Another cake thread - help me pick a flavor!

[karasue91]

Well, Gypsy and Freke, thank you both for your in-depth knowledge and explanations on cakes...as a direct result, I was spurred to start calling cake places, and I picked my cake lady today! Her business is actually called Adrienne the Cake Lady, haha. Anyway, I''m not a cake connaiseur by any means and I didn''t do a lot of tasting, but I really liked this lady''s cake and she was super sweet so I''m going with the first (well second, after trying the grocery-store cake that people swear is good....blech) cake I tried. Moist, not too sweet, good frosting, and a good price. $325 for a 4 tier cake that feeds 100 people. We''ll get a kitchen cake to feed the rest of the people.

So now I have to pick a flavor...I really love the lemon, but do you think it''s a specific taste that not everyone will like? I would love to do lemon with raspberry filling...the chocolate cake was actually really good but (and this is a crazy bride thing to say) I just don''t think chocolate cake is as pretty as white or yellow cake. hahaha it''s the dumbest thing ever right? She gave us 6 flavors to try: white, chocolate, lemon, marble, carrot, and butter pecan. We narrowed it down to white, chocolate, or lemon. Nothing super fancy like what some other people are tasting, but some darn tasty cake nonetheless!

Anyways, just had to share my excitement and get some opinions on lemon cake with raspberry filling. And I''m so in love with my fluffy cake!! Oh, and it will be white instead of pink, but with some small fresh pink flowers decorating it.

Also can I say how nice it is to have somewhere to share all the dumb little excitements that come with wedding planning that no one else can understand except other people in the same position? So great. Thanks to everyone

 

[Missrocks]

Hmmm. I like lemon, but your are right when you say not everyone might. I would vote white cake with raspberry filling and buttercream icing. Tasty, and pretty! And who doesn''t like white cake? That was exactly the combo I made for my BF''s wedding.



Plus I don''t feel cakes need to be all "designery". Taste is what I go for! I love the idea of just decorating it with some flowers.

 

[diamondfan]

When is your wedding? If the lemon is subtle, it can be lovely with raspberry. I did a lemon cake with a glaze and then the icing, and the lemon was not overpowering. But I love citrus so I am not a good one to ask!

 

[Gypsy]

Are you having any other desserts, or is your cake your dessert?

If your cake is your only dessert, I would say to maybe pick something more generally freindly. If you are doing more than just the cake... do what you want.

Of course our cake is NOT generally friendly as it''s very citrusy too, and it''s pretty much our only dessert other than some of the Persian cookies and things we''ll have placed family style on the table. So I''m not one to walk my own talk. I''m being a pretty darned accomodating host, but darn it I wanted the cake I liked. So, after all of that. I say lemon and raspberry sound fabulous.

 

[monarch64]

Hmmm... lemon is pretty mild when it comes to being used in a cake as the flavor is very diffused in the end. I used to bring lemon/white cupcakes to work and used a bit of white buttercream frosting and everyone LOVED them. We had white cake/some sort of fruit filling/white icing in a basketweave pattern for our wedding and got rave reviews....

I''m not a huge sweets fan, however, and typically I don''t eat the wedding cake at a wedding. I''m more of a bar connisseur, he hee.

Anywho, I bet you will get a ton of responses here to lead you in the best direction. Ps is known for having members of very good taste, no pun intended!

 

[CrownJewel]

Ooooooo I love your fluffy cake! I think that if people are going to eat cake, they will eat lemon cake. You will always have some guests who turn down cake, no matter what the flavor. But when I eat cake with people, we are all like "I''ll eat any cake."

 

[happy in love]

How would you feel about doing 2 tiers with the lemon/raspberry and 2 with the white/raspberry?
If your baker will do it that could solve the dilema!

 

[FrekeChild]

Ok. First, a warning on Raspberry-make sure that if you decide on that filling, that there are no seeds. I, and everyone I know hates to have raspberry seeds in cake. They get stuck in your teeth, providing lots of opportunities for less than stellar pics.

Having said that, I don''t particularly like raspberry filing. But that''s my own particular feeling on the matter. My favorite cake ever was Hazelnut cake with hazelnut frosting (Italian buttercream of course!) and it had a thin layer of raspberry jam, and I mean THIN-just enough to spread around and be see through, and while i understood the point of it cutting through the richness of all the hazelnut goodness, I still didn''t like it. So as a compromise, I''d probably have slices of hazelnut cake with fresh raspberries on the side.

