A rush of sugar to the head

As I mentionned before, I have a sweet tooth. The cake can look any way the baker wants, it doesn't really matters to me. No what matters is the taste. I want flavor. I don't need tones of tasteless icing.

In France the traditionnal wedding cake are little puff pastries filled with pastry cream. Martha Stewart has it on her site as Croquembouche, and it's my grandmother's absolute favorite. She could eat the whole cake on her own, scary.

We didn't plan to have anything traditionnal (French or American). To be honest the wedding cake did not really matter in the sense of what it represents. We just wanted some good desserts.
At first I was ready to have family pinch in and bake some cakes: pumpkin cheesecakes and other recipes with a seasonal touch.
But it so happens that his mom offered to pay for our cake. So it's a baker who will take care of it, well of our cakes.

As I mentionned before, I really want one of the cakes to be a pumpkin cheesecake. And afte tasting Filo Pastries Dulce de Leche cheesecake, I knew I wanted them to do it, and then do the other cakes too. I talked to the owner Maria and she was open for a cake tasting, we discussed ahead of time what we were looking for: seasonal cakes. One of the main reason for that is that we want to use ingredients that are in season and don't have to be exported from far far away.
So on top of the pumpkin cheesecake she suggested: a hummingbird cake, a spice cake, an apple cake and then Hubby wanted a red velvet cake.

We decided not to try the spice cake because the other options just seemed more unique. So one evening after work, we went to meet Maria at Filo Pastrie.
A table was waiting for us with 4 plates, two glasses of water, forks and 4 giant slices of cake.

From left to right and top to bottom, I present you:
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Red Velvet Cake
Hummingbird Cake
Apple Cake.

I was salivating at the view. Maria sat down with us to listen to what we though.
I started with the Pumpkin Cheescake, I think that no matter what it was going to taste I already knew it was in. It was as light as a cloud, just like whipped cream (I don't mean calorie light). Pumpkins are not quite in season yet when we tried it and while the taste was good, I think it will be even better comes november.

The second cake was the hummingbird cake made with pinapple, pecans, banana and a cream cheese icing. Excellent, great texture and with a hint of cinnamon in it; it had my vote. Pineapple and banana are not exactly local products, but I think we'll make an exception on that one.

The third cake was the Apple Cake, also with pecans in it, and with plenty of spices. Cloves were very obvious and I just loved it. A perfect fall cake. The icing was also covered with crushed pecans making the outside of the cake as beautiful as tasty.

The last cake was the Red Velvet Cake that Hubby suggested. While it was good, it tasted a bit bland after the three others. I guess I was expecting something else, I was told it had chocolate and I really couldn't taste it.

So in the end we eliminate the Red Velvet Cake from our list and decided instead to have a Mochat Chocolate Torte. Thicker (a nice change to the other cake's textures) and definitely more chocolaty. I like chocolate and when it comes to it I don't do it halfway. We did not taste it, but given the other cakes, I have no worries that it will be fabulous.
We will also have a least one Pumpkin Cheescake, a Hummingbird Cake and a two tiers Apple Cake. Yes, we will after all have a "ceremony cake" for us to cut. The decoration wil be the crushed pecans all over, and I'm consiedering finding a few really pretty fall leaves, washing them well and placing them around the cake at the last minute.

No need to tell you that I was not very hungry for dinner after that. I did very much enjoyed the cake left overs in the day after and I really look forward to have our guests try those great cakes. Our baker will also be bringing the cakes on site.

What's your favorite cake? Did you pick that one for your wedding or did you go for something more traditionnal?

A unique Cheese Cake

I dream of a pumpkin cheesecake for our wedding and I've been looking for alternative ways to present our wedding cakes.While searching around the web, I came upon this.
I though oh, cool, a cheesecake that imitates cheese. What a fun surprise for the guests right? It's beautiful and definitely creative
...
Then I read the description
"a tantalising blend of mould-ripened blue, mild firm-textured and crumbly smoked cheeses"
What? Mould-rippened blue? You mean... no way!

Ok, I'm French, I come from the country that probably makes the most variety of cheese. But when I search for a cheesecake I was not thinking a cheese-cheese cake.

The Wedding Cheese Cake Co. says the following:
"Let The Wedding Cheese Cake Co. make your wedding day the one event people will always remember with a beautiful wedding cake made entirely of cheese! "
That is indeed something our guests would remember, but sorry as much as I love cheese this is not what I was looking for.

I wonder if people really do get that for their wedding cake. I could be a good alternative if you don't have a sweet tooth and are more on the savory side though.

What is the weirdest thing you came across while doing wedding research?

Image source: http://theweddingcheesecakeco.co.uk/

Sweet tooth

I have a huge sweet tooth. I always need candies or treats around the house. I love making cookies and cakes, they're actually the first thing I ever learned to cook.
So because of that, the choice of dessert for our wedding is something important. I don't really care how it looks but I want it to be good.

I've tried a few American like wedding cakes and well let's say that the spongy flavored cakes are not up to my expectations. Sure they are easy to turn into giant layered towers but taste wise... And don't even mention the crazy colored cakes I see in the supermarket. The fluorescent colors that only food coloring can provide, the thick glazing hiding the same cake over and over does not make me drool over the displays.
No offense but I grew up in places were we had more boulangerie-pâtisserie than supermarkets. My parents would always make a chocolate cake for our birthday and an other one of our favorites was the Gâteau Russe, a creamy cake with hazelnuts and probably more butter than I want to imagine. So yes my expectations were set high.
I believe that it's because of my disappointment in the taste of layered classic wedding cakes that I decided to go an other way.
Originally, because our meal will be a buffet, we figure we would do the dessert pot luck style and have locals bring some of their specialties. But my mother-in-law offered to pay for the cake.

Well, since Thanksgiving 2007 I've known exactly the kind of cake I want: a Pumpkin Cheesecake. Pumpkins will be in season in the fall and I want to use seasonal food as much as possible, not to mention that the cheesecake in question I tried for Thanksgiving was to die for.
So while I haven't had the time to go around bakeries and taste their products, I've done my researches.
Several options were available:
Greenlife Groceries: our local/organic supermarket had a daily and makes wonderful desserts.
Weel-bred Bakery and Cafe in Weaverville, north of Asheville, their cake display is of the drooling kind.
I even heard about a restaurant located in Marion in the next county were they are supposed to make an incredible variety of cheesecakes.
I was ready to explore all those options until Saturday.

What happened Saturday? We celebrated my birthday with some friends. I had told my husband that all I wanted was a party, a cake and 25 candles. Well he was up to it for the cake. He went to a pastry place called Filo were he usually gets his coffee in the morning and picked a Dulce de Leche/Caramel Cheesecake.
What can I say? That cheesecake was absolutely fantastic. Not only did it look good it was good, creamy, tasty and surprise: light.
I am used to the thick and filling texture of cheesecakes, well this one is about as light as a feather. I brought a slice to my co-worker who missed the party, she had a first bite, looked a me and was like:
"This is not a cheesecake"
"Yes it is."
"But it can't be. It's too light."

So yes you guessed it, I'm very very much tempted to have Filo make a Cheesecake (or two) for our wedding reception. I hope that we can organize a tasting because we also want other cakes available for our guests and we need some inspiration.

Are you choosing to do something different than a traditional layered wedding cake? If so what and what brought that choice?