!

November 19, 2010 6 Comments

Here’s what we’ve been up to this month:
-Not one, but two catering tastings and a cake tasting!
-a phone planning session with premiere wedding consultant, Steve Kemble (in which I finally pick my color scheme)
-chose a day-of wedding planner
-rented a photo booth as our favors!
-thought we won a photography package, but then lost it — update: the previous photog we were working with before the fail went down, is back in the picture.  We will be paying full price, but love her and her work. Plus? We trust her 110%.

We’re working on:
-choosing a caterer (We set a personal deadline of Thanksgiving)
-bridesmaids dresses (no really, for real this time)
-florist arrangements (meeting on the 29th!)
-our engagement party (a bit delayed, but still a party!)
-joining our finances (we got life insurance, we’re legit)
-my hair and makeup (I have someone’s card – this is a step)
-my figure (keeping the weight off)

We’re kinda-sorta thinking about:
-invitations
-meeting with the rabbi soon

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Filed Under: BlogBook, bridesmaids dresses, cake, caterer, diet, favors, hair, officiant, photography

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