I've been asked to bake a wedding cake and grooms cake and it will be my first. The bride says she is expecting 150 guests at the reception but she wants a butternut cake to serve 125 and a red velvet grooms cake to serve 50. I'm afraid everyone will want the red velvet since I'd never heard of butternut. I will also be one of the guests so I do want to be sure that there is enough cake. I will not be in charge of serving the cake - the people at the venue will do that. Do I just make what they requested and hope for the best or should I try to talk her into more cake? Would love to have advice from you experienced decorators. Thanks so much.

you can maybe say that it might be wise to make a layer of the wedding cake vanilla, not everyone will like butternut cake - whatever that is (actually, im imagining it being kind of carrot cakey, looking at recipes?).

at the end of the day, if she likes it, and they pay, you cant really argue! although i do think the couple should cater to their guests and not be entirely self centered, you can bet id have an all chocolate wedding cake! (if i didnt have a man who loves vanilla!)
xx

Yeah, I hear butternut cake & I think butternut squash! Of course zuchinni bread taste good, so maybe it's something along them lines. But I agree with Brincess_B. I think couples should also take their guest taste into consideration.

I would have her really describe what she is expecting cake and icing wise, that way there is no confusion - does she have the recipe? Has she had it at a certain restaurant?

And I bet that the servers know how to gauge a serving, but I would tell them ahead your expectations, and don't forget you don't eat the top of the cake so don't count that in servings - she may not know that either...

Good luck!

If I get a couple who wants the entire cake to be a flavor other than white, I will ask them if they have any traditionalists in their families who might enjoy some white cake? I then tell them, "My son in law says if he goes to a wedding and there is no white cake with white icing, then he's taking his present and leaving!"

I frequently do cakes in which there is not an even distribution of cake flavors. When they run out of one flavor, then they're out and there's not much you can do about it. If guests ask about it, I tell them (since I'm the one cutting the cake) "Yeah, that was a popular flavor and it went fast!"

But I'm with everyone else: What the hell is "butternut" cake? I looked up some recipes and they all have "butternut flavoring" which doesn't tell me squat!

Thanks to those of you who replied. I do appreciate the advice. The bride did give me a recipe though she warned me that hers never turned out well. I searched the internet and found two that I plan to try in advance, one from a mix and one from scratch. She also provided me with one bottle of flavoring. She wouldn't tell me where she got it but once I had it in my hand, I was able to order another bottle. I bought a vanilla, butter and nut flavoring at the grocery store and made a cake with that and it was delicious. However, both of the flavorings do turn the batter and frosting yellow, which is okay with her but not for guests who only want White!!! I am still wondering about my original question, though. A two layer 13x9x4 is supposed to make 50 wedding servings but that just seems so small to put out for 150 guests. Welcome more advice.

uk google results suggest its a cake with actual butternut squash - like carrot cake, us results are purely about this flavouring. the diference between countries amused me im curious though - is butternut flavouring a nut flavour, or squash flavour?

as long as you have enough cake servings or everyone, and the bride is happy to have the sizes suggested, then i wouldnt worry about it. of course, make sure its all in the contract! the grooms cake is generally supposed to be smaller anyway.

besides, everyone knows when the cake is cut and laid out, you have to run for the pick of the slices!
xx

I think you have to trust your serving sizes.... I think if you make enough for everyone, you will be fine, regardless of flavor. When one is gone, they will eat the other

Jen

Really? She wants an unusual flavour, but won't tell you where to get the flavouring? Weird.

As for more cake, if that's what she wants and pays for, that's what she gets. She's under no obligation to provide a 'traditional' flavour, and if guests don't like it, they don't have to eat it.

Really? She wants an unusual flavour, but won't tell you where to get the flavouring? Weird.

As for more cake, if that's what she wants and pays for, that's what she gets. She's under no obligation to provide a 'traditional' flavour, and if guests don't like it, they don't have to eat it.

Thanks again for the responses. I appreciate your time and help. The bride has provided one bottle of flavoring and it is actually called "Butter and Nut". It smells good but is hard to describe. It is not made from Butternut Squash. She said she used to have it for birthday cakes as she was growing up. I bought a bottle over the internet from a county store in NC and paid more for the shipping than the bottle of flavoring itself. Thanks again. I love this website for its helps and ideas.

Personally, I would not be comfortable serving a cake from a recipe that I had never made before and wasn't something I had already spent a long time perfecting as my own. I know that you're going to do some test runs first, but still. Is she paying you extra to do this?

If it were me, well, I am not in a position to spend extra money to experiment on creating this flavor because the bride doesn't like what I offer and wants me to make her a flavor that she admits she can't get right.

I guess what I'm saying is that it doesn't make sense for me (financially and otherwise) to use someone else's recipes. What happens if you bake it and she doesn't like the taste because it's not how she thought it would turn out? Is she going to want a refund? Is there anything in your contract to cover this?

Who knows, maybe you'll create the most amazing cake flavor ever, but for me I would tell her what's on my cake menu is what I offer.

I would make the amount the customer pays for. I would note on the contract that she ordered less than she needed though.

Butternut flavor doesn't sound quite as weird if you think of butter pecan, quite a tasty ice cream flavor.

Here's a link to it.

https://www.lorannoils.com/p-8690-vanilla-butternut-flavor.aspx

I use butter & pecan (Lorann) oils for butter pecan cake. Works great but you gotta use it carefully to taste, not measured out like vanilla--I use it in addition to vanilla.

I don't know--she's ordering 175 servings for 150 quests. Why won't that work?

I mean whenever the bride says a different flavor in each tier I play the 'but everyone will want a slice of each' card--and it usually works. But 125 brides c and 50 grooms c works for me.

I mean if it was a miso flavored cake with balsamic filling or taro flavored --ahh yeah might not go over with the crowd--now those might be some good flavor ideas to put in the next how to keep wedding costs down article but butter and nut are easy common flavors. Almond is a nut flavor wasc.

But giving you a recipe that doens't even work--please!