chocolate fountains

[eks6426]

Has anyone considered a chocolate fountain at their wedding? My fiance and I are trying to come up with something other than traditional cake for our wedding. We were thinking some of the fountains have the tiered cake look but provide a totally different dessert. I would love to hear about anyone''s experiences with one. FYI Our wedding will be small--50 or so people, July 3, rather informal BBQ dinner.

 

[JCJD]

I''ve only seen them at bridal fairs, but here''s why we decided not to have one. The chocolate is recycled through the fountain, so if someone decides to just stick their fingers in the chocolate instead of the provided snacks, everyone afterwards will be eating their finger germs. All the fountains we saw had been set up for at least 2 hours, and the tablecloth around the fountains were spotted and stained with chocolate - not very pretty. You have to have a fountain attendant present to make sure the above things don''t happen (which they didn''t at the fair). The chocolate didn''t really taste very good at 2 of the 3 vendors.

I really don''t want to rain on your parade, but this info should help your decision. We both want children to be welcome at our wedding, but something like this would be too messy and tempting for small, bored, tired kids (wedding at 7, reception 8-midnight). I think that with your smaller informal wedding, it would be much easier to handle this kind of dessert idea, and it would be tons of fun! And if you or your families are set on you doing a "cake" cutting ceremony, you could just cut a strawberry or piece of pound cake in half and feed that to each other (not dripping chocolate sauce all over each other, of course!!!).

 

[Cath]

Agree with JCJD about the recycled part. How about a Krispy Kreme donut cake?

 

[LollyBear]

Like JCDC, I''ve only seen and tried them at bridal fairs. Despite using a napkin and trying to be careful, the strawberry was a slippery sucker and I managed to drop it down the front of my blouse. Not something I''d want to risk repeating in my wedding gown! Then again, no matter how hard I try, I can''t avoid disaster; I''ve got to be the world''s biggest clutz.
I like Cath''s donut cake idea, if you got some on you, the icing is white and won''t show much if at all. That cake also looks scrumptious. Yum, Yum!

 

[abradabra]

I don''t know anything about chocolate fountains, but the Krispy Kreme donut cake reminded me of something cool and different I saw in Martha Stewart weddings. They did a cake of cupcakes! It looked like the Krispy Kreme cake but it was a series of small cakes. You could even make them patriotic--very BBQ friendly.

 

[yellowfan]

Hi Island Dreams,

I just wanted to chime in on the chocolate fountains. For a recent birthday party I attended in January, two fountains were rented, one white chocolate and one milk chocolate, my friends Mother told me it was $300 a piece for the rental for a 3 hour slot, and that is with chocolate provided. Other caterers had the "dipping items" delivered from local bakeries. They had all types of fancy cookies, strawberries, and even rice krispy bars for the younger children of the guests. I thought it was very neat and it tasted well. I do think it is expensive and if you can't trust everyone to use proper handling of the items, you probably won't enjoy it. At this party everything was on heavier "toothpicks" for a lack of better words, so it worked out. It is messy and it was neat for a birthday event, so I don't know what to tell you do to, but all the guests loved it and the kids really loved it. A few did drip the chocolate on clothes, but at your wedding ppl will be dressed up and at this party casual was fine. It may be too messy for your wedding, but would be fun at the shower or rehearsal dinner! Edited to add: If your wedding is casual, and its in your budget, I think everyone would enjoy it and if kids are invited they will love it! I am renting it for my daughters 13th birthday this summer!

Best luck in your upcoming wedding,
Lori/yellowfan-St. Louis

 

[flopkins]

Cath - that krispy kreme cake actually looks alright! seeing pics of donut cakes always remind me of a TLC wedding show (i forget the name, the one where they have your friends do your wedding on a budget) where the friends went to krispy kreme and made donuts... it looked awful, gooey filling oozing out of the donuts... it was classic seeing the brides face.

I''m evil

Anyhoo, about the cake, I think cupcakes would be so much fun! Esp if there''s a small crowd and it''s casual. I would agree w/a few of the others on the ''germ issue'' with the chocolate, but then I work in a lab so maybe I''m paranoid about that kind of thing! If it''s all family then, hey I guess a few germs won''t kill anyone!! It sounds like a fun thing if you dont mind the mess!

