Cake Tasting

I Want Cake · August 2010

Hi, everyone!

FI and I are doing our cake tastings this week. So far, we've been to Penny Steele and another baker in Lakeville. We've got appointments tomorrow at Wuollet and Queen of Cakes, which I'm really hoping work out so we can book them early next week. Penny Steele's was more than we're willing to pay ($8/slice) and this other place, while her cakes are beautiful and the price is right, they're not made-from-scratch and taste like glorified grocery store cake (which is exactly what they are). As you can tell by my screen name, I'm very, very picky about this particular issue of the wedding.

FI and I definitely want fondant on the outside since we absolutely do not want a white cake, which rules out Buttercream, so I'm looking for other suggestions of places to try if these 2 tomorrow don't work out.

I know this has been talked about before, so I'm sorry for the repeat, but when you try to look up "cake" under the MSP board, and your screen name happens to include that word, you can imagine how much there is to sort through. Hehe.

TIA!

bemidji21 · August 2010

We are going through Queen of Cakes and I was really happy with their pricing. We are doing cupcakes, and for the variety they offer they were the most affordable. Good Luck!

martiac225 · August 2010

I have a tasting at Buttercream tonight, so that won't help you...I heard that Cake Box in New Hope or Crystal is really good and reasonable. Going to Penny Steele on Monday,but I'm not liking the $8/slice, but we don't want fondant so I guess we'll see

cake ie very important to me too! good luck!

dcprep · August 2010

Martiac, enjoy your tasting at Buttercream!!!!!! SO.EFFING.GOOD. (That's where we got our cake.) You will possibly pee yourself if you try the pumpkin cake. That's one of our two flavors

IWantCake, if you're looking for fondant, then Queen of Cakes is probably the way to go. I've heard a few mixed things about them, but it seems like everyone on this board has been incredibly happy with QOC, so it's probably a safe bet.

BTW, I can't believe that Penny Steele's cake is $8/slice! I thought Buttercream was somewhat spendy, but ours isn't even close to being that high! Also, I love Wuollet, but they seem so freaking expensive to me.

Oh! And check out Jack's Bakery in Brooklyn Park. It's by my mom's office, and that's where she got the cake for my bridal shower. Several people said it was better than most wedding cakes they've tasted! That being said, I'm not sure if they use fondant, but you could check

I Want Cake · August 2010

I think a big part of the reason for the $8/slice quote was because of the cost differential for a colored fondant base and a good amount of handiwork to put the design together (we're doing modern whimsical possibly with mosaic or 3D birds that will be stuck on with wires). Also, we're having all 4 tiers be real cake, so no "dummy" layers with a sheet cake for serving, which also drives the cost up. She said most of her brides only have one tier of real cake on the main display, which is much cheaper. I don't doubt for a second that she's worth every penny, but that doesn't mean that I have that many pennies to spend.

I'll definitely check out Cake Box and Jack's websites today. Thanks!

Clare13 · August 2010

Also check out Key's Cafe. We ordered our cake through the Roseville location. We still have people bring up how great our cake was and ask if we have any extras!!! I can't tell you how good it really was. As for frosting we had a marble cake with buttercream frosting and you could not see any color except the white. So this might be an option. Otherwise I know Key's does do fondant. Not only were they the best cake we tasted, they were the most reasonable. They are not just a "cake" place so a lot of people don't think to go there. Good luck on your search.

SuperRNluvsChef · August 2010

All this talk of cake makes me want to schedule a tasting right now! Yummy!

Bimbi284 · August 2010

I'm assuming being a cake person that you've had Woullet's princess torte? If not...do it. That's what we ultimately ended up with after a great deal of cake drama at other places. The best part is, its coated in marzipan...which is damn good. That'll please the people that don't like fondant for sure. You can have them color the marzipan also (as they do with the princess torte, which is green). I'm not sure about the design that you're looking for, but as far as taste is concerned the princess torte beat out everything else everywhere. My family has been eating this particular cake for many many years for various special occasions, so it was almost silly that we didn't choose it originally for the wedding. Soooo glad we did in the end!

My mouth is watering right now...I could really go for some of that cake!

I Want Cake · August 2010

Bimbi, yes, I have tried the princess torte at Wuollet. At the Grand Ave location, they sell some cakes by the slice, so I'd always get either that one or their chocolate mousse cake slice when I went in. Their princess torte and the fact they cover it in marzipan instead of fondant is pretty much the thing that made me make an appointment there, although I heard they are very expensive (though I never asked specifically how much because cost is relative, especially when it comes to cake, and I've got a pretty big budget for it).

I've been eating at Wuollet's pretty much my whole life (and it shows!), and my mom grew up with it, too. She even still calls it Bungalow Bakery. She's a St. Paul girl. ; )

debbieupper · August 2010

Ditto on the Key's Cafe cake! We're getting ours from the White Bear Lake location. Their flavors are excellent and the cake is moist and delicious (insert high school boy chuckle here).

Their prices are hard to beat, too.

kclepire · August 2010

We had Penny Steele. Her cake is AMAZING!!! When we see ppl after our wedding they comment to us how good our cake was and that it was the best cake they've ever had. Her Caramel Apple Cake is great. After reading your post about it being $8 a slice I had to look at our contract. Ours was $2.10 a slice. We had 2 sheet cakes (which really were not what you think of sheet cakes) and then had a 4 tier cake with 1 real tier. I can't wait to eat our cake on our anniversary! I'd like to see a picture of what your inspiration is to see why it'd be $8 a slice.

