Cake Consultation - Questions

I think typically the consultation includes a tasting. It would be kind of pointless to choose a baker without tasting what they offer. We didn't really have a vision for a cake so we didn't bring pictures with us, but looked through their books and pointed out what we liked and what we didn't.

I wouldn't book a bakery without tasting their cake. The pictures you have posted look like intricate, high end cakes. However, that's not to say the bakery can't replicate the look for cheaper. Bring those pictures with you.

Thanks! I've emailed them to clarify. I think I'll have to reschedule. I just figured they would have said consultation and tasting if it included that, like the other one I emailed! Ugh, I feel silly now. I mostly want the art deco line designs on the cake, don't need the flowers and pearls and quilted textures and stuff.

Some bakeries charge fee for tasting but if you end up going with them, the fee that you paid will go towards the cost of the cake. The designs that you posted will not be cheap and will be on more of the expensive side. I will make sure to look at the designs that the bakery already did to see if they can actually make something similar to what you want. There are a lot of them they say "oh i can totally do it" but turns out they cannot and it looks hideous

I think the last cake, with just royal icing, looks like it would be lower/mid range. (And actually, I'm going to swipe that to show my baker; it's lovely.) The top two look like they have a lot of sculpted fondant, which will add time and therefore money.

None of the bakeries here will even do fondant, so check into that first. Our consultations have all been really simple; we taste everything, show them some pictures, and they gave us a basic quote. Make sure to find out how your prices changes if you choose different flavors for your layers and what kind of icing/fondant is used. Definitely bring photos.

Originally we wanted to do a carrot cake but then my bakery pointed out that cream cheese frosting is a little more yellow compared to buttercream frosting, which means we should either do both tiers carrot/cream cheese, or choose two different layers than can have white buttercream.

AMW, red velvet also uses cream cheese icing (or devil's food for the same flavor if heinous amounts of red dye isn't your thing). Or you could pair cream cheese with pretty much any other flavor, it would just be less classic/expected.

I make cakes and know a lot of cake makers and this topic is a hard one. I don't know the bakery that you will be going to, but I would start with letting them know what your budget is and how many you have to feed. Then ask them what recommendations they have to suit that need.

Then I would look at their pictures about what they have done. One big reason why I started making cakes was because it seems nearly impossible to find cakes beyond a buttercreme cake with flowers placed on it. While I wanted things like colored fondant.

There's no set rule for how much a cake is going to cost, it depends on the bakery and the cake maker. A price per serving is usually figured in, but that varies for a lot of reasons. I joke at how a serving of wedding cake is maybe 2 bites. I'd just go in knowing how many you want to feed and what your max cake budget is and go from there. You could bring those pictures in, but in truth it's not going to do much good unless the bakery has someone on staff that can 'do that kind of work' best to look at what kind of designs they have done regularly then decide from that.

Our consultation did not include a tasting. We will do that later, but we know our baker very well. We buy her stuff all the time and have already picked our flavors based on what we've had. Definitely take pictures with you.

@StitchingBride thanks! That's really helpful. I contacted two bakeries, one said my description sounded around $475, the other said 5-600 depending on design. I'd like to keep it at 600 or less. The 5-600 bakery definitely could do any crazy design, they have some really impressive stuff! The other one straight up says that they have nice cakes but they focus on flavor over design, I have tasted their cake before though and it was the best thing I ever put in my mouth, lol. I'm not super set on a cake like the above, I figured they might be more work than what I can pay for, but I have to say I find it hard to find pictures of cake that are really what I'm thinking!

I think I won't bring printed pictures but if they seem like they expected me to have some I'll have a pinterest board ready on my phone!

Ask them to price it out per slice and be sure to look at their portfolio online and draw from those elements. You might also want to ask about delivery fees and if they will provide a cake stand/how much a cake stand will cost.