the cake was very bad!

They had a large, 4 tier cake. It was pretty enough, white frosting, dec with (fresh?) flowers. Nothing fancy but it was cute. I was just dying to taste it! They kept cutting the layers...they got down to the bottom layer (not sure how big...16" maybe) and cut slices off the outside but left the inner circle. Then they stopped cutting. I still hadn't gotten a piece, so I'm not sure why they stopped cutting. Then they brought out some sheet cakes. I finally got a piece and the cake was soooo dry. (It was also lemon flavored which I don't like, but that's besides the point.) The frosting was sooooo incredibly sweet, and gritty. I was so disappointed, all I could think is that I would have done the cake for them! Have you ever thought that?

As an aside...any ideas why they would stopping cut a layer halfway through? I was thinking because it was a larger cake maybe it wasn't cooked properly...just an idea, though.

I do this ALL the time!! I am wedding cake obsessed... the first thing I do when I get in the door is beeline for the cake and stare at it and critique. Then, I don't really even like to eat cake b/c I get sick of it from making it all the time, but I always taste the cake and give it a scale of 1-10 on things like icing, texture, moistness, etc. Luckily my boyfriend (who is my date to these things) has kind of gotten into the game too and says things like "oh honey, your icing is sooo much better than this!" lol...
I knew I had taken it too far when my brother was a groomsman in a wedding and called me during the reception to ask me a question and the first thing I said was "how is the cake? what does it look like... take a picture! " He was not amused!
So, no, you are definitely not alone on this!!

i am quilty of this too.
we went to my cousin's wedding a few weeks ago and i had been asked to be the cake cutter LOL my aunt knows i bake, however, my cousin wanted the woman who has made his cakes since he was born to do the wedding cake (no big deal, i thought it was sweet of him to think of her) anyway, i said sure, ill be the cake cutter. they had 8 inch cakes at every table except the head table and 3 tables up front which sat the bride and grooms parents, preist, godparents and a few others. i only had to cut the "large" cake at the cake table and while i'm cutting it the cakes are literally falling apart in my hands. they were so crumbly and dry. so when i got back to where i was sitting with my dh, sister, brother and a few other family members we cut into the cake on our table, it was dry too and the icing tasted like crisco, it was not good at all. everyone there who had tasted my cakes before (which was everyone on my cousin's side of the family and a few on her side) came up to me and said mine were so much better. (thankfully the lady who baked these cakes was not at this reception, she was at another reception down the road)
when we first walked in my kids (ages 8 and 4) went straight to the large cake table and looked at it (btw it was very beautifully decorated along with the ones on all the tables) but my daughter (4) said very loud "mom, you do prettier work then these cake" i so wanted to crawl under the floor and hide lol

I do it all the time too! And this season, I've had a lot of cake since I've attended a lot of weddings. I'm like Lucyinthesky, I critque each one of them just like she does. If my mother is there, she does it too and we compare notes (she used to decorate and did a lot of wedding cakes)

I have to tell you, all these weddings has boosted my confidence in cakes! I've seen a few this season from some of the "in" cake shops in Birmingham, and I realized that I could do just as good, if not better, on both flavor and decorating ability.

How about this one:

My wedding was 2 1/2 years ago. To save money, I asked a friend of a friend to make our cake. My friend recommended her highly saying she makes beautiful cakes in any style I want. What I asked for was a three tier ivory cake with a cascade of maroon roses. I didn't know better at the time, but she had me buy about ten boxes of carrot cake mix and ten cream cheese tubs of frosting (I know, I know) lol

I tell my husband whenever I think of our cake, "We should have a reception again so I can make the cake!"

Oh GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY!! I am the worst!! I am a huuuuuge cake snob because, there may be people that can decorate better than I can, but no one anywhere near me can make it taste like I can!! I am a total snoot-butt when I taste sub-par cake. Oh, I shouldn't be allowed out in public.

Edited to add: I obviously haven't tasted everyone's cake around this area, so I am not trying to make someone mad! hehehe!

Is there any other reason to go to a wedding then to see and taste the cake?

My 5-year old granddaughter ..... at the time, my ONLY grandchild! ..... was the flower girl for the first time. THey come over to tell Banna all about it. I patiently ( ) wait thru the description of the wedding, of the bridesmaids, of how cute the flower girl is, how everyone just made all over her. I can't stand it anymore.......