We also had cake from Queen of Cake which was really really good too, but I think they were possibly more spendy then Penny Steele.

hjw002 · August 2010

Have you looked at Gateaux. Their cakes look great, but a little pricey.

Kershnic · August 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_minnesota-minneapolis-st-paul_cake-tasting?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:81Discussion:4ab41de7-cde2-410b-a0ef-4f39d515b054Post:c476e87a-2974-46be-99f6-59e80a7d40a6">Re: Cake Tasting</a>:
[QUOTE] Her Caramel Apple Cake is great. Posted by kclepire[/QUOTE]

OMG, that caramel apple cake was possibly the best cake I've ever eaten. However, Penny's attitude towards styrofoam cakes and back-up cakes really turned me off. She was very dismissive when my fi and I said we didn't like fondant and didn't want dummy cakes, and went so far as to tell us that the design we wanted COULDN'T be done in buttercream. Never mind that our inspiration photo was in buttercream and the other 3 bakeries we tasted at all said it would work great. We ended up going with Queen of Cakes - right taste, right price, right attitude. The other ones were Buttcream and Country Cake Cupboard. Buttercream was most expensive for what we wanted (they charged a ridiculous amount for a second ribbon and some other random stuff) and I didn't really like their frosting. Country Cake Cupboard was yummy, we just sort of got a better vibe from QoC.

graysquirrel · August 2010

If you want to try a place with lower prices, try Grandma's in White Bear. They are a smaller operation with very reasonable prices. I know that a lot of people on here have used them.

beka0404 · August 2010

If you definitely want fondant, it wouldn't hurt to check out our baker, Icing Dreams. They're in St. Cloud, but it's an easy hour up I-94 and they delivery to Mpls/StP. They prefer to work in fondant and their prices are WAY less than $8/slice. Talk to Dana - she's awesome. 320-257-4246.

laura_fett · August 2010

We went with the Cold Spring Bakery, about 20 minutes out of St. Cloud. They have awesome deals, delicious and beautiful cakes. They are really willing to work with you too. There cake tasting is pretty simple, they have four cupcakes that you can try, but if you set up a date about a week before hand they can make you more kinds. I would highly recommend them!

Bimbi284 · August 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_minnesota-minneapolis-st-paul_cake-tasting?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:81Discussion:4ab41de7-cde2-410b-a0ef-4f39d515b054Post:0843c356-946d-45fa-a60c-7f8f70823296">Re: Cake Tasting</a>:
[QUOTE]Bimbi, yes, I have tried the princess torte at Wuollet. At the Grand Ave location, they sell some cakes by the slice, so I'd always get either that one or their chocolate mousse cake slice when I went in. Their princess torte and the fact they cover it in marzipan instead of fondant is pretty much the thing that made me make an appointment there, although I heard they are very expensive (though I never asked specifically how much because cost is relative, especially when it comes to cake, and I've got a pretty big budget for it). I've been eating at Wuollet's pretty much my whole life (and it shows!), and my mom grew up with it, too. She even still calls it Bungalow Bakery. She's a St. Paul girl. ; )
Posted by I Want Cake[/QUOTE]

Phew! Good, I'm glad you understand it's full amazingness. That said, it was pricier than we wanted to spend, but after going through and trying a bajillion other cakes, and having nothing taste exactly right, I pretty much gave up and went with my usual fave. After all the drama, I was kind of annoyed with myself for even taking the time and energy to try anything else. Everyone loved it in the end, and are still raving about it, so I know I made the right choice, and that it was worth it!

I Want Cake · August 2010

We went to Wuollet and Queen of Cakes on Saturday for our tastings. Wuollet was amazing, as usual, but we were so full and caked-out by the time we got to QoC, we could barely even swallow, let alone taste, their cake. It's a shame, too, since we each had 7 pieces but could barely even take a bite of each flavor.

Lesson learned: don't fill up at your first cake tasting of the day.

I guess it's going to come down to quotes now. We've decided we're doing a mosaic motif on all the tiers of our cake with our initials at the top, 2 birds on the middle (like the kind a kindergartener makes, nothing fancy), and harlequin diamonds done as stripes on the bottom tier. It'll either be individual pieces of dried/hardened fondant on tinted buttercream or a tinted base layer of fondant, but it'll be a real mosaic, not something airbrushed to look like one. If Wuollet comes in lower than QoC, we'll probably go with them. It's looking pretty comparable right now. I'm not sure if this is anything that any decorater around here has done, so it'll be interesting to see what happens.

MaggieandJake · August 2010

We did a tasting at both QOC and Buttercream (our reception venue's preferred vendor). We ended up going with QOC b/c their customer service was just SO much better. The guy we met with at BC was arrogant, pompous, and annoying. He was unwilling to accommodate our design for both our wedding cake and the grooms cake (QOC on the other hand was VERY accommodating) Plus, they don't do sheet cakes (while QOC does) so even with the preferred vendor status, QOC ended up being the same price WITH the cake cutting fee ($1/slice).

We're doing a 3 tiered cake ($3.50/slice)

1 layer-Cookies and Cream

2nd layer-White cake with a raspberry mousse and white chocolate ganache filling

3rd layer-TBD

We decided to forgo a sheet cake at QOC (1.75/slice) and get it through Costco instead, which is just $16 for a 1/2 sheet or 48 slices.

Cake Tasting

Re: Cake Tasting

Choose Another Board

Search Boards