Archive for the ‘Wedding Cakes’ Category
Wedding Cake Heaven – Featured Suppliers
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
Even in today’s modern weddings where traditions are sometimes thrown to the wind, the Wedding Cake is still one of the most important symbols in a couples special day. A few weeks ago I met the lovely Pauline and Julie, mother and daughter team, from Cakeydora. Their cakes are to die for and so beautiful! We love it when we find local suppliers who we can really recommend and these ladies certainly fit the bill. I asked Julie how they started their business and if she could give us her pearls of wisdom on how to choose and budget for your wedding cake.
Cakeydora How it all began!
After years of making cakes for her own children Pauline gained cake orders through word of mouth. As the orders came flooding in Julie helped out and gained knowledge passed on from her Mum. This in turn led to Cakeydora being born. The name Cakeydora is the name my Mum was christened by my Dad due to her always being in the kitchen beavering away on cakes, so it seemed like the natural choice when choosing the name of our Business!
At Cakeydora we are passionate about baking and design. We are always developing new designs and recipe ideas to make our cakes stand out and taste fantastic. Along with your cakes we also provide Wedding favours in the form of cookies and cupcakes. These can be personalised with an edible message or photograph, our gingerbread men and ladies are a firm favourite as well as our more recent “Hollywood icons” cookies! Cakeydora has featured within several publications including “Your West Midlands Wedding” magazine and counts one of the leading High Street names within the UK as their clients.
Cakeydora’s Top Tips for Choosing your Wedding Cake
How many guests have you got attending?
This will determine the size of the cake you will need. Make sure this is enough for all your guests. If you decided to cut the cake at the reception so that your evening guests can see your cake prior to it being cut, then you will to take into account the extra guests. Equally, you don’t want too much left over that may go to waste.
Set A Budget
The price of your cake will naturally depend on the size, type (flavour) and number of tiers and the complexity of the design and decoration. If you opt for a large cake with a lot of detail, you will be pay considerably more than a less extravagent design.
Consultation Service
Find out if your chosen baker is willing to arrange a consultation meeting with you. This will enable you to run through your ideas and also taste samples of possible cake flavours, yum!
Cake Type
You want your cake to look amazing but you also want it to taste amazing! It’s worth considering the following when choosing the cake flavour(s)
- When will you be serving the cake?
- If serving as dessert will the cake go with cream/fruit?
- Do you have children attending?
- Do you want to keep a tier for after the wedding? If so this would obviously need to be fruitcake.
Decoration and Design
Your baker should be able to guide you through the design process and give advice on choosing decorations and colours that work with your theme. Your cake should reflect the overall feel of the day: pick and choose elements that will compliment each other.
Be Prepared
When visiting the baker it’s a good idea to take along photographs and designs of the the type of cake you would like. i.e. shape, colour, display options. This will be a great starting point for your baker and will also save time.
Colour Swatches
Providing your baker with colour swatches is a great way for your baker to make sure you cake will match up with your theme, where colours can not always be matched 100% it will be possible for them to blend and compliment each other.
Display
Decide how you wish your cake to be displayed i.e stacked, on pillars or on a stand? If your cake will require a stand ask the baker if they can provide one for you to hire for the day.
Delivery/Setup
Does your baker provide a delivery service/set up service? If so is there a charge?
Time
Don’t leave ordering your cake at the bottom of your “to do list”. Good bakers are often booked well in advance so to avoid disappointment book early!
Well thanks Julie for great advice. If you are on a strict budget consider serving your cake as a dessert, or let your guests take a piece home as a favour. Your venue or wedding planner will be able to sort that out for you. I hope you liked today’s blog it has certainly made my mouth water. Julie and Pauline will be showing their cakes in Birmingham at Debenhams wedding fair this weekend. Go along for a taste and chat.
Until next time, happy planning.
Tags: Cakes, Lovely things!, Supplier
Posted in Lovely things!, Suppliers, Wedding Cakes | 1 Comment »
Cupcakes for your Wedding!
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
Cupcakes are great for weddings I really love them. If you read our blog regularly you’ll know that The Wedding Genie are always looking for beautiful practical ways of saving money, as well as ideas to reflect your style and personality. What better way to do this than using these darling cupcakes. At the end of your wedding day they can be packed up into clear plastic boxes to give out to your guests as favours. Another practical way of saving money is using them as dessert.
It does beg the question of how you keep to the wedding tradition of cutting the cake. You can always ask your supplier to bake a small round cake to adorn the top of your cup cake tower. I have to say thats exactly what we did at our wedding. For the non traditionalists amongst you why not get photographed feeding each other a little piece of cup cake!! Our brides at The Wedding Genie are individual, stylish and fun so this idea may really appeal.
I happen to have met a most fabulous cup cake designer called Sarah Barnes, who runs Blue Door Bakery. You may have seen her mentioned on our blog in the past. Today we asked her how she started her business and to give her tips and advice when choosing cup cakes. To make your mouth water even more we feature some of her cakes for inspiration.
Sarah, how did you start your business and why Cup Cakes?
I’ve always baked wedding cakes and special occasion cakes for friends, I was being asked to make more and more and decided to take the leap into professional baking about a year ago. Blue Door Bakery was formed and the rest, as they say, is history.