OK OK!!! THE CAKE!! WHAT ABOUT THE CAKE!!! TELL ME ABOUT THE FREAKIN' CAKE!! I KNOW SHE'S THE CUTEST THING IN THE WORLD! I GET IT! NOW TELL ME ABOUT THE CAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh Debi... you slay me!! I'd of been like, "Did you take pictures?" and they'd whip out pix of the flower girl and I'd be like, "No, no, no... the cake!!!" Hahahaha!

In an issue of People magazine was Marcia Cross's wedding cake (the redhead on Desperate Housewives). My hubby thinks she is the hottest thing on TV. The cake was HUGE! It towered 6ft over the couples's heads! I hold the magazine up to hubby and say, "Oh my gosh, would you look at this?" He said, 'Yeah, she's hot!" I said .......




"THE CAKE, YOU MORON, THE CAKE!!!!!!!!!!!"

Oh good, at least I'm not the only one!

Just wait, it won't be long until you'll be calling/e-mailing your cake decorating buddies to tell them about the cake. And heaven forbid that you and your buddies should attend the same wedding!

I've been working on smoothing buttercream and still wasn't quite satisfied or confident in my ability. I have to say that seeing the cakes from the "in" cake shops helped with that. And it also helped me with pricing my cakes because the following week, I called to see what their base prices are.

Okay, now I'm frightened! lol I have to do my first wedding cake near the end of July. If any of you are at the wedding please just lie to me and tell me how good it looks and tastes! (Hopefully you wouldn't need to lie though!)

I've just started with decorating and I'm already bad! Friends of mine took my oldest dd with them to an out of state wedding. I made them take pictures of the cake (never mind any pictures of my child during this whole trip!!) Then I got out the stark white light bulb and bamboo strips (for shoving under the fingernails you know!) and proceeded with my interrogation!

My name is Fran and I am a member of the FBCI (Federal Bureau of Cake Investigation)

Guilty.......................... I even have friends coming back and reporting to me on weddings they attend. I haven't asked them to.. it just kind of evolved that way. Of course my friends are biased, but it still makes me feel good when they say " it was pretty, but it didn't taste nearly as good as a Kristy cake." (which is what they have started calling my cakes)

I feel so dumb at some receptions. People know I do cakes so I don't want to look like an idiot making a b-line for the cake to check it out. I think I need to get a wig and some glasses.

I do this too, all the time, not just at weddings! Baby showers, birthday parties, retirement parties, etc. The other day, I caught myself looking through my own wedding pictures from 40 years ago) and critiquing that cake, too, and I must say that I would have done a much better job at smoothing than the caterer did

I think this would be a much shorter post if we just asked, "Who doesn't check out the cake at weddings and parties?"

I know for years I've always looked at them, but since I've gotten back into decorating much more seriously in the past four years, I must admit that I now critique them too. And probably a bit harshly, but not as badly as my DH. He's not even crazy about Duff's cakes! But then again, to his defense, I've seen people on this site and others online who put even Duff to shame!

OK...OK I confess....I am as bad (if not worse) than any of you! My nephew got married this past weekend...I did his cakes...huge set up...all the decor ...flowers etc. at the church reception hall ..the bouquets....you get the picture! Well...I DIDN'T get the picture so to speak. I network with a few other wedding professionals around my area....one being a dear friend of mine who is a photographer. She kinda owed me a favor and I called it due asking her to shoot this wedding discounted as the young couple didnt have much in the way of a budget ( my bro, the grooms Dad died 2 yrs ago tragically at 40)..she shoots it for free...what a deal huh? Now comes the kicker...she comes to visit me this past week with the disc of pics in hand.


I stick said disc into my laptop and excitedly begin to go thru the pics...great pic of the bride...standing in FRONT of my flower arrangement. Next...lovely photo of the cake ( if you just wanted to see the top two tiers outta 5...while you see them smearing it on each other....hmmm...next...my lovely punch fountain blurred behind them as they cut the groomscake which slightly out of focus. I set up the bride&grooms table at the reception with a huge fresh floral arrangement and tons on candles and other decor...did she get a pic of it for my catering portfolio? nah...lol. I was bout ready to tell her what a crappy job she did...till I tried to see it from the eyes of the couple...they were lovely of pics of THEM...hehe...thats what its about ..I know...but in my twisted decorators eye, they didn't get much of the good stuff.


Also there was about 5 good photos of my work...out of 75 photos..lol not a total loss for me!

Wondering if anyone has heard of this....

I attended a wedding last night. The bride was my best friend's sister. Obviously she knew that I would have loved to do her cake, but the package at the hotel where the reception was held included the cake, so she went with that. No hard feelings...