Lemon and raspberry are flavors that go together very well, but they''re both pretty tart, and unless a guest likes the combo a lot, they probably won''t eat much of it. Fruit fillings in general are a love them or hate them kind of thing. I grew up with my aunt ordering raspberry filling in every cake for birthdays and special occasions, AND IT ALWAYS HAD SEEDS TOO. Probably part of my reason for disliking raspberry filling so much.

I would go with either chocolate or white cake, and perhaps a flavored buttercream in the middle. Or if you could swing it, two layers of chocolate with raspberry filling and one or two (no idea how many layers you''re thinking about) with white cake and another filling.

And my opinion is only one of many...

But it boils down to what you guys want-and thats really the most important part. Good luck and let us know what you choose!

 

[mimzy]

as someone who rarely eats cake at weddings because it''s a flavor that i''m not all that fond of, i can say that i''ve never felt put off or upset by it. a lot of people get fancy or fruity flavors for cake that they, the couple, LOVE, and i (and i would imagine everyone else) figured that they chose it because THEY loved it....not because they figured everyone else would too. it is their wedding, after all.

if you can swing having both the lemon/rasp cake and a more neutral flavor like white or chocolate or something, then go for it. but if you can''t, i''d go for the cake flavor that you really love.

 

[FrekeChild]

mimzy said it better than I did.

Still...no raspberry seeds!

 

[mimzy]

Date: 3/4/2008 4:44:52 PM
Author: FrekeChild
mimzy said it better than I did.

Still...no raspberry seeds!

i totally second this by the way. my FMIL made a cake once that had raspberry jam in it and i had the hardest time trying to come up with an excuse as to why i didn''t want to finish my piece. pretty icky.

 

[zoebartlett]

I get what you''re saying about not wanting a chocolate cake (or is it the chocolate frosting that you''re wondering about)? For some reason, it doesn''t seem as "weddingy" as a more subtle color. Having said that, I love cake and I''m not that picky. We''re actually not having cake at our wedding (we opted for a dessert buffet instead). With the choice you''ve listed, I''d personally choose lemon if I were in your shoes. I also like the idea of having both white and lemon but I still think I''d choose lemon.

I love the look of your fluffy cake!

 

[brazen_irish_hussy]

I will first say choose what you want. However, if I were a guest I would decline the cake since two tart fruit flavors together doesn''t appeal to me much. I liked the suggestion of having 2 different tiers with different flavors. That is whay we are doing for our cake since I love chocolate and FI likes spice cakes.

 

[karasue91]

Argghh I haven''t been able to log in all day! Thanks for everyone''s input!!

Good point about the raspberry seeds. Basically at this point we just need to tell her the cake flavor we are interested in, and then we choose the flavor of the filling. I like the idea of 2 layers of white and 2 layers of lemon. What I meant when I said I didn''t think chocolate cake was as pretty as white was that when you cut into it, I like the look of the white or yellow better than the chocolate, hahha, which is a crazy bride thing to say. But, we could make the bottom layer white or lemon, and then one or two of the upper layers chocolate. That''s an idea...

OK well I think I just need to pick 1 or 2 and forget about it. No matter what, the cake is good so I can''t go wrong. I''ll definitely ask if the raspberry filling has seeds, thanks Freke! Next step after we pick a flavor is she gives us 6 cupcakes of the cake flavor we choose with 6 different fillings for us to choose from. One of her fillings is "Italian Mousseline Buttercream", which I''m guessing is the italian buttercream Freke and Gypsy have been discussing? She said it is made with egg whites and is fluffier than regular buttercream, and we might want to consider using it for the outer frosting since our cake is so frilly and the lighter density might look nicer. It''s a bit of a higher charge, but I''m guessing no more than $25-$30. She also said she can flavor it with a liquor if we want. So maybe we should get the flavor that way instead of a filling? Not sure...need to look up liquor flavors.

 

[Gypsy]

I''d definitely ask to taste the italian mousa-whatever buttercream. As for liquor I like chambord A LOT, and it''s raspberry flavored. Since you get to try so many samples I would ask her for a italian buttercream with chambord as a filling, and then iced with the regular italian buttercream. Can''t hurt to try it.