Delicious love heart design
If you are Choosing Cup Cakes what should you ask your supplier?
Cupcakes need to be fresh to enjoy them so we make them no more than 36 hours before delivery. They are hand made in small batches, because you can really taste the difference! Check the ingredients used, for instance we use local Shipton Mill organic flour, free range eggs, real butter and the best vanilla and chocolate.
Fabulous for a tea party or summer marquee wedding
What flavours do you make and what is your personal favourite?
I make many flavours and always try to cater for any special requests! Some of my favourite include Peanut Butter Cupcakes, Mint Choc Chip Cupcakes, Red Velvet Cupcakes and Rocky Road Cupcakes, yum!
Rocky road!
How do you decide on your designs?
All of our cupcakes are designed in consultation with the bride and groom, to tie them into their tastes, colours and themes. We aim to make cupcakes as individual as your wedding.
Butterfly Heaven
What should a Bride and Groom do if they want you to bake their cupcakes?
We have a minimum order of 24 cupcakes so we can concentrate on wedding orders. Sometimes couples have seen exactly what they want and they get in touch, tell us what they want and book in. Other couples visit for a consultation, tasting and general chat to help get some ideas and discuss cake options, either before or after booking to secure a date with us. We are happy with whichever they prefer, we do love to talk about cake! Our prices start at £1.90 per cupcake.
What if Brides want to make their own Cupcakes?
We have recently started running two cupcake decorating classes. This first is a 1.5 hour session, Cupcake Decorating Workshop, it covers making and using various icing types, piping buttercream icing, making decorations and you leave with your own box of 12 cupcakes. The classes are perfect for hen parties and cost £25.00 per person. The other class is Creating Your Own Wedding Cupcakes, this workshop is 2.5 hours long and is £35.00 per person.
Well I for one may take one of those classes, if you want any more information email sara@bluedoorbakery.co.uk.
Well I hope we have given you a taste!! excuse the pun, for cupcakes. I for one may take one of those classes., if you want more information email sara@bluedoorbakery.co.uk
Watch out for more supplier blogs over the next few weeks.
Until next time, happy planning.
Tags: Inspiration, Lovely things!, Personal Touches, Supplier, Tips & Advice
Posted in Inspiration, Lovely things!, Suppliers, Tips & Advice, Wedding Cakes | 3 Comments »
Fab Ideas for Xmas Weddings – Fab Xmas cakes!
Monday, November 9th, 2009
Dare I say it Christmas is approaching fast. The nights are drawing in and all you want to do is curl up in front of a roaring fire and sip mulled wine.
I thought I would give you five tips and ideas to make your wedding stand out this christmas. They will be posted on our blog over the next week so check it out, we have some great ideas for all things xmas!
As you can see from the picture today its all about cake! We love cake at The Wedding Genie and I came across these absolutely gorgeous cup cakes at Blue Door Bakery, Sarah makes the most wonderful creations. I just could not resist sharing them with you.
Your guests will love this idea, you can serve them as a dessert to cut down costs. Alternatively they could double up as favours which you could attach christmas labels to. Pop them in some see- through square cake cases packed with a sprig of holly. There are various flavours, including chocolate and mulled wine, scrumptious.
These are just mouth watering, and if you have a silver winter theme they will be the perfect match.
Pop them in these type of boxes if you want to use them as a favour.
If you want to email me your top tips we will post them on our blog.
Until tomorrow with another Christmas Top Tip, happy planning.
Tags: Christmas, Lovely things!, Tips & Advice
Posted in Inspiration, Tips & Advice, Wedding Cakes | 2 Comments »
Unique and Personal Wedding Cakes
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
Wedding Cakes are a really important part of any wedding and a great way to show off your personality. We are always on the look out for unusual and unique details and we came across this cake on www.blisstree.com. Its really simple, and as you can see, the happy couple had their photographs applied to the cake which portrayed the story of their day. The black and white theme makes it classy and elegant.
We have to say we did not know this was possible until last week. My mother in law had her 70th birthday, she loved the card we bought her, which had a beautiful art deco picture on it. We took the card to the cake shop and lo and behold it was photocopied on to edible sugar paper, framed with icing, and hey presto we had the most gorgeous looking cake.
Wedding Cakes don’t have to cost a fortune these days either, Marks & Spencers, and Waitrose do the most lovely cakes. You can buy them plain, then decorate them with flowers, or cake toppers to make them unique. They come in various flavours, from chocolate, to fruit so you don’t have to compromise.
I hope this idea might inspire you to think about how your cake can portray you and your partner, and make your guests smile. To help you, and for fun, take a look at some of the unusual cake designs around, your imagination it seems is the only limit.
DIY there must have been some major issues!!
Quirky and unusual.
Why not send us your ideas for unusual wedding cakes and we will publish them on our blog. Contact us we are always happy to hear from you. Wedding Genie have lots of ideas like this to help inspire your special day, why not call or email to find out our availability for A Genie for An Evening service designed to get you inspired.
Until next time, happy planning.
Tags: Cakes, Inspiration, Personal Touches
Posted in Inspiration, Tips & Advice, Wedding Cakes | No Comments »
Subscribe in a reader