What to Ask Your Wedding Cake Baker

Cardomom, strawberry buttercream, carrot, red velvet? The choices are endless so here’s what to ask to ensure your cake is as delicious as it looks. See our previous post on Desi inspired wedding cakes.
1. How long before the wedding will the cake be baked?
Because it’s labor-intensive, making a wedding cake is usually not a one-day job. The layers may be baked in advance, but you don’t want frozen or stale cake. Two to three days before will be safe. With our large numbers, some brides have said the baker wanted to make the cake on Wednesday for a Saturday ceremony. TIP: when you go for a tasting the cake you eat will be baked that day, but remember your wedding cake will be X number of days older.
2. Will you personally transport the cake?
If you’re having the cake delivered, find out if the baker or the cake decorator will be on hand to assemble or to touch up decorations on site. Sometimes the cake can shift in transport and you want a professional there to fix it if need be.
3. Is there an extra charge for the cake stand or cutting and serving utensils?
Bakers may offer you a choice of display plates, which will likely require a deposit that you will get back when you return the plates. (Ask how much time you have to return them.)
4. I have guests with allergies. What are my options?
If your baker isn’t equipped to provide, say, an egg-free cake, she may work with another local bakery that does. You can always have a small sheet cake brought in for those guests.
5. How will the cake be displayed?
Will all the different ways a cake can be displayed, we know you are not just going to plop the cake down on a table. Is it going to be on a cake stand, a mirror, or a silver platter. You can also find inexpensive cake stands at www.ebay.com or local vintage and home-goods stores. You can also create a DIY project for yourself. Also are you going to have votive candles on the table, fresh flowers, who will be in charge of setting up the display?
6. Can I see pictures of cakes you’ve made recently?
You can show a baker a magazine clipping and he may say that he can do it, but seeing the kinds of cakes she makes most often will give you a better idea of his skills.
7. What if I want fresh flowers on the cake?
Ask your baker to accommodate the design―and find out the best way to coordinate getting blooms from your florist to the baker. Often the florist will arrange the flowers for you. Ask that the flowers be pesticide-free, and supply the baker with a sketch or a photo of the flowers as soon as possible so that he can design around it.
8. How do you figure out the per-slice cost?
Most bakers have a basic per-slice cost; the price rises when you add “extras,” like a more elaborate design or a more exotic filling. Venues may also have a cutting fee charge. So make you total up all the numbers.
9. Can we taste a piece of one of your cakes?
You should be able to, though probably not a specialty flavor. Most bakers have the most requested flavors on hand. Remember you are tasting a fresh cake, but your wedding cake will be a few days old.
Come back soon to our blog on alternatives to the traditional wedding cake.