 

[FrekeChild]

Date: 3/4/2008 7:54:02 PM
Author: karasue91
Argghh I haven''t been able to log in all day! Thanks for everyone''s input!!

Good point about the raspberry seeds. Basically at this point we just need to tell her the cake flavor we are interested in, and then we choose the flavor of the filling. I like the idea of 2 layers of white and 2 layers of lemon. What I meant when I said I didn''t think chocolate cake was as pretty as white was that when you cut into it, I like the look of the white or yellow better than the chocolate, hahha, which is a crazy bride thing to say. But, we could make the bottom layer white or lemon, and then one or two of the upper layers chocolate. That''s an idea...

OK well I think I just need to pick 1 or 2 and forget about it. No matter what, the cake is good so I can''t go wrong. I''ll definitely ask if the raspberry filling has seeds, thanks Freke! Next step after we pick a flavor is she gives us 6 cupcakes of the cake flavor we choose with 6 different fillings for us to choose from. One of her fillings is ''Italian Mousseline Buttercream'', which I''m guessing is the italian buttercream Freke and Gypsy have been discussing? She said it is made with egg whites and is fluffier than regular buttercream, and we might want to consider using it for the outer frosting since our cake is so frilly and the lighter density might look nicer. It''s a bit of a higher charge, but I''m guessing no more than $25-$30. She also said she can flavor it with a liquor if we want. So maybe we should get the flavor that way instead of a filling? Not sure...need to look up liquor flavors.

Hee hee. She''s trying to make the Italian buttercream sound fancier than it is. Justifying that price increase perhaps? There is mousseline sauce, which is basically a creme anglaise (egg yolks, cream, sugar) just made slightly different(adds boiling water and whips the cream before adding it to the rest of the ingredients). Rest assured that she''s talking about Italian Buttercream. If you want a bit of fun, you should ask her what makes it mousseline, either she knows its BS, or she doesn''t know the difference-like was given the recipe and it just said that on top. Either way-

-and a funny reaction.

What I''d do is have to use the Italian buttercream all over-plain ol'' vanilla. Of course, color doesn''t matter because the whole cake is covered in flowers right? Then you could have her flavor one of the buttercreams with Chambord-but it has a strong burgundy/purple color, that even diluted with buttercream will look a little odd. If I were making it I''d have a filling of buttercream with a little bit of Chambord and some raspberry jam mixed in for color and extra flavor. The problem with Italian buttercream is that it''s an emulsion-and a rather delicate one, so if she adds too much liquour to it- it could mess it all up by breaking the emulsion.

Are you thinking of any other filling flavors?

I personally think white/yellow is more bridal too! That''s not a brideszilla thing! Now imagine cutting into the Red Velvet

(although tasty)!

 

[IWantAMilkshake]

I say go for the yummy lemon/raspberry combo.

That being said, I have an orange cake with passionfruit filling and Grand Marnier buttercream frosting, so there''s no accounting for taste!

 

[karasue91]

Date: 3/4/2008 10:28:40 PM
Author: FrekeChild

Date: 3/4/2008 7:54:02 PM

Author: karasue91

Argghh I haven''t been able to log in all day! Thanks for everyone''s input!!


Good point about the raspberry seeds. Basically at this point we just need to tell her the cake flavor we are interested in, and then we choose the flavor of the filling. I like the idea of 2 layers of white and 2 layers of lemon. What I meant when I said I didn''t think chocolate cake was as pretty as white was that when you cut into it, I like the look of the white or yellow better than the chocolate, hahha, which is a crazy bride thing to say. But, we could make the bottom layer white or lemon, and then one or two of the upper layers chocolate. That''s an idea...


OK well I think I just need to pick 1 or 2 and forget about it. No matter what, the cake is good so I can''t go wrong. I''ll definitely ask if the raspberry filling has seeds, thanks Freke! Next step after we pick a flavor is she gives us 6 cupcakes of the cake flavor we choose with 6 different fillings for us to choose from. One of her fillings is ''Italian Mousseline Buttercream'', which I''m guessing is the italian buttercream Freke and Gypsy have been discussing? She said it is made with egg whites and is fluffier than regular buttercream, and we might want to consider using it for the outer frosting since our cake is so frilly and the lighter density might look nicer. It''s a bit of a higher charge, but I''m guessing no more than $25-$30. She also said she can flavor it with a liquor if we want. So maybe we should get the flavor that way instead of a filling? Not sure...need to look up liquor flavors.

