Is there ANY way for an Escape bride to have a cake tasting?

[polynesianbride]

Hi all! I haven't been on the boards in awhile but am hoping someone has an idea that will brighten my day! I am an Escape bride hoping for 12/6/2010 so I will be able to book with Disney on 4/6. We are going to be in Disney 4/3-4/10 and even though I realize Escape brides do not traditionally get a cake tasting since there is no planning session BUT I was really hoping to taste cake! I feel as an Escape bride there is a lot of the traditional planning experience that we miss out on and I think this would really give us just a little bit of joy into what is seeming like a very cookie cutter experience. I have asked my consultant twice now with no luck (even though I offered to pay extra for it). I tried the cake hotline to see if I could get a cake in one of the flavors we want to try but the restaurants we are dining at only offered chocolate and vanilla. I have heard the boardwalk bakery has individual slices for sale but doubt they have the flavors we really want to try (specifically lemon cake with passionfruit mousse, red velvet with cream cheese, and marble with rasberry mousse). Any other ideas?

 

[girli565]

You can call the boardwalk bakery and order a cake in the flavors you want your wedding cake in. Explain to them what you're trying to do. If you want to try more than one flavor you will probably have to order more than one cake and that can get expensive.

 

[LittleStinkerbelle]

Can you add an ADR at the Grand Floridian (or maybe even have afternoon tea there)? I bet their bakery can do one of the combinations you're looking for. Good luck!

 

[Bride-to-be]

I would do something fun like tea in the tea lounge and call ahead and tell them its a special occasion and you want those three cakes.

I think people will prolly not be happy with me saying this - but I was really disappointed with cake tasting. I have been to a bunch of bakeries for other weddings that were really neat. The samples disney offers are very ordinary in comparison and I thought kind of blah. Certainly nothing to write home about. Everything tastes very similar. The only thing I can say is that we were told the chocolate is kinda dry and I would agree with that.

I would hate to have you get your hopes up and be disappointed the way I was.

Another option might be to ask a bakery at home to do samples for you that way you have a rough idea of what the flavor combination is like and can at least try something similar.

 

[Walcott]

I think people will prolly not be happy with me saying this - but I was really disappointed with cake tasting. I have been to a bunch of bakeries for other weddings that were really neat. The samples disney offers are very ordinary in comparison and I thought kind of blah. Certainly nothing to write home about. Everything tastes very similar. The only thing I can say is that we were told the chocolate is kinda dry and I would agree with that.

Did you find that the actual cake was not that great, or just the tasting?

 

[pezaddict231]

Can you switch one of your ADR's to the GF? I'm pretty sure even if you did the GF Cafe you could get a custom cake. Then I would pick the flavor you're most interested in trying or are unsure what it would taste like. Three custom cakes is going to cost you a lot and will probably just be wasted but it couldn't hurt to price it out, it's not like you would need them to be decorated or anything so that should keep costs somewhat down.

We just had our cake tasting on Friday and I thought everything tasted really good. It would have been fun to try full slices, but really I think the process they have works well and allows you to pick the flavors you really want. Plus after our huge food tasting there was no way I could have eaten a full piece of cake! Everything was really fresh for our tasting but I have heard of brides getting pieces that were a little stale.

We tried the red velvet and it was good and tasted like red velvet to me, but I'm from NY and red velvet is kinda hard to come by here. I can't say how it would stake up against a true Southern red velvet. It has a mild flavor. We choose buttercream, we aren't fans of cream cheese frosting so I didn't request that. DF doesn't really like cake that much and he did try a few options but only liked the red velvet. So if a lot of your guests have simple taste in cakes, that's probably the one to go with.

I did try a tropical mousse filling, it was good but very strong. The raspberry I also thought was pretty strong but I think would be good with the marble, I tried it with the almond cake and it kind of overpowered the almond.

So if I were you and just trying one I'd probably go with the lemon and passionfruit. That way if you don't like it, you have two "safer" options. Hope that helps!

 

[MainStMandy]

You can call the boardwalk bakery and order a cake in the flavors you want your wedding cake in. Explain to them what you're trying to do. If you want to try more than one flavor you will probably have to order more than one cake and that can get expensive.

We did this last June...the only problem was the only way to get a custom flavor was to buy the $50 cake...I didn't ask for other options though, so you might want to call them. The cake was awesome!

I would do something fun like tea in the tea lounge and call ahead and tell them its a special occasion and you want those three cakes.

