Joined: Oct 18, 2007
Posts: 3428
Location: Henrico VA
Posted:
Thu Jun 11, 2009 5:36 am
If anyone wants to stress the importance of a good wedding cake, as opposed to a pre-manufactered piece of nastiness (like we need more examples), feel free to use this anecdote.
I went to a meeting last night, and the place where it was held was a reception venue that has really good food. The owner makes her own pasta, etc etc, so I always look forward to eating there. The dinner was really good, then it was time for dessert! Yay!
There was a mini-buffet with little tarts, etc., which were obviously straight off of the Sysco truck...Okay, I knew that they don't make their own desserts all the time, whatever. I took one of each.
The first was some kind of a chocolte trifle...It looked delicious, but one taste and it was obvious that it was a smashed-up cake mix cake (and yes, I can tell the difference between scratch and mix) with some kind of artificial "cream" mixed up in it. Not a bit of natural ingredients here, it was obviously straight out of the chemistry shop. Very disappointing, and I only had one bite of that. (For me to only have one bite of something with chocolate in it is shocking, if you know me.)
Okay, so on to the next thing. It was a little tart, and after one bite of that I couldn't eat any more of it. It had such a nasty artificial flavor in both the crust and the filling I couldn't have any more of that. Yuck.
So the third thing was more chocolate, and even though my aforementioned love of chocolate would make me usually just eat the whole thing in one bite, after the first two things I had to really convince myself to try it. It was nas-tee.
So the point of all this is that even though the food was great during dinner, all I can think about today was the nasty desserts that ended the meal. If the dessert is the last thing that you eat, that's going to stick in your mind, good or bad. Therefore, a good wedding cake is worth more than a good dessert, it's a way to end the evening on a high note, and to send your guests home with a good memory, instead of thinking about the nasty cake they ate one bite of and couldn't choke any more down.
Ironically, one person came up to me during dinenr and asked if I had brought a cake, because she wanted to see if she should save room for seconds on dessert! She was doing reconnaissance to see who had made the dessert before she decided how much to have during dinner. People do remember good cake, and they sure do remember bad! Yugh...
Necey Junior Member
Joined: Nov 04, 2008
Posts: 38
Posted:
Thu Jun 11, 2009 5:58 am
Wow, I had a similiar experience last week. My husband and I went out to our favorite chinese buffet. There were over 25 different desserts, most of a cake variation. I took 4 pieces . One was topped with an apricot glaze, one with strawbwrries n cream mixture, one a chocolate swirly mousse filled tart and last but not least, one said, coconut cream . I cannot for the life of me figure out where anyone would buy / make what those desserts tasted like. I mean, what would I ask for? ..My list would have to look like this : Two pounds of cardboard, 10 cups of sawdust, sometything sticky that was red and white in color and one large bottle of 'flavouring' that has no taste whatsoever !..and to add insult to injury, it wasn't hard to tell that ecerything had been frozen previously . I sure feel differently about my own cakes now.
JGMB Forum Addict
Joined: Aug 23, 2008
Posts: 1099
Location: Darien, IL
Birthday: Mar 28
Posted:
Thu Jun 11, 2009 6:09 am
Last year, while on vacation down south, we ate at an award-winning BBQ place. I ordered pecan pie for dessert, and the waitress kind of leaned in and divulged, "You know, it's frozen Sara Lee." I couldn't believe it!!
So, when I got home, I copied down my favorite pecan pie recipe and sent it to the restaurant, telling them that it was a travesty to top off an award-winning meal with a frozen, store-bought dessert. Especially in the south, where people LOVE their pecan pie.
They never responded -- they probably thought I was a crazy lady.
I do always wonder, though, if it at least got them thinking.
crazycaker Junior Member
Joined: Apr 13, 2009
Posts: 73
Posted:
Thu Jun 11, 2009 6:52 am
Oh -- you didn't know?
Thickened corn starch gel + red food coloring = cherry pie.
Thickened corn starch gel + yellow = lemon pie.
Thickened corn starch gel + brown = chocolate pie.
I know what you mean, though... when they know you make a good dessert people will save room. It's a shame that a good restuarant would end a meal with frozen cardboard tarts.
indydebi Forum Matriarch
Joined: Jul 07, 2006
Posts: 23776
Location: Indianapolis IN
Birthday: Jan 19
Posted:
Thu Jun 11, 2009 7:52 am
JGMB wrote:
I do always wonder, though, if it at least got them thinking.
Yeah, it got them thinking about how much more they'd have to raise their prices to cover the extra labor and time involved in making a pie from scratch as opposed to opening a box and putting it on a plate.
Seriously, you'd be surprised at the restaurant foods you THINK are made in the kitchen but actually come off of the Sysco truck and go from freezer to oven to plate in 20 minutes. Seriously.
I LUV watching the TV commercials for new foods being introduced at restaurants, because I'm sitting there thinking, "Oh yeah ... saw that at the food show!"
costumeczar Forum Fanatic
Joined: Oct 18, 2007
Posts: 3428
Location: Henrico VA
Posted:
Thu Jun 11, 2009 8:10 am
[quote="indydebi"]
JGMB wrote:
I
Seriously, you'd be surprised at the restaurant foods you THINK are made in the kitchen but actually come off of the Sysco truck and go from freezer to oven to plate in 20 minutes. Seriously.
I LUV watching the TV commercials for new foods being introduced at restaurants, because I'm sitting there thinking, "Oh yeah ... saw that at the food show!"