Hee hee. She''s trying to make the Italian buttercream sound fancier than it is. Justifying that price increase perhaps? There is mousseline sauce, which is basically a creme anglaise (egg yolks, cream, sugar) just made slightly different(adds boiling water and whips the cream before adding it to the rest of the ingredients). Rest assured that she''s talking about Italian Buttercream. If you want a bit of fun, you should ask her what makes it mousseline, either she knows its BS, or she doesn''t know the difference-like was given the recipe and it just said that on top. Either way-

-and a funny reaction.


What I''d do is have to use the Italian buttercream all over-plain ol'' vanilla. Of course, color doesn''t matter because the whole cake is covered in flowers right? Then you could have her flavor one of the buttercreams with Chambord-but it has a strong burgundy/purple color, that even diluted with buttercream will look a little odd. If I were making it I''d have a filling of buttercream with a little bit of Chambord and some raspberry jam mixed in for color and extra flavor. The problem with Italian buttercream is that it''s an emulsion-and a rather delicate one, so if she adds too much liquour to it- it could mess it all up by breaking the emulsion.


Are you thinking of any other filling flavors?


I personally think white/yellow is more bridal too! That''s not a brideszilla thing! Now imagine cutting into the Red Velvet

(although tasty)!

Freke, the frill on the outside of the cake is entirely frosting!! She had a sample cake at her house with the same technique...it was an older sample (frosted styrofoam) so it wasn''t perfect, but it made me feel comfortable that it would look at least similar to the picture. I attached a more detailed pic I found. Here is the recipe for the frosting for this cake too, which sounds pretty much exactly the way she described how she makes her italian buttercream:
http://www.marthastewart.com/delicious-swiss-meringue-buttercream?lnc=8b99cf380e1dd010VgnVCM1000005b09a00aRCRD&rsc=recipecontent_weddings

Do you think that this might be a better option for the way the frosting will be put on the cake? It sounds more fluffy and less likely to droop...

Here are the filling options:
orange or lemon custard
bavarian cream
chocolate buttercream
raspberry
strawberry
apricot
french buttercream
chocolate ganache
caramel buttercream
italian mousseline buttercream
hazelnut chocolate ganache
cream cheese

Any of those that I might not be considering that maybe I should? Maybe I should do the white cake with the hazelnut chocolate ganache filling with just vanilla on the outside? Or I could even do white cake with chocolate buttercream and raspberry filling (still vanilla on the outside)?

 

[FrekeChild]

Date: 3/5/2008 12:16:37 AM
Author: karasue91

Date: 3/4/2008 10:28:40 PM

Author: FrekeChild

Date: 3/4/2008 7:54:02 PM

Author: karasue91

Argghh I haven''t been able to log in all day! Thanks for everyone''s input!!

Good point about the raspberry seeds. Basically at this point we just need to tell her the cake flavor we are interested in, and then we choose the flavor of the filling. I like the idea of 2 layers of white and 2 layers of lemon. What I meant when I said I didn''t think chocolate cake was as pretty as white was that when you cut into it, I like the look of the white or yellow better than the chocolate, hahha, which is a crazy bride thing to say. But, we could make the bottom layer white or lemon, and then one or two of the upper layers chocolate. That''s an idea...

OK well I think I just need to pick 1 or 2 and forget about it. No matter what, the cake is good so I can''t go wrong. I''ll definitely ask if the raspberry filling has seeds, thanks Freke! Next step after we pick a flavor is she gives us 6 cupcakes of the cake flavor we choose with 6 different fillings for us to choose from. One of her fillings is ''Italian Mousseline Buttercream'', which I''m guessing is the italian buttercream Freke and Gypsy have been discussing? She said it is made with egg whites and is fluffier than regular buttercream, and we might want to consider using it for the outer frosting since our cake is so frilly and the lighter density might look nicer. It''s a bit of a higher charge, but I''m guessing no more than $25-$30. She also said she can flavor it with a liquor if we want. So maybe we should get the flavor that way instead of a filling? Not sure...need to look up liquor flavors.

