Frequently (and not so frequently) asked questions
1. How far in advance should we order our wedding cake?
A: If you are booked with one of the venues that include Piece of Cake within their inclusive wedding package, we already have a spot reserved for you, which gives you plenty of flexibility when it comes to your cake tasting! We typically recommend scheduling your appointment when you have most of the other major elements decided (wedding colors, florals, theme, etc) since you may want to include some of those elements in your the cake. Typically that would mean you can comfortably schedule your tasting anywhere from 2 month to 9 months before the big day! If you are booked at a venue that doesn’t include Piece of Cake as part of their package, we would suggest meeting with us 3-6 months before your wedding.
2. How do I schedule a cake tasting?
A: The easiest way to schedule your cake tasting would be to visit our online scheduler and select the day and time that works best for your schedule!. Once you put in all of your info you will get an email and text confirmation of your appointment date. time. and location.
3. Is there a fee for the cake tasting and consultation?
A: If your wedding cake was included in a package at one of our venue partners, your tasting is included in your package pricing!
For our non package couples, a one hour cake tasting and consultation is included for cakes priced above $300 and tastings for cakes priced below $300 can be scheduled for $35. As an alternative, instead of scheduling a full 1 hour appointment, you can choose the free tasting box pickup option, which gets you the same flavors and fillings to taste and a member of our team would be happy to provide you pricing at the counter!
4. We want to have an outdoor reception. How will this affect our cake choices?
A: Since heat is the mortal enemy of buttercream, an outdoor reception will limit your choices, sometimes severely. Depending on the weather, you may want have to go with fondant as a covering for your cake, since buttercream will melt and slide off the cake if it's too hot. You may also have to avoid fillings that are perishable, depending on how long the cake will be sitting out in the heat. If it's at all possible, arrange to keep the cake in an air-conditioned area until it's time to cut it, and this might open up your options. However, whether buttercream or fondant, it is never recommended to have a cake sitting outdoors in temperatures over 85 degrees.
Another consideration is wind. If your buttercream cake is sitting outside at any time of year and the wind starts stirring up dirt... you are probably going to have dirt & twig pieces embedded into your cake. With fondant a lot of that stuff will bounce off leaving your cake looking pretty for photos. We recommend fondant for all outdoor receptions because of this reason.
5. Do all bakers use the same sizes for cakes?
A: Umm... no. Frankly this is where a lot of couples can get a bit hosed if they don't do some research. To some cake shops, a 3 tier cake that consists of a 12" round, 9" round, and a 6" round, feeds 100 guests. Based on our serving chart, those same cakes feed just 84 guests.
Yep, you read that right. You can order the exact same size cake from 2 different companies and one (us) will charge you for 84 servings and the other will charge you for 100 servings (not us). If the 100 serving place is $5.00 a serving and Piece of Cake charges $5.75 serving... then we are more expensive right? Not so much. (84 servings x $5.75 = $483, 100 servings x $5.00 = $500). And now you know how a $5.75 per serving cake can be less expensive than a $5.00 per serving cake.
Don't get me wrong, the bakers that say that configuration feeds 100 guests aren't trying to screw anyone, they are just using the industry standard Wilton serving chart to calculate their servings... most bakers use it. We just prefer to give a little more and let you pay for a little less. My tip: Always ask what sizes your cake layers will be so that you can accurately compare 2 or more companies wedding cake pricing.
6. Where did the name Piece Of Cake come from? Does it have any relation to the 1985 movie, Piece of Cake, starring Harrison Ford and a young Britney Spears?
A: The name Piece Of Cake actually has no relation to the 1985 movie Piece Of Cake, because that movie does not exist.
7. Can we have more than one flavor of cake, or does it all have to be the same?
A: At POC, you can have as many flavors as you have cake tiers, and at no extra charge. If you do choose to have more than two flavors you may want to order a larger cake than you would normally, because people tend to go back for seconds if there are more than two flavors... especially if the cake is really good.