I always assume that anything in those chain restaurants is straight off of the truck, but I'm sure that most people think there's actually a chef in the back making stuff from scratch. I love your story about you giving your sister a frozen box of her favorite "homemade" soup. One of my friends has a couple of teenage sons who work for one of those chains, and they say that the waitstaff takes turns waiting on tables and cooking the food...Lots of skill apparently involved in THAT kitchen!
My favorite commercial is the one for KFC, where the girl is saying "I'm the chef." Yeah, right! Does that mean that you're the one who works the microwave?
ccordes Junior Member
Joined: Feb 04, 2007
Posts: 33
Location: MD
Posted:
Thu Jun 11, 2009 8:35 am
Ha, my husband pointed that out in the KFC commercials too. Although, I did see one where they changed it to cook, which seemed a little better to me.
melodyscakes Forum Addict
Joined: Apr 04, 2005
Posts: 1393
Location: kansas city
Posted:
Thu Jun 11, 2009 9:28 am
I'd call the resteraunt and offer to make her desserts for her.
let her know the things you already mentioned here, that dessert tops off a fine meal, people remember dessert....why serve that with your fine food.
maybe this could become profitable for you?
melody
costumeczar Forum Fanatic
Joined: Oct 18, 2007
Posts: 3428
Location: Henrico VA
Posted:
Thu Jun 11, 2009 10:26 am
melodyscakes wrote:
I'd call the resteraunt and offer to make her desserts for her.
let her know the things you already mentioned here, that dessert tops off a fine meal, people remember dessert....why serve that with your fine food.
maybe this could become profitable for you?
melody
You know, I did wonder if I should say something, but I've had conversations with her in the past about how she buys her cookie doughs pre-made from Sysco, and how she can say "home-baked" but not "home-made" when she describes them to clients. She's all about cost-cutting, which is understandable.
She has staff who will do wedding cakes for clients if they have the reception there, but she also refers out to other people, including me. I think that it might be more profitable to just keep my mouth shut, let the clients taste her desserts at their tasting, then have them decide to get their cake off-premises!
tinygoose Forum Addict
Joined: Jan 04, 2008
Posts: 617
Posted:
Thu Jun 11, 2009 12:36 pm
Ok, I'm going to brag. I know that's aweful, but I got the nicest compliment the other day on facebook from the bride of the last wedding cake I did. I loved this, and it felt so good. People really do remember.
Here it is:
"No cake? I tried to buy lemon muffins yesterday to bring back memories of your fabulous lemon cupcakes but one bite later the thought was dashed in the rain by the bad taste in my mouth!"
lovelytee Junior Member
Joined: Sep 19, 2008
Posts: 55
Posted:
Thu Jun 11, 2009 1:45 pm
I am just a novice right now doing cakes and other treats for family and close friends. People tell me all the time to start my own business, but I am still trying to learn all that I can thanks to everyone here at CC Anyway, my DH and I went to a fancy gathering and after the meal we were instructed to go to the dessert buffet. Yay, I thought they all looked delish. Wrong I tried three things s slice of chocolate cake, carrot cake and a giant cupcake. All I could do was.... I have never in my life tasted such gross "sugar treats". I mean absolutely no flavor and the texture was like a dry biscuit.
__Jamie__ Forum SuperStar!
Joined: Aug 16, 2008
Posts: 5361
Location: The less seriously you take me, the better off we'll all be!
Posted:
Thu Jun 11, 2009 1:56 pm
crazycaker wrote:
Oh -- you didn't know?
Thickened corn starch gel + red food coloring = cherry pie.
Thickened corn starch gel + yellow = lemon pie.
Thickened corn starch gel + brown = chocolate pie.
I know what you mean, though... when they know you make a good dessert people will save room. It's a shame that a good restuarant would end a meal with frozen cardboard tarts.
Where oh WHERE is the little emoticon that is throwing up?!?!?
costumeczar Forum Fanatic
Joined: Oct 18, 2007
Posts: 3428
Location: Henrico VA
Posted:
Thu Jun 11, 2009 2:05 pm
__Jamie__ wrote:
Where oh WHERE is the little emoticon that is throwing up?!?!?
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__Jamie__ Forum SuperStar!
Joined: Aug 16, 2008
Posts: 5361
Location: The less seriously you take me, the better off we'll all be!
Posted:
Thu Jun 11, 2009 2:06 pm
Oh shoot...that's CUTE!!!! hahahahahaha!
DeeDelightful Frequent Member
Joined: Mar 17, 2009
Posts: 388
Location: Little Rock, AR
Birthday: Oct 07
Posted:
Thu Jun 11, 2009 2:08 pm
JGMB wrote:
Last year, while on vacation down south, we ate at an award-winning BBQ place. I ordered pecan pie for dessert, and the waitress kind of leaned in and divulged, "You know, it's frozen Sara Lee." I couldn't believe it!!
So, when I got home, I copied down my favorite pecan pie recipe and sent it to the restaurant, telling them that it was a travesty to top off an award-winning meal with a frozen, store-bought dessert. Especially in the south, where people LOVE their pecan pie.
They never responded -- they probably thought I was a crazy lady.
I do always wonder, though, if it at least got them thinking.
No they are trying to figure out "how did she know that?" I do totally agree about good dessert. I consider myself a great cook, but for potlucks at work i will resign myself to do desserts every time, because people continue to bring those frozen pies and stale cakes from the grocery store. I can always find something on the potluck table that tastes pretty good, but i can't substitute for a bad dessert.
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