I think people will prolly not be happy with me saying this - but I was really disappointed with cake tasting. I have been to a bunch of bakeries for other weddings that were really neat. The samples disney offers are very ordinary in comparison and I thought kind of blah. Certainly nothing to write home about. Everything tastes very similar. The only thing I can say is that we were told the chocolate is kinda dry and I would agree with that.

I would hate to have you get your hopes up and be disappointed the way I was.

Another option might be to ask a bakery at home to do samples for you that way you have a rough idea of what the flavor combination is like and can at least try something similar.

Wow...really had the opposite experience. We loved the cake tasting and it was some of the best cake we have ever had. All our guests loved the cake and we can't wait to go back and order a replica of our cake

 

[Bride-to-be]

I guess after going to so many other cake tastings my expectations were higher. I think I was just disapointed in the selection. I thought that the flavors of everything were very typical and it all tasted really similar. There wasn't anything that jumped out at us as being amazing or really horrible - it was all just sort of as you might expect.

Our planner did an excellent job of telling us all about it - so it wasn't the process it was just more a matter of what was on the plate.

Just as a side note because it bothered me. We ended up doing a very unusual combination which we were not able to try ahead of time. Two days prior to the wedding we had an emergency meeting with our planner because the head pastry chef thought our cake choice was disgusting. He said he wouldn't serve it. So they wanted to change everything - but they wouldn't let us try it. It seemed as though everyone in the kitchen could try it but they would let us even if we drove over to the GF. I flipped out and our planner I think in an effort to calm me down made a phone call. Then I was just told it was a misunderstanding and they just went with what we wanted. I didn't eat any of it so I can't really comment. It was just one of those UGH moments.

Sorry for the rant. I just haven't gotten that far in my TR and had to get it out.

 

[MainStMandy]

I guess after going to so many other cake tastings my expectations were higher. I think I was just disapointed in the selection. I thought that the flavors of everything were very typical and it all tasted really similar. There wasn't anything that jumped out at us as being amazing or really horrible - it was all just sort of as you might expect.

Our planner did an excellent job of telling us all about it - so it wasn't the process it was just more a matter of what was on the plate.

Just as a side note because it bothered me. We ended up doing a very unusual combination which we were not able to try ahead of time. Two days prior to the wedding we had an emergency meeting with our planner because the head pastry chef thought our cake choice was disgusting. He said he wouldn't serve it. So they wanted to change everything - but they wouldn't let us try it. It seemed as though everyone in the kitchen could try it but they would let us even if we drove over to the GF. I flipped out and our planner I think in an effort to calm me down made a phone call. Then I was just told it was a misunderstanding and they just went with what we wanted. I didn't eat any of it so I can't really comment. It was just one of those UGH moments.

Sorry for the rant. I just haven't gotten that far in my TR and had to get it out.

What kind of cake was it?

And I'm confused...you flipped out that they said they wouldnt' serve it, but when they did you didn't eat it? Did anyone else eat it?

 

[Bride-to-be]

It was lemon with what was supposed to be a nutella mousse (chocolate and hazelnut). Its an odd combination that we really like.

All of our guests said it was great but I don't think any of them would have told me if they didn't like it.

I didn't have any because there wasn't time. We had kind of a crazy breakfast and it was very rushed and we suddenly had to be outside for pictures so after the cake cutting we never sat down again. I don't blame Disney for any of that at all and I am not upset about it either. I was just upset the head chef said it was so bad he wouldn't serve it and then wouldn't let us try it or tell us why he didn't like it. It just added a huge amount of stress to an already stressful day 2 days before.

Sorry Adelia for hijacking your question!!

 

[Boardwalk_bride]

I agree with Bride-to-be. Perhaps try it at home. There are a lot of places that do cupcakes in crazy flavours, so you can just take a few cupcakes home and try it. It may be a bit different at Disney, but it will give you the idea anyway We choose to go with the more regular flavours, since we couldn't have a tasting.

I also have to agree with Bride-to-be that there is limited choice compared to many other bakeries. For my at home reception I am having cupcakes, and for the tasting, the gave me a 3 page menu to choose from (and this is a neighbourhood bakery). It is really a small thing to complain about, but I do think it is a valid point.

 

[MsEsty]

I do feel your pain about not having a tasting, we would love to have one. If we're going to be charged extra for the special flavors, I agree we should have a chance to try them...

We're probably just going to go conservative for that reason.

Has anyone tried the peanut butter cup mousse? I think that would be as exotic as we get without a sample.

