Let them eat cake!

And so we begin the hunt for sweets! We had already decided that we wanted a carrot cake for the Groom's Cake, as chocolate is not Adam's favorite. We were open to ideas for the Bride's Cake, but I had found a picture of a cake I liked for inspiration.

Our first stop was at a well known Dallas cakery which shall remain nameless. After sitting around for 15 minutes, watching teenagers build cakes, we finally met the wedding cake saleswoman. I won't call her the baker, as it seems the teenagers do all the actual work. Simply put, quite possibly the most awful cake ever. Stale cake, utterly lacking in flavor of it's own, slathered with overly sugared icing and fillings. She also informed us that they couldn't do carrot cake, and that no one could reproduce the inspiration for the Bride's Cake. Don't call us, we'll call you... or not.

Our second stop was a tiny little bakery in the Park Cities, with tasty cake and a willingness to make the effort and give us what we were looking for. Turns out the woman is cousin to the people who own Malibu (our favorite gourmet take-away) in Montreal! Talk about a small world! The lady was really nice, and the cake was quite good, but still not quite what we were looking for.

Our third and final cake tasting was with the pastry chef at the Adolphus. We had emailed the selection of cakes we wanted to try ahead of time, including our special carrot request. This was the only place that allowed us to choose what we would taste in advance. Our wedding coordinator ushered us into a small private dining room, where we (Adam & I, my Mom & Dad, two wedding coordinators, the pastry chef and her assistant) all sat down at a beautiful table with linens and china and candles and everything. We were served coffee (oh such lovely coffee) before the cakes were brought out. As the foot long cake plate was delivered to the table, I assumed it would placed in the middle so we could all take bites from the line of 5 small cakes it held. And then they sat it right in front of me. "Oh - I get to taste first!" I'm thinking, till they sat identical foot long plates in front everyone. Now, I make a pretty mean carrot cake, and anyone who knows my Mom knows she is a genius at sweets, but I have NEVER had a carrot cake this good in my life.

Done deal.