Planning a wedding cake can be daunting, and unless you are familiar with the ins and outs of making one, you could very well fall prey to some common mistakes. Tandra Watkins explains how knowing these tips ahead of time will help you prepare for and avoid some wedding cake pitfalls.
1. Leave it to a Professional. Having a friend or family member make your wedding cake is never a good idea. Believe me, it is far better to place that responsibility on someone who does this professionally. Saving a little money will be no consolation to you if something goes wrong.
2. Don’t Try to Please Everyone. It is such an honor when a bride and groom share their wedding cake with their guests. So when deciding on cake flavors, remember that it is your day and you should pick what you like.
3. Listen to Your Baker’s Advice. Any good baker will let you know if there are any issues with your cake design, delivery, temperature requirements for the cake, etc. When you make the decision to hire your baker, you put your trust in them to advise you on what may or may not work with your cake.
4. Be Specific with Your Colors, What may be Sky Blue to you may be Baby Blue to me. So when incorporating specific colors into your cake design, be sure to give your baker a fabric swatch or go to a hardware store and pick out a paint chip that matches your color exactly. These items will aid your baker in matching the colors that you want.
5. Book Your Cake ASAP. Professional cake designers have a limited number of orders that they can accept each weekend. And during wedding season those weekends are booked very quickly. So it is important to plan ahead and secure your wedding cake for your wedding date.
Capital Hotel Pastry Chef Tandra Watkins infuses every one of her creations with innovative culinary techniques and classic French skills from her days at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris with the foodways of the South. Her desserts feature fresh seasonal ingredients that are a melange of colors, flavors, and textures. Tandra is an active member in Southern Foodways Alliance and her work has been featured in Little Rock Soiree and in Arkansas Bride “Real Weddings”. She’ll share her expert wedding cake advice on the Arkansas Bride blog monthly.
