Customer's Perspective Of A Cake Tasting
Business By maryjsgirl Updated 10 Feb 2009 , 7:01pm by dailey
I enjoyed reading your blog, Judy. I think it's very insightful for brides. I thought the first blog showed your excitement for the process. As you went to more tastings, you seemed to have a better idea of what you liked, didn't like, and what you were looking for. Your wedding cake looked really smooth, and the groom's cake was awesome! I did take something away from your comments, and in the future I plan to give couples a few minutes alone when sampling the cakes.
judyonthenet -> I read your blog. Very informative. I just had a booth at a bridal show a couple of weekends ago. I had a number of people tell me that square cakes cost more. I am not sure about that but for me the only reason a square cake would cost more is because you get more servings out of a square than a round. Did they tell you why a square costed more?
After reading this I went to wikipedia and edited the entry on fondant to include the difference between rolled and poured fondant. Feel free to go edit my edits!
Oops, just saw the Bride posted here-we always forget that people we talk about here are real people.
As opposed to the imaginary voices in our heads of course.
Ah, you know what I mean K8. 
Like the time we (me) were talking bad about Buddy and he came on here and defended himself. 
It's easy to talk behind their backs and say things we wouldn't, if we knew they were listening. 
Yes I know I was jsut trying to lighten it up--Judy was/is very cool about our banter.
Buddy from New Jersey or New York, somehwere out East who's been on the Cake Challenges came on here? He did the big Santa in the chimney one among other things. Ruh roh were we being "ourselves" again??
Oooh. How do you do that? That sounds like fun.
Judy, I looked everywhere on your blog and was dissappointed that after reading all about the tasting, there was no wedding cake picture.
Yes, it's a terrible habit of mine to not completely finish what I'm talking about. Now that there's all these CC people coming over, I think I'll have to do a followup post soon!
Since you are obviously a cake person, have you ever considered trying your hand at it?
I have, but only recently. I registered mostly kitchenware for the wedding, so now I have lots of new toys to play with, including cake pans! So I'm ready, I just need to do it. I've never heard of this website before, but I can tell from the trackbacks there's a lot of readers here, so it must be a pretty good resource. I'll definitely be looking around!
Every blog/web site owner can see what links people are clicking to get to their site (if they have appropriate tracking set up).
Indeed. No secrets on the internet, it's serious business.
I am not sure about that but for me the only reason a square cake would cost more is because you get more servings out of a square than a round. Did they tell you why a square costed more?
Yes, I was told by one of the bakeries later that this was because it has more servings.
There's a bakery here that tells clients that square cakes cost more because you have to start with a round cake, then cut the square shape out of it 
A different one tells them that it takes longer to ice a square cake so that's why it's more. (Both charge more per serving than they do for round cakes, it's not just because it gives you more servings.)
Judy, how fun to read about your tasting adventures! It was nice to hear you confirm that some of the things that I do in my tastings made you feel more comfortable (being left alone to eat, for example). I loved seeing the presentation from all of the different places. Makes me more aware of taking a look at my presentation and being sure it's what I would want to see.
Have a happily ever after!
Beth
There's a bakery here that tells clients that square cakes cost more because you have to start with a round cake, then cut the square shape out of it
A different one tells them that it takes longer to ice a square cake so that's why it's more. (Both charge more per serving than they do for round cakes, it's not just because it gives you more servings.)
Crazy! I charge the same amount per serving for square as I do for round cakes. Apparently they don't know that people sell square cake pans.
wow, that was very informative.
I think that 9 tastings is a bit much, but hey, try cake until you find the one right for you.
also, could you write in your blog about how your groom decided or got his grooms cake? your so informative, that It would be cool to read about that as well.
hope to see you around this site as you learn to make cakes yourself.
melody
ohh, sorry I just read the blog about the grooms cake.
cool.
melody
so, could you sum it up for us? did you go with the taste? the presentation of the samples? the albums? the cakes on display? what lead you to pick the cake company that you ended up with?
thank you,
melody
Oh, thanx for the link Judy! That cake is certainly smooth, I hope your husband liked it! I read your whole blog on the cake tasting and found it very useful. I didn't get that chance cause we eloped (I figured if I had that much time to think about it, I might change my mind!)