 

[Cath]

Date: 2/4/2005 6:18:14 PM
Author: flopkins
Cath - that krispy kreme cake actually looks alright! seeing pics of donut cakes always remind me of a TLC wedding show (i forget the name, the one where they have your friends do your wedding on a budget) where the friends went to krispy kreme and made donuts... it looked awful, gooey filling oozing out of the donuts... it was classic seeing the brides face.

I'm evil

Haha, now I'm glad I didn't do that for my wedding! DH and I thought about a Krispy Kreme cake, but Krispy Kreme wasn't doing them yet back then and we were afraid to do it ourselves. It definitely looks nicer when it's professionally done.

IslandDreams -- what's your/fiance's favorite dessert? Maybe you can use that to brainstorm. You can also do silver tiered trays filled with small desserts -- anything you like -- eclairs, cream puffs, chocolate covered strawberries, etc.

 

[jenwill]

I woudl say for an informal wedding that size, that perhaps fondue pots of different chocolates? A milk, dark, white chocolate pot with all the little side itmes...plus you can get wooden skewers so that everyone has plenty of opportunity to taste. Easier to keep from dribbling too. Just an idea......

 

[aeli]

Never considered a chocolate fountain, but my fiance and I have considered doing an ice cream sudae station...

 

[KBerly]

islanddreams, i first saw the chocolate fountain on a food show here in the boston area called the phantom gourmet. since then, it has been on my list for things to have at my wedding (i am not even engaged yet

) i think it is the coolest thing

 

[MelissaSue]

I think chocolate fountains are much too messy.. My mother is ALWAYS spilling stuff on her self and I KNOW she''d have chocolate all splattered down the front of her..

I was at a wedding this summer where they had a cotton candy machine set up!!! THAT was fun stuff, even though FI and I almost broke it.. I loove cotton candy and it was also something fairly entertaining to do..

They had a popcorn machine set up too..like a mini movie-theatre style one. but that is not novel to me as I work in a restaurant where we have to pop popcorn everyday.. but it is fun for some guests!

 

[eks6426]

Thanks everyone for the tips on the chocolate fountains. I definitely don''t want to get messy myself as I will be wearing my wedding dress on the plane to our honeymoon that night. I can only imagine my 7 year old son sticking his fingers in the chocolate without any appropriate dippers and grossing everyone out. I love the fondue idea and with only 50 people I might be able to make that work. Or just have little desserts on trays. We thought of the sundae bar too but ruled that out for messiness in July. I''m not too worried about the traditional feeding each other part of the reception so we just need a fun dessert for a daytime picnic style reception (grilled chicken & hamburgers, salads, watermelon etc.).

 

[farmer_daughter]

I was recetly in a wedding that had a chocolate fountain. They hired a company that does that type of stuff. It was around St. Louis like a previous post. The company charged $300 for 3-4 hours. That included the chocolate, fountain, drive time, and the labor. The company had 2 people dipping for us. They dipped it and put it on a little plate for us. They had strawberries, small pretzel sticks, marshmellows (yum), and graham crackers. It turned out really nice since someone was doing the dippinng. It was also white chocolate. I was a little tipsy and didn''t have any problems (shhhhh.) The chocolate hardened up a little before I could get it to my mouth. The chocolate wasn''t scorching hot by any means. It felt almost room temp.

I am also having a donut cake at my reception. It will be in addition to the cake. I made the base myself. I have moderate carpentry skills and could make it. I will decorate the base with a doilie or something so you don''t see the wood too much. I will probably also decorate the base with some flowers and greenery. It will be similar to the one pictured in a previous post but without all the crap on it. Meaning...more donuts and less foo foo!

 

[Strawdermangrl]

My previous employers had a 40th annv. party and we had a fountain- OHHHHH my heart lept out of my chest and my mouth filled with drool!!! There were mountains of strawberries the size of a small children, pound cake squares, pinapple and cheesecake bites and brownie bites and so many glorious things to dip into this dark flow of chocolate heaven(and I not to say that if there hadn't been anything to dip my hand would have gone straight in....

.......*sigh* Isn't chocolate the best? I will answer my own question, Yes Strawdermangrl it is!!

I am not a chocolate fountain fan or anything......