So they wheel out this HUGE cake on a table for the bride and groom to cut. Must have been at least a 16" on the bottom, then two more stacked tiers. Each layer though was probably 7 inches high! It was all ivory colored frosting with swirls and ivory colored icing roses around each layer. Pretty.

I get close to the cake to inspect it and take a picture and notice a tiny cake behind it that looked like a cheap grocery store cake with yellow rose buds and bright green leaves (you know the kind). They fed each other the cheap cake and the large cake gets wheeled away.

As the dessert is served, it's SO obvious everyone was being fed a piece of nasty dry sheetcake, not the cake everyone was admiring earlier. The icing was even a different color!

Has anyone ever heard of this? I always thought the wedding cake was the wedding cake.... How many times do you think they reuse that same cake?

<---Guilty on all charges! Slowly bowing head in critiquing shame!

I am sooooooo guilty of this!!! However, I have to admit that my husband and kids are even worse! At least, I keep my mouth shut and keep my thoughts to myself. I can't even remember where we were now...but it's been some time back...oh, now I remember, our friends' twins' bd party... Anyway, the cake was really, really cute, and I have to admit, it looked good; although, being a decorator, I noted imperfections, just as I do on all of my own cakes. The mother of the twins cut into the cake and started passing out slices to everyone. My husband and I tried bites at the same time...didn't chew but a couple of times...looked at one another...with one of those looks on your face. Talk about BONE DRY!!! Ick!!! The icing CRUNCHED...beyond CRUSTING bc. LOL. It was sooo incredibly sweet, too. My husband looked back at me and said that the cake reminded him of that scene in Chevy Chases' Christmas Vacation movie where they're sitting around the table dipping their turkey into their glasses for moisture! LOL. It was sooooooo dry. Ugh!

Anyway, that's MY story. Guilty!!!

Amy

four321:
There was a thread on here not too long ago about the same subject you just brought up. It seems that the "in" thing now in some areas is to rent a fake cake for decoration and serve sheet cakes to the guests. I've never actually seen it done and think it is the tackiest thing ever.

Glad I'm not the only one who does this either! I even stand at the cooler in the grocery store critiquing the work.

reposting

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Guilty as charged!!!! I to can't help but stop by the cake table first then get a test piece and I have to say "most" of the time I'm shocked at what the PRO'S get away with for high cost. Oh to be so fortunate...............

Okay, I have to admit, I do this too! I DJ'd for free for a couple's wedding last year, since they had little money for anything. I almost offered to make their cake, but didn't. (The DJ would be enough of a gift, I thought.) Anyway, they went with a cake package that the caterer offered, and for an additional $75 they got a nice cake with fresh flowers on it. (They must have had a kitchen cake, too, since the cake displayed would NEVER have served the amount of people at the reception.) Nothing special, really, just smooth buttercream frosting with some scallops on the bottom. But when I looked at the cake, *GASP*!!! I could see the cake through the icing in several places! Now, maybe that's petty of me, but when you can't complely cover your white cake with a creamy ivory colored frosting, that's a little chinzy to me. But the cake tasted good, I'll give them that.

One of the nicest complements I have ever been given was by one of my kid's teachers. She said, "Maria, your cakes look beautiful, and they taste great, too. You can't find that anymore!" Moved me to tears!!!

Guilty as charged...Not just wedding cakes, but any function that has cake. But, when I see these cakes that are just not very good and are dry...well, then I feel better about my work.

I do this, too. Sigh. Guess I'm in good company, though!

I did feel better yesterday, after quite awhile...

My little cousin got married last fall. I offered to save them several hundred bucks, and make the wedding cake. The hubby, who I hadnt' met yet, wanted to go with a 'professional', instead. Fine. I can understand that. My cousin knew I could do it, her hubby didn't. He paid for the cake, 'nuff said.

Yesterday, at the baby shower for their first little one, they both took a piece of cake, took a bite, and at the same time looked up at me and said, "Damn! We SHOULD have let you do the cake!"

Well, yeah... ya shoulda.

But I"m pretty sure that I'll be doing their kids' birthday cakes from now on, and right there in front of both of them, his mom gave them a lecture on not taking advantage of family, and being sure to pay me full retail value for my cakes, because they were damn well worth it. Then she ate a second piece of cake. -grin-

But at the wedding, I did look at the cake, and I KNEW I could do better. I had done the exact same cake, from a Wilton book, not two months before, just playing around. And mine looked better. Mine was also much more moist and didn't crumble like the wedding cake did.

So yeah... guilty as charged...