 

[Brit_Jude]

What about the mini wedding cakes from the Boardwalk Bakery - I beleive they run about $25 a piece and you can pick them up or order them then sit and try them all with a cup of coffee. I don't know if they can be as custom as you have indicated in your original post but if you are willing to pay the money for three then you might at least want to call and ask.

Try heading over to the Cake Chatter Thread too and check that thread out for ideas.

 

[pezaddict231]

I do feel your pain about not having a tasting, we would love to have one. If we're going to be charged extra for the special flavors, I agree we should have a chance to try them...

We're probably just going to go conservative for that reason.

Has anyone tried the peanut butter cup mousse? I think that would be as exotic as we get without a sample.

I tried the peanut butter cup mousse. It was very rich. If you are a huge peanut butter and chocolate fan I think you'll like it, and I think you can actually get a slice of it at the BW bakery to test it out. I like chocolate, but am not a huge chocolate person so for me it was too much but it did taste good.

 

[MainStMandy]

We didn't have the peanut butter cup, but we did have the peanut butter mousee with chocolate cake and it was awesome!! We had it as our top layer and it was completly gone by the time the reception was over.

I guess I'm the only one who thinks Disney offers plent of flavors...plus all you have to do is ask!! It sounds like they will pretty much come up with anything you ask! We loved all the options...and had a hard time deciding

 

[Bride-to-be]

peanut butter sounds awesome!!!! I would have LOVED that!

When we did our tasting we only got to try chocolate, plain, marble, almond, and red velvet. Then there was chocolate mousse, white chocolate mousse, plain buttercream, fondant and I think 2 other mousse type fillers but I can't remember what they were. None of it was thilling. I guess we were unlucky when they put together our sampler.

 

[MainStMandy]

We had chocolate, yellow, marble and almond cake and like 8 different fillings. We did ask for the peanut butter, but we also had fillings like raspberry, amaretto (our fav) white chocolate, baileys...etc. I guess for people who haven't gone yet, best bet is to ask for flavors you want to try.

 

[PrincessShea]

Maybe the bakery has cupcakes. How different can their chocolate, vanilla, red velvet cupcakes be from the cakes?

If it's that important to you, you could order several different custom cakes as people have suggested. I personally don't think it would be worth the money. I would just go with what you like...how horrible can a cake turn out?

I've never been to a cake testing and my knowledge of cakes extends no further than homemade from a box and giant, gross communion/graduation butter cream monstrosities from grocery stores...so take my opinion with a grain of salt...but we had the chocolate cake with white chocolate mousse. I don't know how it tasted the day of as it was so hot I wasn't really into eating it that much...

...but as we finished eating the cake over the course of the next week, it was good. It tasted like a Dean's ice cream cake.

 

[ChristmasElf]

I would do something fun like tea in the tea lounge and call ahead and tell them its a special occasion and you want those three cakes.

I think people will prolly not be happy with me saying this - but I was really disappointed with cake tasting. I have been to a bunch of bakeries for other weddings that were really neat. The samples disney offers are very ordinary in comparison and I thought kind of blah. Certainly nothing to write home about. Everything tastes very similar. The only thing I can say is that we were told the chocolate is kinda dry and I would agree with that.

I would hate to have you get your hopes up and be disappointed the way I was.

Another option might be to ask a bakery at home to do samples for you that way you have a rough idea of what the flavor combination is like and can at least try something similar.

The cake is a bit dry and they put sugar water on it to make it seem more moist (regardless of what anyone says)

Lemon cake with the raspberry mousse is what we chose. Just okay. If I had to do it all over again, I would have brought the cake in from an outside bakery. Would have been a LOT cheaper and no doubt moister and not loaded down with that syrupy sugar water.

 

[lurkyloo]

I do feel your pain about not having a tasting, we would love to have one. If we're going to be charged extra for the special flavors, I agree we should have a chance to try them...

We're probably just going to go conservative for that reason.

Has anyone tried the peanut butter cup mousse? I think that would be as exotic as we get without a sample.

We had peanut butter cup mousse. At the time I thought it was good, but now that I've had it again AND tried the peanut butter-chocolate cake slice sold by the BoardWalk bakery, I think it's just OK.

It was very rich. If you are a huge peanut butter and chocolate fan I think you'll like it, and I think you can actually get a slice of it at the BW bakery to test it out.

Unfortunately, it isn't the same cake - the slice they sell at the bakery is much better!