Remember these? Try to pretend J. has short curly red hair...
At first, the very simplest designs appealed to me. Especially ones topped with loads of the same ingredient- like sugar flower petals, flakes of coconut, or peaks of meringue.
So I was a little bit disappointed when the baker told me that my ideas were either outside my contract or wouldn't hold up very well. But then again, I really appreciated the honesty. Goodness knows I don't want a cake wreck on my hands!
Fortunately, the bakery had a number of cute designs in their portfolio to choose from, and so we decided to taste the cake first and then make a decision about the appearance of the cake.
Mmmmmm cake. Om nom nom nom.
We were served six slices of cake, along with sides of various fillings to try. The cakes were (1) chocolate and vanilla cake with mocha cream; (2) red velvet with cream cheese filling, (3) vanilla cake with Bavarian cream (often people add fruit to this); (4) vanilla cake with cannoli cream; (5) vanilla and chocolate cake with raspberry mousse; and (6) vanilla cake with chocolate mousse. On the side, we were served with more Bavarian cream, cannoli cream, chocolate and raspberry mousse, and some unbelievable chocolate ganache, so that we could mix and match flavors. And each cake had some of the buttercream on it that would be covering our final selection, so that we could see how it affected the taste. We dug in, and we were so pleased! The cakes were not too moist or too dry, and the fillings were quite tasty. John immediately loved the cannoli and the ganache, while my favorite was the red velvet and cream cheese. And I really liked how the buttercream did not detract from the cake flavors- like a neutral backdrop. But of course, we needed to eat more to be sure.
After we polished off our favorites, the bakery gave us another round to take home with us. J. and I looked at each other and wondered, were we still in North Jersey? Oh yes please thank you yes.
Our cake, safely secured in the back seat.
Hello breakfast tomorrow.
With our sugar-highs in place, we moved on to making our selections. We decided on a three tiered cake (my pick) in a square shape (J.'s pick). For our top tier, we're going chocolate all the way for J., who claims he is a "chocolate purist"- chocolate cake, with a layer of chocolate ganache, and two layers of chocolate chip cannoli cream. Assuming this survives the year in the freezer, I think its going to be worth the wait. The other tiers will be red velvet with cream cheese and vanilla with chocolate ganache and cannoli cream- our two favorites. The Nyack Seaport serves the cake as part of a trio of desserts- with an apple beggars purse pastry and french vanilla ice cream in a chocolate shell. I think our cake choices will fit perfectly!
We next moved on to deciding on the look of the cake. I didn't want to overpower our little dude cake toppers so I wanted something that wasn't too busy. But I also didn't want something so white that it wouldn't stand out in photos. So we decided to go with the below cake but change the colors and turn it into a square shape. Ours won't have any of the sugar flowers pictured and the sample has the layers purposely off-center, whereas ours will be centered. In addition, the cake below is made with a pearl-tinted fondant, whereas we'll have ivory buttercream. But I'll be choosing a soft antique gold ribbon for the colored bands on each layer, and the baker will match the fancy swirly details to the color of the ribbon. Those sweet little dots that adorn the edges will also be done in the same shade. They even agreed to use my ribbon around the base of the stand! In the end, both J. and I were psyched about how great it will taste and look!
And P.S., I can't say enough good things about Le Petit Gateau. They were so helpful, candid, and fun to talk to about cake! They didn't rush us through the process and seemed as excited as we were about making selections. I can't wait to see the final product!
Hungry yet?
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