AHHH!!! I may have landed my first wedding cake and the lady (actually the sister of the bride) wants to meet up with me for a tasting!!!
I have never done a tasting so I don't know what types of cakes or fillings to have out for her! I found a thread about cake tasting presentation but I am just full of nerves and really just need someone to break it down for me nice and easy because I am going to explode!
Wedding is Late August. A family friend was going to do the wedding cake but they backed out of it this week! 
Just Bumping 
My sister just gave me the news this morning and I am just very nervous but I really want the chance to do this wedding cake. I just don't know how to prepare or what to even ask the bride-to-be. Any help is so greatly appreciated.
Step 1: Decide on flavors to serve.
What flavors of cake do you make? If there are more than 3 I would either serve your 3 most popular cakes, OR ask the bride which 3 she wants to sample. If you only make 2 or 3 kinds of cake regularly, just serve those.
Repeat with fillings.
If you make more than one type of white frosting serve a sample of each kind. If you ever use flavorings that don't show color, (e.g. almond, white chocolate, etc.) consider serving those (or ask the bride what sounds good). If you only make one type of frosting, and don't flavor it differently, just serve the one type of frosting. Double check to make sure the bride isn't interested in a "brown" cake. Those can be quite popular in some areas, and you'll want to serve chocolate frosting if that's the case.
Step 2: Decide on your presentation.
There are several ways to present your tasting. If you usually just fill your cake with frosting you can nicely frost some cupcakes, and leave it at that.
The way I prefer to do it is to cut neat bite size pieces of cake, and put out little tiny bowels of fillings and frostings so people can mix-and-match the flavors. If none of your flavors would "M&M" well, then I'd say skip this method.
Some people frost and fill tiny cakes. This can be VERY time consuming, but will look quite nice. One of the easiest ways to do this that I've heard about is to bake small cakes in a loaf pan, slice it in half or thirds, fill and stack the layers, and frost using a large star or round tip zig-zagging all over the cake. Some people will fill, stack, frost, and decorate individual cakes (usually 4" round). This will can be used as a way to show off your decorating skills, but can take a TON of time.
Step 3: Decide how the ordering process will work.
Some people just package up the tasting, and have the bride take it home and re-schedule for the ordering of the cake.
If you choose to have a sit-down tasting, be prepared with pics of cakes you have done (and cakes you "can" do if you're portfolio is small). Ask the bride to bring in any pics of cakes she likes, and any color swatches or other things she's picked out for the wedding that she might like incorporated into the cake (e.g. invitations, picture of her dress, pic of the flowers, etc.)
It's also a good idea to have some sizing charts handy so it's easy to figure out what size cake she'll need. It's especially easy if you figure out the servings for a few popular cake sizes. I do 6"10", 6"8"10", 6"9"12", 6"10"14", etc.
Another great idea is to have some wedding cake templates already drawn out so you can sketch designs without having to draw the cake outline. Someone (ack! can't remember who!) posted some beautiful templates in the galleries.
Figure out how you will charge for delivery. Figure out what their options are for a "cake stand." Figure out some basic prices (BC cake, Fondant, extra decorations, etc.)
HTH!
Ok, I just re-read your original post and saw that they're coming to you because their other decorator backed out! That means they'll probably already have a style and size of cake picked out. I would ask them that before the tasting (and maybe ask what flavor(s) they had decided on for the cake). This might make things MUCH easier for you! Good luck! 
OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! 
I am printing up this thread and going by your suggestions. It really means so much. I want to go in their prepared asking the right questions and making sure I can do a great job for her. Again thank you!
I just wanted to follow up and let you know that we have agreed on a cake tasting for this Sunday. I already know what flavors she is interested and the color scheme of the wedding. I have all these ideas to pitch to her and I feel so much better prepared today then I did yesterday.
Again, thank you so much for your help!
What excellent instructions! These are really useful, they would make a good article for anyone starting out.
cupsncakes said:
What excellent instructions! These are really useful, they would make a good article for anyone starting out.
Right with you there. This is such fantastic, clear but thorough advice. I always wondered how tastings were conducted - now I know why some people have a 'tasting fee' as it sounds like a lot of work. It would be good if this info was permanently available somewhere - would be a shame for such great advice to be lost in a thread somewhere.
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