Cake tasting?

Personally I would never order a cake without trying it. We went to this really fancy place that had the most beautiful cakes I've ever seen, but when we tasted them I was ready to gag!

That is so strange that they seem baffled at you wanting to taste the cake first! I'm sure you'll find a cake vendor that allows tastings.

We only went to one actual tasting, but it was before we signed a contract. In fact, the baker even encouraged me to go to other tastings if I wanted to. But we loved her work and the price was right, so we booked them!

IMHO, a great baker should be able to provide you a tasting before signing a contract. I'd be a little wary of their baffled attitude. It's perfectly reasonable to want to sample the product before committing. It costs them like 3 pieces of cake. They'll recoup that after their product has proven itself and you've booked them.

We did a lot of research before narrowing down our options. A few places have "open houses" or "bride days" where for a couple of hours on a saturday or sunday brides and grooms can come taste. But I would (almost) never book without tasting. The one exception would be if you are using a bakery you have ordered from before and they happen to be doing your wedding cake. But a wedding cake-specific company should assume you're tasting before buying. You need to get the milk for free before buying the cow

We did for ours, and it was a really good thing. Some of the types I thought I would like I didn't, and it helped us narrow down our decision.

We went to 3 total (had planned more but the 3rd one was the charm).

The first two didn't charge but the one we chose did. However the "tasting fee" went towards the cost of the cake.

I would never choose a baker w/o tasting it. Our 1st the cakes looked ok, tasted awesome but frosting was too buttery.

2nd choice she made beautiful cakes, even won top prize at the bridal show where I first saw her and lived coincidentally down the street from me (where she made her cakes) but b/c she was baking from home, she had to do those gel fillings which I hate and the cake was just ok

3rd choice WAS DA BOMB!! I suggest if they don't let you do a formal tasting, purchase a slice or cupcake to get an idea of how they taste.

Most of the places I've seen either do open house type things like Stephanie mentioned (no choice on flavors, just to get a sense of their quality), or will require some kind of deposit for the tasting that will then be applied to the cake if you do end up booking with them. The deposit I've seen has ranged from $30 to $200 (what the Cake Boss requires).

Unfortunately, I think free tastings are a thing of the past.

I agree with the others...tasting before contract. Mine baker charged a $10 tasting fee but I didn't mind especially since it was $10 for the group I had with me that day (4 people), not per person.

Thanks for all the responses! Unfortunately I'm living in a different province right now and will only be in town for two days so an open house won't work. They did end up agreeing to let me do the tastings first, but they definitely had an attitude about it, which made me wonder if I was being unreasonable. But thanks for letting me know its not crazy to want to try the cake first! I would be willing to pay a deposit but they didn't ask for one. They just tried to push me to book the wedding date

Yes I agree you have to have cake tastings as many as you like and IMHO they should be free. bakers should understand this is for a wedding. The cake has to be great. How do you determine if you like the cake if the cake doesn't taste good?

My hometown has one bakery and it's fantastic. I knew I was ordering my cake from there and did the tasting just for fun.

Just to add what Rev. Fuller has said, I think with the huge increase in wedding pop culture (namely, TLC and Food Network programming), I can imagine bakeries get a lot of people who aren't actually getting married trying to come in for a tasting (which is probably why the Cake Boss charges $200). It not only wastes their money, but it wastes their time.

Hmmm I guess that makes sense. Thanks everyone! So many little expenses I didn't think of when planning my budget...

Most of my vendors, bakery included, have advised us to try different places, so I’m surprised they seem surprised when you want to shop around.

We did a tasting with the bakery we chose. I called about a cake and she immediately suggested setting an appointment for a tasting. I would definitely recommend cake tasting before signing a contract with a bakery.

Every single place we checked into whether we went to try it or not offered free cake tastings. I never came across anybody in like a 50 mile radius that wanted to charge for tastings or didn't offer them.

Maybe it's different for the area but i would definitely recommend to do a cake tastiing. Why would you want to pay for a cake that you don't even know you'll like or maybe it just ok but not great.

We only went to 1 official tasting - with the person that we booked.

However, I tasted cake from about 6 other places at a bridal fair that I went to and immediately knew I was not going to be choosing any of them! lol.

The person we booked was at the bridal fair - she was super friendly and chatty and her cake was AMAHZING. She sent us home with about 10 samples and set up a date to meet with her to sample everything again. She's the greatest person EVER. lol.

I would not book a baker without a cake tasting first, its odd that they were weird about it.

Our venue is all inclusive, so we didn't have a choice of baker for the cake that they are providing.

We tasted at two shops. One was the place that does the cakes for our venue. The other was a bakery that we normally go to in the neighborhood. Now we are using both bakeries.

We have two to choose from with our venue. We will do tastings with both before choosing anyone. One does fondant and the other does not. I want to try it all!