Wedding cakes and desserts

I haven't pulled the trigger yet, but I’m heading out this Saturday to hammer out the details. There’s this group of small business owners out in a little town near Des Moines—I'll type up everything I find out and what we settle on once I'm done.
Honestly, I only started hunting them down because I basically lived on their pastries at my godmother's wedding a few years back. They were dangerously good.

Anyone got a solid recommendation for a bakery in the city? We're just looking for a wedding cake on a stand, delivered straight to Trumbull. 🤷

Hey Lizzie, have you had a chance to check out that Whole Foods in that small town in the Midwest—the one that does a partnership with Trajbar?
They actually recommended them to me because it takes all the stress out of picking out a cake—you just make your selection and they handle all the delivery logistics... so much easier...

I just haven't made it over there to try anything yet...

As I have previously stated, the cakes at the Capitol Center are quite simply the best...

Jacob White37 said:As I have previously stated, the cakes at the Capitol Center are quite simply the best...

😍
We shot them an email about the wedding catering, and they basically said they're down, but there's a catch: those two amazing cakes they make just don't have the structural integrity to be stacked into tiers.
But hey, we haven't backed out yet, so if we decide to go for it, they can whip up as many individual slices as we need.

QUOTE=Francesca;17582990]rustybison19, have you checked out that bakery in suburban Chicago that partners with Trajbar?
They suggested them to me because it takes the cake stress off your plate—you just pick one and they handle the delivery...

I haven't actually tried them yet though...

Haven't been anywhere yet. 😉
Plus, we're handling the cake ourselves, so I'm not sure how that would even work with a bakery that already has a standing deal with TT
I just scrolled through their cakes online and honestly? Not really my vibe. 😢

Chris Sanchez11 said:😍
We shot them an email about the wedding catering, and they basically said they're down, but there's a catch: those two amazing cakes they make just don't have the structural integrity to be stacked into tiers.
But hey, we haven't backed out yet, so if we decide to go for it, they can whip up as many individual slices as we need.

That is simply how they operate. I attended a wedding once where there wasn't even a ceremonial cutting; the cake was just placed on the table, so the structure didn't matter to them.
You could always have one sliced up and then serve both. 🤷

Hey, does anyone have a second to help me settle a debate?🙏I’m torn between getting a wedding cake and some sweets from the sweet shop near Katica in my small town or heading over to Tom & Jerry in the suburban area.
I was honestly leaning toward the local confectionery at first, but then I had a taste of what they make at Tom & Jerry and, man, they are just delicious. 🤷

rustybison19 said:Anyone got a solid recommendation for a bakery in the city? We're just looking for a wedding cake on a stand, delivered straight to Trumbull. 🤷

I’d suggest heading over to M&M Bakery just to browse their photos; they make some truly stunning cakes.
The thing is, you won't find those specific styles on their website at all...
We actually stopped by there this past Tuesday, and while their work is absolutely beautiful, I have to admit their prices felt a bit steep to us...!

Linda Ward312 said:Hey, does anyone have a second to help me settle a debate?🙏I’m torn between getting a wedding cake and some sweets from the sweet shop near Katica in my small town or heading over to Tom & Jerry in the suburban area.
I was honestly leaning toward the local confectionery at first, but then I had a taste of what they make at Tom & Jerry and, man, they are just delicious. 🤷

I went with Tom & Jerry because their sweets are seriously killer.👍

Mickey Mouse, seriously, Katica is way out of my league! I’m hanging out at home in a suburb outside of Chicago right now and I actually checked her prices first—but man, those numbers are just brutal, so I had to bail. I’m looking at a guest list of 240 people, and they told me $3.25 per slice for the cake... that’s $2,500 just for the dessert! Meanwhile, the crew over in Naperville where I'm heading today offers $21 pounds of sweets, and the priciest cake they ever did was $433 for a crowd of 250—and get this, they’ll even toss in free delivery out to the outskirts of Schaumburg. I’m meeting with them later today to hash out the details, so I'll hit you guys up tonight with the full scoop.

Ugh, I totally blanked on asking some of them about delivery fees 😵 do they even charge for it?

And I’m also completely lost on where to find those little cake serving trays—do they carry them, or am I better off just grabbing some myself to save a few bucks? A friend mentioned that you can find those little things at a Goodwill Partner over in Brooklyn. I checked their website, but I didn't see anything, plus they have such ridiculous hours, closing at 2 PM on weekdays.

As for the prices... honestly, it looks like Katie and Jack & Jill are pretty much in the same ballpark. At Katie's, a cake is around 10-$4.00 per person, and if I remember correctly—it’s been a minute since I asked—their pastries go for about 70-$27 per kg.
Over at Jack & Jill, pastries are $23 per kg if you order more than 10 kg, and their cakes vary; they don't really do slices, but it feels like it would end up costing me about the same anyway.

My first instinct was to go with Katie because I used to get great recommendations for them (though that was ages ago, and lately, I feel like their quality has kind of slipped—I've always had a massive sweet tooth, so I used to swing by there all the time since they're right near my place 🙂 )
The thing that's putting me off Katie, though, is that they've been rotating staff constantly lately, and I seem to have the luck of running into someone totally clueless every single time. Not to be mean, but they never seem to know what they're selling, what their own names are, or what the prices are, and then it takes them like fifteen minutes just to ring up four pastries—and they usually mess up the total too.😂
So yeah, I'm a little nervous about ordering because I'm genuinely worried about what I'll actually end up getting.

Well, greetings from Des Moines! I finally finished sorting out all the desserts and the cake, and now I’m ready to give you guys the full rundown!

The total bill for 240 guests comes out to $1593 (this covers all the pastries, the treats for my place, the main cake, the boxes used to transport everything to the restaurant, and delivery is free)
They charge per piece $0.93, with the plan being 4 pieces per person for the restaurant spread and 2 pieces per person for the snacks at my house.
The cake itself is a five-tier masterpiece—rectangular layers stacked in a cool zig-zag pattern, each tier featuring a different buttercream border, edible flowers on top, and a big bow wrapped around the bottom tier $450.
When I showed up, they put seven different varieties on a plate for me to sample (even though I’ve eaten their sweets before, I seriously overdid it again today🙂)
We actually put everything in writing with a formal contract, covering every single detail from the cake's design to the exact delivery time and the specific day we need to swing by to pay.
I was the one who suggested the deposit amount $167; they told me $200 or $300 was fine, since they don't really have a set rule for it.
Everything is fully documented with ingredient labels, and they are officially registered for commercial baking.
The final guest count—since we estimated about 240 people, I have to give them the final number by June 10th, which is ten days before the wedding—is the only thing that can change in our contract, and obviously, the final price shifts based on the actual number of pieces ordered.
They actually let you bring your own supplies to lower the cost; basically, if you want to provide your own margarine, sugar, walnuts, baking powder, etc., they'll deduct that from the bill.
Hopefully, that was enough detail for everyone🙂
I'll shoot you the contact info via DM🙂

test😠

Are you kidding me? I can't even get more than two sentences out on this thread before it cuts me off. What a joke!

I’ve seriously tried to hit 'post' on this exact same text five different times now, and for some reason, it just won't go through.

To keep it short: I’m putting down a deposit on a Piece of cake in a few weeks—it's going to be delicious.
Man.

I'll give you a super detailed breakdown once the server finally decides to let me post more than just a few words at a time!

Technical difficulties? 😂 😉
I suppose I shall finally visit that Piece; I have yet to set foot in it.

aha😲😲😁 oops, my bad...