Yummy Cake

Last night we had our final cake tasting and I am glad to say we have picked a baker and can check another thing off of our to do list.  We could have gone to 10 or 20 cake tastings but only went to three based on time constraints and such.  I did my research before hand so we didn't even consider bakeries that were way out of our price range or that I had heard mixed reviews on.  From that information we went to Marilyn's Cakes, Tres Belle Cakes, and Affordable Wedding Creations.  

Our first stop was Tres Belle Cakes which is a home baker Tracy.  When we got to her home is smelled like fresh baked warm cake, yummm.  She had a bunch of small cakes for us to try and we left completely stuffed.  Her cake was moist and had excellent flavor that wasn't too strong but at the same time we were able to actually taste and decipher the flavors, we especially liked the lemon.  She is very flexible willing to take anything on and from the work we saw is very capable of doing lots of different artistic things.  Her buttercream icing was amazing!  I hate whipped icing and love thick, creamy, sugary icings and hers fit the bill to the tee!  Some people might think it's too sweet but we both loved it and thought it was just right.  She also makes the cakes the day before so we are guaranteed a freshly baked cake.

The second bakery we went to was Affordable Wedding Creations.  This was an actual shop down in Northern Kentucky right across the street from our reception venue, The Madison.  We picked this place because they are a preferred vendor for our reception hall and we get a tiny kick back if we use them.  Andy had tried their cake at an event at the Madison and really liked it.  Peggy the baker used to be the head cake decorator at Busken Bakery for about 20 years before opening her own shop.  The cake we tried was good, it was moist but there was a discrepency in the different flavors.  The white cake to me had absolutely no flavor, the strawberry had a very faint flavor but her chocolate cake was suprisingly great, especially since we aren't chocolate cake people.  I did not like her fillings which had a gel consistency and did not taste fresh.  She only uses buttercream icing which might not be the best for some of the detail on possible designs we discussed.  We did like how Peggy bakes the cakes a few days prior to ensure freshness.

The last place we went to was Marilyn's Cakes which is also another home baker who has converted her entire basement to a cake shop.  We went to Marilyn because she comes highly recommended and has one of the cheapest prices around.  When discussing designs Marilyn seemed very hesitant about some of the designs because she had never used those methods before and also like Peggy prefers to work strictly with buttercream.  I had heard that Marilyn's cakes were very good however we had a different experience.  The cake we ate was dry and I was unable to discern any taste difference between the white cake and the french vanilla cake.  The chocolate cake also had very little flavor.  Marilyn bakes her cakes a week ahead of time and then freezes them.  The samples we tried also had been frozen which most likely affected the flavor and texture.

After all the tastings we are definitely going with Tracy from Tres Belle Cakes.  Her cakes are wonderful.  The flavor is great, her cakes are moist and she is the freshest since she only bakes a day ahead.  She is very talented and I know that no matter what design we choose she will be very capable.  On top of everything she was fun to talk to and very affordable compared to other bakers out there.  We are very excited to use Tracy and looking forward to the tasting closer to the wedding to pick out flavors and final design!