Hee hee. She''s trying to make the Italian buttercream sound fancier than it is. Justifying that price increase perhaps? There is mousseline sauce, which is basically a creme anglaise (egg yolks, cream, sugar) just made slightly different(adds boiling water and whips the cream before adding it to the rest of the ingredients). Rest assured that she''s talking about Italian Buttercream. If you want a bit of fun, you should ask her what makes it mousseline, either she knows its BS, or she doesn''t know the difference-like was given the recipe and it just said that on top. Either way-

-and a funny reaction.

What I''d do is have to use the Italian buttercream all over-plain ol'' vanilla. Of course, color doesn''t matter because the whole cake is covered in flowers right? Then you could have her flavor one of the buttercreams with Chambord-but it has a strong burgundy/purple color, that even diluted with buttercream will look a little odd. If I were making it I''d have a filling of buttercream with a little bit of Chambord and some raspberry jam mixed in for color and extra flavor. The problem with Italian buttercream is that it''s an emulsion-and a rather delicate one, so if she adds too much liquour to it- it could mess it all up by breaking the emulsion.

Are you thinking of any other filling flavors?

I personally think white/yellow is more bridal too! That''s not a brideszilla thing! Now imagine cutting into the Red Velvet

(although tasty)!

Freke, the frill on the outside of the cake is entirely frosting!! She had a sample cake at her house with the same technique...it was an older sample (frosted styrofoam) so it wasn''t perfect, but it made me feel comfortable that it would look at least similar to the picture. I attached a more detailed pic I found. Here is the recipe for the frosting for this cake too, which sounds pretty much exactly the way she described how she makes her italian buttercream:

http://www.marthastewart.com/delicious-swiss-meringue-buttercream?lnc=8b99cf380e1dd010VgnVCM1000005b09a00aRCRD&rsc=recipecontent_weddings

Do you think that this might be a better option for the way the frosting will be put on the cake? It sounds more fluffy and less likely to droop...

Here are the filling options:
orange or lemon custard
bavarian cream
chocolate buttercream
raspberry
strawberry
apricot
french buttercream
chocolate ganache
caramel buttercream
italian mousseline buttercream
hazelnut chocolate ganache
cream cheese

Any of those that I might not be considering that maybe I should? Maybe I should do the white cake with the hazelnut chocolate ganache filling with just vanilla on the outside? Or I could even do white cake with chocolate buttercream and raspberry filling (still vanilla on the outside)?

Ok, if I were wanting her to make my cake, I''d probably do hazelnut chocolate ganache or just chocolate ganache with yellow cake. Because that''s my favorite cake (besides the strict hazelnut stuff).

Yum!

Down to business-definitely do Vanilla Italian buttercream on the outside. It will be an ivory color-is that ok? Was her styrofoam cake made with royal icing or American Buttercream? I think that''s a cool cake, everyone seems to like the smooth look right now.

Well, orange, raspberry, strawberry, apricot all go very well with chocolate. I could see going with cream cheese with chocolate as well because it''s a little tart.

As for lemon cake- it''s harder to choose something to go with it, because it compliments lots of flavors, but fewer things compliment it. If I were to do lemon cake I''d go with strawberry or cream cheese frosting. Raspberry is also an option, but it''s got such a strong flavor that along with being a pretty tart cake that it will probably overwhelm the more delicate flavor of the cake.

You could do yellow cake or lemon cake with lemon custard-is she talking about lemon curd do you know? Because it is really good, very rich but at the same time, very tart. This is definitely something you should ask.

Yellow and white cakes will go with pretty much anything and everything.

I''d be careful with the bavarian cream and the french buttercream because they should both be flavored with something else. Like I like to make white cake with strawberry bavarian. Ooo! Or passionfruit! Ok sorry, getting back to the task at hand...

You could go caramel buttercream with chocolate or yellow cake, but it''d be really rich.

Um...I''m getting distracted by Jay Leno, but if I think of something else, I''ll get back over here.

 

[Future Mrs Polka Dot]

Your cake is gorgeous!! That design is so pretty and unique

I am not a picky cake person. I would absolutely eat a lemon-raspberry if that was the option. As long as it is a nice, light lemon flavor, and not too tart, that sounds great! And I am admittedly a chocolate person. I liked the idea of doing two different flavor options on the various layers if that''s feasible?