How much cake do I need?

This is a question we get asked a lot, from both wedding and occasion cake customers. The general rule of etiquette (but don't quote me on this) is to have a piece available for each guest. Now, we all know that there is that weird Aunt who is always on a diet and will never touch a piece of cake, or that picky eater who doesn't like the flavor offered, but on the other hand, there are those guests who will have two pieces, or that kid who drops their piece and wants a fresh one, so they tend to balance out.

Another thing to consider when determining how big the cake needs to be is what type of food is being served with the cake. At many birthday parties, there are a few appetizers, but the cake is the main event. This tends to require a little more cake as the pieces tend to be larger. At most weddings, there is a full meal served, with the cake being dessert, which is why the pieces are usually cut a little smaller.

The last thing to consider is the length of the event. If your event has a definite end time, then people are less likely to have more than 1 piece of cake, but if your party guests tend to linger for a few hours, then they are more likely to nosh on an extra serving as time wears on. For a wedding, if you are going to have the cake out on a table while your guests are dancing, you can rest assured that after an hour or two of dancing, guests will start to grab another piece to keep up their energy.

Should you find yourself with a little extra cake leftover, you can relax knowing that the cake tastes just as good as the next day!

Cake Pics!!!

Since its been a while since I've been able to post (did you know that June is busy for wedding vendors??!), I thought I'd make it up to you by posting a few of our recent cakes, and the stories that go with them. I always like to hear the stories.

This cake made its way to the Harrison Center for the Arts. The room had a very natural feel to it with shades of green and branches decorating the room. While we've done this type of design in the fall with oranges, yellows and reds, I really liked the way it turned out with the different shades of green.

This cake suffered a minor injury just prior to the reception. On one of those unbelievably hot days recently, the air conditioner had broken at the venue. We received a call on our emergency number (we always leave one at the venues) that some of the flowers had fallen. Upon my arrival, I found out why--the room was almost 90 degrees!! Even though they had fixed the air conditioner by that point, having a small room filled with over 100 people makes it very difficult to cool the room down fast enough. Luckily, all of the flowers were replaced prior to the arrival of the happy couple.

This couple asked us to create a battlefield (one worthy of a wedding, mind you) that they would use to place their collection of action figures. I can't wait to see the pictures of the battle in progress!

This was a graduation cake for a football player. His mom wanted to pay tribute to the school he was leaving (the red side) and his new college (the gold side). We thought this would be a fun way to have the best of both worlds.

I wish we could take credit for the super cute cake topper here, but that was all the bride's work. This groom's cake worked out well for a couple of ball players who were getting hitched. Be sure to checkout our Facebook page for more info on their wedding cake the NCAA Hall of Champions!

A plea for help and understanding

If you've driven around downtown on a Saturday afternoon lately, you've noticed that it is definitely wedding season. We are lucky enough to be a part of these couples' special day and we appreciate the honor. That being said, we are a business and therefore we have certain rules or policies. We have never wanted to write our policies based on the few people who might take advantage of us. We've never liked it when a company treats us that way, so we didn't want to do it to our customers.

One of the policies that we have encountered trouble with lately is our stand rental policy. Many of our clients want to use a cake stand (or cake plateau) to enhance their wedding cake display. We have a variety of stands and are more than happy to allow our clients to use them. While we don't charge a rental fee (as many other places do), we do ask for a security deposit as an incentive to return the stand. We also ask for the stands to be returned by Tuesday after the wedding as many times those same stands are going to be used for the following weekend. When the stand is returned on time, the entire security deposit is returned. Imagine if a stand weren't returned on time.........how long do you think it would take to get a new one in time for a Saturday wedding?

While the vast majority of our clients are wonderful and return the stands on time (or call us to let us know if there are extenuating circumstances), what we have encountered over the past few weeks are folks who were entrusted with the responsibility of returning the stand for the lovely couple, who is undoubtedly on their honeymoon, who don't return the stand on time. When a stand is not returned on time, the deposit is forfeit. These folks have told us, sometimes quite angrily, that they think the deposit should be returned, despite these terms being clearly explained both verbally and in the written contract.

When a stand doesn't make it back on time, we have to spend time researching who was supposed to return the stand, whether or not that stand is needed for the following weekend, and take the time to contact the responsible party to try to locate our stand. Many times, we have to also research our options for replacement as we wait for a return phone call. Additionally, some of our stands are discontinued and are no longer available. All of this work costs more than the amount of the deposit.

All we are asking for is a little understanding from the folks who are entrusted by the bride and groom to return the cake stands to us. If, for some reason, you aren't able to make it to our shop on Tuesday, just give us a call (the number is listed on the bottom of the stand)and keep us updated. We understand that it can be difficult to get all of the post-wedding items taken care of. We simply want to know that our stand is coming back to us. If, for some reason, you don't get us the stand back on time and don't take the time to contact us, please understand that the deposit is forfeit. If the stand never makes it back to us, we do have to charge the bridal couple the full replacement cost of the stand and we'd hate to have to do that.

We definitely don't want to have to change what we consider to be a generous policy, given that the industry standard is to charge a rental fee (which is not returned) as well as a security deposit that might be returned. Please help us keep a policy that has worked well for so many by adhering to the timeframes we've provided. Thank you.

Wow, it has been a while!

