Wedding Cake Tasting
Decorating By thelittlebakerboy Updated 12 Jul 2012 , 2:23pm by thelittlebakerboy
I've only done a couple of wedding cakes and have one due in Sept. I offered (like all the previous ones) for them to do a cake testing and this is the first one that said yes. I have plenty of time to prepare, but it makes me nervous... and I was hoping to get some insight. I do everything out of my home and they requested 4 flavors to try.
Do I ask them to my home or ask to go to theirs? (I can't imagine a public place would be too great for a testing, but all opinions welcome)
Do I take a serving size of each of the flavors?
Do I fancy the cakes up and take the slices out?
All other input would be very welcomed. This is a sweet couple that I'm doing the cake for and they know that I do everything out of my home, but I just want to make sure that I come off very professional to make sure they don't have any worries about the cake so that they can worry about other stuff before the wedding.
Hope you have liability insurance if you are doing it at home. I had a near accident yesterday at my home where I do wedding cake consultations. Parents came by me and the father nearly fell off a step in my back porch. Imagine if he broke or sprained an ankle what would have been my situation and I haven't even organized liability insurance yet. I have never done a tasting by someone. They usually come and collect a box of cupcakes after our initial meet when I have left-over cupcakes baked in the flavours they want to try. I do 2 cupcakes in each flavour with a swirl of frosting in the flavour they want and I put a small cut-out sugar flower on it to make it look nice. Good luck. Hope u get the job 
........Do I ask them to my home or ask to go to theirs? (I can't imagine a public place would be too great for a testing, but all opinions welcome)
Many decorators say they go to someplace like Boarders Books or a coffee house taking cupcakes. I never tried that myself.
Do I take a serving size of each of the flavors?
Do I fancy the cakes up and take the slices out? .....
I have tried it both ways. I baked a 5" round and decorated it a bit giving the whole thing to the customer to take home. When I had my shop I could give just small servings sizes of 3 flavors. I decided to do that after throwing away slice after slice of cake when all they tried was one small bite out of it 
I soooo hate waste especiall of food!
You could assemble a plate with small pieces of each cake, about half a cupcake's worth of each cake is more than enough. Add small spoonfuls of the separate fillings/icings.
That gives the customer the ability to try different combinations. There is no reason to even ice a cake layer, the customer isn't there for a serving of dessert.
At every wedding consultation, I give the couple a take-home box of cake samples, cut into fingers. Definitely not decorated. They are sampling to get an idea of your ability to bake a nice moist cake, and maybe try a flavour or two. This isn't the time to be impressing them with your decorating skills (that is what a website is for)!
The box to take home works for me because I do not have to waste time watching people eat and then um and ahh about flavours to choose, and THEY do not have to feel like they're being watched or like they need to give nice feedback. I give about 16 - 20 different cake flavours, and they can discuss it at home over a cup of coffee/tea together/with others to their heart's content.
This works great for me!
If they want a flavour I do not have as a sample at the time, I give them the choice to order a 5" round for $45. Funny how most people are happy enough with the samples when they hear that, haha!
Thank you all for your input. I really like the cupcake idea and that will def be the best for this instance b/c they've stated that they don't want any fillings and just want buttercream so...
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