How to Buy a wedding cake
Buying a wedding cake can be challenging. Here are some tips to make the process easier and more enjoyable.
1.Use a Real Bakery
- A Real bakery has a commercial kitchen – no pets or children allowed
- has insurance
- knows food safety and has a health department certificate
- has a team, so if one person is absent you know you are still going to get your beautiful, great tasting cake. If you choose a one person shop, you are taking a risk on your special day.
- will be there on the stated date and at the agreed upon time
- makes moist tender cakes from scratch (no mixes allowed), and they do it every day
2. Setup a tasting appointment
Frost has white glove service compared to our competitors. Our tastings consists of:
- Tasting of our most popular flavors - Vanilla, Chocolate, and Strawberry.
- Take home container of 4 cupcakes of your choice from our case - so you can sample other flavors and frostings
- Building of the size of your cake with styrofoam tiers so you can visualize your cake
- Large digital display with your inspiration photos and your order displayed for discussion
- Price quote and servings given by the end of the appointment
Frost Tasting Appointments
Our tasting appointments have a small fee of $25 + tax, and that amount goes towards the purchase of a cake when order is placed. We take appointments most weekdays with our latest appointment time at 6pm, as well as most Saturdays. Fill out the consultation form to collect your information to get the process started.
After filling out the wedding consultation form, the Wedding Manager will reach out to you to schedule an appointment for a tasting. To fill out a Wedding Consultation Form click the button at the bottom of this page or go to the Wedding Consultation Form page in the main menu.
*NOTE - The busy months for custom items for Frost is May, June, September, & October. We book up faster than usual, so details and payment will be due sooner than most quotations, and are subject to change, based on availability.
3. Prepare for the Appointment
- Flowers - Think about whether or not you want flowers on your cake. If “yes”, do you want fresh flowers, sugar flowers or artificial flowers? Also, whether fresh, sugar or artificial, you will need to decide on the flower variety & color.
- Colors - Choose your colors. Even if your cake is all white, it helps the bakery know who you are in the cake world. If you have any special fabrics, bring a swatch, or a picture of your dress. The cake designer gains inspiration from all of these items.
- Additional Desserts - Decide if you want a themed cake. If you bring your partner and want to talk about a themed cake, tell them in advance what it is. A themed cake can be as simple as a sheet cake with a sports logo or it can be more elaborate and say a lot about their personality. A themed cake (if it is a simple design) is a good way to meet the number of serving required while reducing the overall cost by reducing the size of the wedding cake.
- Servings - Decide how many servings you want. This usually corresponds to the number of guests at the reception, but can vary depending on whether you are having a seated dinner (where the cake is plated and served) or a dessert bar (where guests pick from a variety of desserts).
- Height - Decide if you want the cake to be of a certain size, for instance especially tall. Cakes can be made to look larger by using one or more dummy layers at the bottom. (Important: Although dummy layers reduce the number of cake servings so cake is not wasted, dummy layers take just as long to decorate as real cake layers.)
- Fondant vs Frosting - Decide on fondant or frosting. Many designs can be done in either fondant or frosting, but if you want a cake that approaches perfection, choose fondant. Some designs do require fondant, for instance if you want the cake to be painted. Fondant will also protect the cake to a limited degree if the wedding is outside. (Note: cakes do not do well in temperatures above 75 degrees.)
Remember, fondant is a very thin layer that is applied over two or more layers of frosting so it has little effect on the overall cake experience. Good fondants, like Satin Ice and Choco Pan, actually taste good.
- Budget - Have a budget in mind. A budget is a guideline for the bakery to keep your appointment on track and help you choose something that is appropriate for you. Most wedding cakes fall between $5.00 and $9.00 per serving, a price similar to buying a piece of cake at a restaurant. So, depending on the design, a cake for 100 guests might be between $500 and $900. Cakes with very complex designs can be significantly more. If the overall price sounds expensive remember the analogy of serving cake to those same guests at a restaurant.
Keep in mind your wedding day is a one and only special day. You are buying a memory - the cake is the second most photographed item at the wedding, after the bride.
4. Enjoy the appointment
- The tasting appointment should be a pleasurable and memorable experience. A Real Bakery will have samples to choose from that are representative of how your cake will actually taste. Keep in mind, your guests will remember how your wedding cake tasted. All wedding cakes look beautiful, few taste as good as they look.
- Designing the cake should be informative and fun. The designer should talk through the options and give you ideas that fit with “who you are”.
- By the end of the appointment you should have a pretty good idea of the design for your cake(s) and the price.
What’s next?
If you followed ALL the guidelines above you’ve found a great cake. Make sure it’s part of your wedding by doing the following:
- Flavors - Choose your flavor(s). When you’ve found a bakery that makes great cakes don’t hesitate to have multiple flavors in your wedding cake.
- Deposit - Give the bakery a deposit. The deposit ensures that your cake will be made for your wedding date. Note: Ask about the bakery’s deposit refund policy. Reputable bakeries will refund your deposit (minus a $75 administrative fee) up to about a month before the wedding date.
- Items needed to complete your Cake Make sure you have a list of items you may need to bring to the bakery, such as a color swatch, ribbon, artificial flowers or greenery, and the date by which the bakery needs the items.
- Contact Information - Make sure the bakery has all your contact information, especially a working email address and phone number.