With wedding season in full swing, it has been hard enough to get everything finished, let alone fit in a blog post, so I apologize. There really has been so much going on here, that it is hard to keep up some days.

With so many weddings going on, I thought I'd take a moment and share a few of the quick tips that we share with some of our brides.

• If there are going to be small kids in/at the wedding, give them dispoable cameras for the ceremony. This will keep them busy and quiet while giving you a very unique look at your ceremony.


• If you are having pictures taken outdoors, invest in a few small handheld fans for you and your bridal party.


• Have your maid of honor wrap up a plate of food and a few pieces of cake for you and your new spouse. Chances are that by the end of the evening you will be very hungry and will not have had more than a bite or two of anything.

Wish Upon A Wedding

We receive many requests for donations from various charities and local events. While we would love to donate to all of them, we do have limited resources and therefore we have to choose carefully. However, when we heard about Wish Upon A Wedding, we knew we had to be a part of this wonderful program. Wish Upon A Wedding is the world's first nonprofit wish granting organization providing weddings and vow renewals for couples facing terminal illness and serious life altering circumstances regardless of sexual orientation.

We offered our services several months ago when the Indianapolis Chapter first began, not knowing for sure how the process worked or if we would ever be called upon to help. Well, about 3 months ago, we got the call.

Indy Cakes is pleased to announce that we were chosen to provide the wedding cake for the first Wedding Wish granted by the Indianapolis chapter of Wish Upon A Wedding.

Janice and Cory are an amazingly sweet couple with a story that will make you appreciate how difficult planning a wedding for them would be without an organization like Wish Upon A Wedding

Be sure to check out the blog post from the Indianapolis chapter of Wish Upon A Wedding for more details regarding their story and their special day.

It is with great pride that we can now display the following badge:

The Groom's Cake

There might be several of you reading this thinking "what the heck is a groom's cake, and why should he get one just for him!?" Well, let me give you a little history on the evolution of the Groom's cake.

A few decades ago, when your wedding cake was white cake with white frosting and to have anything else was just unheard of, brides still loved chocolate cake. Folks in the south decided that since so many people still liked chocolate cake, there had to be a way to have a chocolate cake at the wedding. It was decided that a small sheet cake that would be decorated with a little bit of the chosen wedding color would be placed on the cake table. Typically, this cake included an inscription congratulating the happy couple. This was the start of the Groom's Cake.

For many years, the Groom's cake was relegated to a small cake decorated according to the bride's wishes. As groom's began to take more interest in planning their receptions, the cakes began to become a little more "manly." Instead of having flowers in the wedding colors, there might have been a fishing scene, or a drawing of golf clubs.

Fast forward to the present and Groom's cakes have taken on a life of their own. Often, the bride will surprise her groom with this special creation. With the popularity of the many cake shows lately, these cakes have become even more creative, ranging from 3D golf bags, to fish, to beer barrels! Many brides love the idea of these unique cakes, but not necessarily at the reception (let's face it, a dead deer head doesn't belong next to filet mignon!). These brides have decided to serve the groom's cake at the rehearsal dinner. This is a more intimate setting and provides a nice "preview" of the how delicious the wedding cake is going to be!

While not every couple opts for a groom's cake, those that do tend to go for something pretty cool. Below are a few of our recent cake designs that would make great groom's cakes!

The Tasting Appt

Today, I'd like to discuss one of the most beloved and fun parts of the wedding planning process, The Tasting Appointment.

Here at Indy Cakes, our tasting appts typically last an hour. During this hour, we have you sample up to three cake and three filling flavors. Our fillings are in their own separate cups so that you can mix and match your filling and cake flavors to see which combination you like the best. We also provide you with samples of our delicious Marshmallow Fondant so that you can see for yourself what fondant tastes like.

Also during this hour, we also discuss your wedding and how you would like the cake to fit into your reception. With the cake being THE centerpiece of the reception, it is important that it fit with the decor as well as your personality. Most of our cake designs are not simply chosen out of a book, although some brides fall do in love with certain designs and we are happy to work with that. Most of our designs are the result of finding one or several components of different cakes that you love and then we combine them into a unique design that will fit for you!

We also take a few moments to review the contract with you and we allow you to take home the contract to review at your leisure. This is especially helpful if there are parents or others involved in the decision making process that couldn't make it to the appt.

We typically schedule our tasting appts for Sundays as it can be difficult for us to give you our undivided attention during the week. On Sunday we close the shop and ONLY host our tasting appointments so you aren't having to wait while we answer the phone or take care of a client picking up a cake order. We also call you the week of your appointment to confirm with you and remind you of your appt time.

We do ask that if you make an appt with us, and something changes in your plans, such as needing to reschedule or even cancel the appt in the event that you have made other cake arrangements, please call us and let us know. We usually have a wait list for appt times and can always fill an empty appointment time. If we have brides who do not show up for their appt, this is a loss to everyone. We understand that sometimes other arrangements have been made, people get sick, or even that plans may have been put on hold, but please take a moment to keep us in the loop. We would hate to get to a point where we have to start charging for tasting appts because we have too many brides no-call/no-show.

Most of our brides leave their tasting appts with a pretty good picture of what their cake will look like, others need some more time to research. If this is the case, we typically finish the design details via phone or email. You are also welcome to stop by during normal business hours to finalize the design.

I hope that this has been a look into our tasting appt and we look forward to helping you plan your wedding cake!