Wedding Cake questions

[akw94]

Hi everyone,
My mind is on wedding cakes and my first thought was to have strawberry filling and white cake w/a white buttercream frosting. Strawberry isn''t my fav. but is my FI''s so I''m willing to compromise since he so rarely cares about wedding related stuff. Anyway, I''ve been doing some thinking.
I''ve heard of having different tiers w/different fillings. That sounds good to me but then some suggested that people get upset if they want the other filling vs the one they have. Has anyone done this? What do you think?
Then I saw a wedding cake challenge on the food network last night YUM! and they had different fillings in the same tier so it would be from the bottom: cake/filling 1/cake/filling 2/cake/frosting. Is it weird to have 2 fillings in one slice of cake? I was thinking of strawberry and banana which is great in a smoothie so maybe in a cake too??

Or should I just go w/the ol'' standard and do white cake and strawberry filling and leave it at that? Part of my reasoning for wanting something a little different is that I really preferred the banana so I''d like that in there too but not if it will cause confusion or angst amongst my guests or have a weird tasting cake.

 

[So_happy]

Hi

Funny you ask this. I think I've mentioned before that I work on the weekends at weddings at the Hyatt. Well, we pass them out so that usually one table gets all chocolate and another whole table would get vanilla, for example, and there are always always always 2 or 3 people that want to switch. It's not the end of the world but it does require us going back to where they are cutting the cake, wait in line for our turn, and then request whatever flavor they'd like to change to. We do it gladly but I think the guests get.......um.......testy...... for having to wait what can be a good 15 minutes to trade out the flavor....even tho they are the ones who requested it. (we can't really just switch out flavors on the spot once we've actually put a slice down in front of a guest....sanitary reasons)

Alternatively, I went to one wedding (as a guest, not an employee! lol) where they had the two flavors and they simply set up the cake slices on a buffet table and guests could take one if/when they wanted.

As far as strawberry/banana combo is concerned, I think if that's what the bride likes, then she should have that!!! Whose to say that strawberry/banana is any better or worse than chocolate/rasberry (MY favorite combo hee hee)?? Or do the strawberry filling and have the caterer put little dollops of banana-flavored topping to the side. Hyatt usually does a lovely mango and rasberry dollop asside most cakes and it's really yummy. It also gives the guest the option of keeping thier cake "plain" or jazzing it up a bit

Hope this helped!!

 

[akw94]

So Happy, Hi! Thanks for your response.
Yeah, what you said about people getting a tad bit testy is what the lady at my reception location was saying. So I do want to avoid that. I figured it would be one table gets A and the other table gets B which isn''t necessarily what people want. I keep thinking "oh my family and friends wouldn''t get upset" but I suppose that could be a bit unrealistic.

I like the idea of having a little topping on top or on the side but I doubt that''s an option where I am, plus, I''m sure it would cost extra and I refuse to pay extra for cake related issues, especially when it''s not going to be chocolate cake!
Would it be bad to ask my mom to bake my grama''s specialty chocolate cake and I can switch out my piece for that.

Ok, sorry, off topic!

While I appreciate the sentiment of the bride getting what she wants

, I don''t want to subject everyone else to something awful.

I wish I could remember my tasting a bit clearer. I think it may have seemed a bit odd to have 2 different fillings in one tier. Hard to remember.

 

[ladykemma]

keep it simple.

how about a chocolate filling in the layers?

 

[E B]

We'll probably just offer one flavor. I don't want to create chaos or have tons of people wanting to 'switch' flavors (as so_happy described above).

We're leaning toward a double chocolate mousse cake, and if people don't like chocolate, we want to offer fresh strawberries and whipped cream as an alternate dessert.

 

[akw94]

LadyK and Ebree, thanks for the tips!

LadyK, we''ve definitely decided on strawberry and/or banana. My preference is always chocolate but I didn''t like their chocolate filling so we changed directions to a fruit flavor.

Ebree, your cake sounds great!

 

[So_happy]

Oh....and to add some perspective......the wedding cake is usually the least consumed food of the evening in my experience. We throw away pounds and pounds of cake after every wedding. And I''ll tell ya.....it''s not usually because of the flavor issue...it''s because they are dancing or socializing, or whatever by that time and they never get a chance to eat thier slice (at least before it''s gotten a little..uh...crusty lol)

 

[robbie3982]

We''re doing 2 flavors in each layer: cherry and raspberry.

 

[akw94]

Date: 5/3/2007 4:18:13 PM
Author: robbie3982
We''re doing 2 flavors in each layer: cherry and raspberry.

Shoot, just when I decided to stick w/one flavor, I see someone using 2. Thanks for the response Robbie.

So Happy, thanks for the perspective! I think that''s a good point!

What to do, what to do...

 

[rockzilla]

I don''t think having 2 flavors in one layer is any issue at all...usually when a cake is even a little bit tall (as yours will be) the slices end up laying flat on the plate. So, you probably won''t even get the strawberry and banana in the same bite if they are two separate layers (in the same layer of cake). If you wanted to eat them together you could, but if you wanted to eat them separate that would work too!

Strawberry and banana is a great combo!

RZ

 

[cara]

We are so indecisive we are doing an assortment of cakes and pies. 5 cake flavors, 3 pie flavors and some stuffed apples.

The cake people (who obviously might be biased) said if you have two flavors you need more than one serving of cake per guest for the folks that want to try both, and in our case they recommended 1.4 - 1.5 servings per guest. In case they are wrong, I am thinking of ordering take-out boxes for extra dessert. My friend did this for her small destination wedding b/c she wanted to order a "real" cake - which was easily twice as big as needed. And I was so stuffed at the reception that I don''t remember eating cake then - but I do remember eating my second slice later out of the take out box! Very appreciated.

I think 2 (or more) cake flavors works best if the cake is served after people get up from their tables. ie. after the first dance or something, especially if it is just spread out on a table or passed on trays for people to select which flavor they want. I''ve been to lots of weddings where there are two cake flavors (usually white/yellow and chocolate) and it doesn''t seem like a big deal.

 

[Gypsy]

Have you done a few cake tastings?

We did three...and each time I looked that the cake possibilities, and picked what I thought we''d want. Well... we tried SO many great pieces of cake. And at each baker we chose a DIFFERENT cake than we''d planned.

I would keep in mind what you want...but also keep an open mind, cause there are so many cake possibilities that it''s amazing.

Oh... and for anyone in the DC metro area... HOLLIN HILL BAKERY. OMG!!!! It was to DIE FOR!

They do cakes for Congress. And let me tell you. It''s warranted!

 

[labbielove]

We haven''t decided yet, but we will most likely do a traditional white wedding cake with buttercream frosting.

To save $$ we are going to do a smaller "real" cake with a sheet cake in the back of the same type.

We are also having a chocolate fountain (my request) with various dipping goodies, so people will surely find something for dessert!