Heehee
Wow! this was incredibly informative! thanks for posting the link and thanks Judy for taking the time to blog about your experience. This is so cool. I wish I would have had something like this when I picked out my wedding cake. There was only one cake lady around so I went to her for a tasting. She gave me hunks (I think they were scraps) of cake on a paper plate and spooned strawberry filling straight from the can onto the plate in front of me. I don't knock canned filling, but the presentation was certainly lacking! 
and her porfolio, consisted of magazine pictures she cut out and put in an album. I was so clueless back then!
Congrats on the wedding! Your cake was beautiful!
If anyone is interested I found Judy's blog by doing a Google image search of "cake tasting". You will find more photos of cake tastings and I ran into a couple of other blogs, but I liked Judy's the best.
You know what nobody here has managed to compliment Judy on?
"incredibly reasonable starting price at $3.99 "
"$5.75 a slice for buttercream, and $6.75 a slice for fondant...I was taken aback since I wasnt expecting their prices to be so reasonable."
In light of all of the stories here about people trying to get their cake for 50cents a serving.... Seriously, couldn't you just HUG her??!! 
In light of all of the stories here about people trying to get their cake for 50cents a serving.... Seriously, couldn't you just HUG her??!!
I missed this part when I read it and yes, it IS nice to see someone who knows that a good quality cake can't be bought for a grocery store bakery price!
so, could you sum it up for us? did you go with the taste? the presentation of the samples? the albums? the cakes on display? what lead you to pick the cake company that you ended up with?
Yes, I'm also interested in what the deciding factor(s) was/were for you. Dont' leave us hangin', girl!
i hate one on one tastings, i dont like presure...
i am trying this for a first time... Sent out e-invites to all customers getting cakes done this month for a monthly cupcake tasting party.
that way it will be more relaxed, and there will be some of my friends that are also vendors too, but it will be like a coctail party, except with cupcakes.
i will let you know how it went...
(thanks to who ever on here that gave me the idea)
lesley
so, could you sum it up for us? did you go with the taste? the presentation of the samples? the albums? the cakes on display? what lead you to pick the cake company that you ended up with?
Taste was definitely the primary deciding factor, followed by how the cakes looked in the album and cost. You all are pretty familiar with my husband's obsession with smoothness now, so yeah, we took a good look at all the albums.
We were on a budget, but to be honest, I was open to upping it 
But that's only if I thought the higher cost was reasonable. My original main beef with La Patisserie was their delivery fee and deposit requirements. We probably wouldn't have bothered tasting some of the later bakeries if it weren't for this, but we were later able to negotiate those down. Would I have cared as much if their cake was $1 a slice more and delivery fee within reason? Dunno. It's one of those silly it's-the-principle matters.
By display cakes, if you mean the fake ones that are decorated, those had zero influence on us. (ETA) Presentation of the samples weren't super important, aside from how it affected the taste of things. It certainly couldn't hurt; if you show care in your samples, you probably show care in your final product!
I thought the cake tastings were also a very good way to gauge the level of service, how your future interactions with the store would be like, chemistry with the vendor, etc. It wasn't a primary factor in our decision making, but in hindsight it probably should have been, at least if taste were all equal. I played a lot of phone tag with the rep at La Patisserie for booking, and this was still the case for the rest of process (but everything got done, so no issues).
For the groom's cake, I went with Debbie Does Cakes purely because of her portfolio. Taste was unimportant to me here, so I never tasted with her. The subject was kind of obscure, so I wasn't sure if Cake Expressions could pull it off, even tho I really wanted to get a cake with them based on our tasting. They did make an awesome Lego wedding cake tho.
I take it your near the Chicago area?
La Patisserie in Chicago is owned by the World Pastry Champion of 2008.
His work is amazing and my goodness is it good.
Nope, I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area, so we used the one in Cupertino. It also explains my cake pricing expectations... living here is $$$!
Judy,
>>For the groom's cake, I went with Debbie Does Cakes purely because of her portfolio. Taste was unimportant to me here, so I never tasted with her. <<
How was the taste of this cake? Were you impressed with the taste as well as the design? I'm curious... nothing more since I am so far from there.
Thanks.
>>For the groom's cake, I went with Debbie Does Cakes purely because of her portfolio. Taste was unimportant to me here, so I never tasted with her. <<
How was the taste of this cake? Were you impressed with the taste as well as the design? I'm curious... nothing more since I am so far from there.
I wasn't a fan of the taste, as it was a little sweet for me. (I like things pretty light.) It wasn't popular with the guests, but that's probably because it had a mint filling (catered towards my husband's tastes).
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