One of our wedding guests is a lover of all things "cake," and the best compliment I can give to Joann is that cake-lover proclaimed, "That was one of THE best cakes I've ever had. So buttery and MOIST!"
I spent LOTS of time at Joann's place, thumbing through pix of wedding cakes she's done. I talked to her about the possibilities, and she was SO helpful with advice of what would work and what wouldn't. She's been in the cake biz for a LOT of years, and she knows the in's and out's of wedding cakes!
One thing I especially appreciated: Joann has been at the same location for quite awhile. It's not in the trendiest part of town, so she doesn't charge an arm and a leg to cover high overhead to have a chic storefront. I appreciated that I did NOT have to pay an outrageous premium for a cake in order to cover the cost of a fancy storefront in a shee-shee foo-foo, trendy mall.
Loved that she has cake tastings every week. She has oodles of different flavors, so I narrowed it down to a few, and she made those particular cake/filling combos just for me.
Ended up choosing the most delectable lemon pound cake with a tart lemon filling (like lemon curd) for the actual wedding cake. She suggested a way to save money since she knew I didn't have a lot to spend: get a sheet cake. So, not only did we get a three-layer wedding cake, but we also got a large sheet cake of champagne white cake with rum cream filling. Delicious!
Joann knows all the questions to ask, and she's never in a rush. She's SO creative! I ended up ordering the fondant (something I'd NEVER heard of before) because I had a backyard reception in 85-degree weather, and buttercream frosting would not have held up. Perfect! I provided yellow gumballs, Lemonheads, and jawbreakers to go around the base of each layer. After looking at all of her creatively designed cakes in pix, I asked her to put a different white-on-white fondant design on each layer, and I ordered a fondant bow to go on top. The BEST surprise? When I arrived at my reception and first saw the cake, I noticed that she had put little yellow dots on the white fondant bow! I hadn't ordered the cake that way, but when I saw the "executive decision" she had made, I was SO PLEASED. The cake would've looked flat if the bow hadn't had a little pizzazz to balance out the yellow candies at the base of each layer. The cake was PERFECT!
I HIGHLY recommend Joann b/c of her EXPERIENCE, her willingness to work with customers, her easy-going manner, her WISE advice, and her creativity! The cake was delivered ON TIME, and the end product was MOIST and just plain yummalicious! So glad my guests could enjoy a tasty cake!