8. Can we use fresh flowers directly on my cake and if so, who provides those?
A: Absolutely. fresh flowers are a wonderful accent on a wedding cake, however you do need to be careful to stay away from anything poisonous! Any cake flowers would need to be ordered from your florist so they match all of the rest of your flowers and as long as they leave the flowers for us at the venue by our delivery time, we will take care of placing the flowers on the cake. Or you can have the florist place the flowers, it’s completely up to you!
9. Every venue we visited recommends Piece of Cake! Does that mean you are better than all of the other cake companies?
A: It definitely does not mean that we are better than any other companies out there, but it seems to imply the heck out of it!
10. Any advice on ornaments & cake toppers?
A. When picking an ornament for your cake, height and weight is definitely a big consideration. Icing and cake are soft so very heavy ornaments must have some extra support in the cake. If you do select a heavy ornament and it should fall from the top, it can do damage to tiers as gravity pulls it downward. Most importantly, let your cake decorator know what you have selected as a cake topper to make sure there are no problems. I always tell couples that I can put a bowling ball on top of a cake as long as I know it is going to be there... it's when I don't know that could pose a challenge.
11. I see a lot of companies say their cakes "taste as good as they look", but not you guys. What's the dealio?
A: The easy answer is that sometimes our cakes taste as good as they look, sometimes they taste worse than they look, and sometimes they taste better than they look. If a couple brings us a hideous cake design and picks awesome flavors...that cake is going to taste better than it looks. If they design an amazing cake but choose carrot cake with chocolate mint filling, well that one is definitely going to look better than it tastes. That's why we recommend choosing an amazing design with awesome flavors.
12. We have a limited budget, and I'm not sure if we can get the cake we want for what we can afford to spend.
A: Don't be afraid to bring up your budget with us or other vendors. We would rather have someone tell us how much they've been planning on spending up front, rather than find out after we've gone through the design process that the cake we've worked out is beyond what they were looking to spend. We find that most people who come to talk to us have a reasonable idea of how much a cake will be, but the cost of some types of decorations can add up. It's better to talk about your budget right away if it's a big issue, so that we can work with it while designing the cake.
13. If we get a fake cake for display and serve sheet cakes is it cheaper than having a real entire wedding cake?
A: Not really. A small number of decorators who are bad at math actually do charge less for this but the rest of the industry can't figure out why. Let me explain why it's not cheaper ... Let's say you want to serve 150 people and you want a 4 tier cake. If the whole wedding cake were real, here is the ultrasimplified breakdown of the steps the baker takes. 1. the baker buys the ingredients for your 4 tiers, 2. bakes them up, 3. decorates them. They bought 160 servings worth of ingredients and decorated 4 cakes. Easy Peasy.
If the display cake is fake and you have sheet cakes to feed the 160 guests, here are the steps they now need to take. 1. Buy the 4 tiers of styrofoam for the fake tiers (which cost around $25 for all four) , 2. buy the ingredients for the 160 servings (same amount of guests, so the same amount of ingredients are used) 3. Decorate the styrofoam layers, 4. Bake the sheet cakes, 5. Decorate the sheet cakes (usually done with simpler decorations).
As you can see, due to the Styrofoam layers, the baker actually spends $25 more on ingredients and now decorates 5 cakes (4 fake, 1 real) instead of 4 using this method.
Sure, some bakers have a "We'll give you 3% back if you return it" offer so they can save a few bucks that way (after all they are paying you $9 for your $300 fake cake and that styrofoam would cost them $25 new) but the math still doesn't work out and it is realistically only cheaper if a decorator is more comfortable working with fake cakes and discounts their service based on that. The reason some bakers promote fake cakes is that using fake tiers allows a less skilled decorator to make cakes that look better than they would have if they had to shape a real cake with frosting, which is one of the skills that really separates a pro from a hobbyist.
14. Why doesn't your "About us" page give a warm and fuzzy history of your journey into baking like I see on so many other cake company websites? Didn't your love of baking start at an early age because of your grandmother or something?
A: I've got to tell you, those pages crack me up. If you are reading this and don't know what I'm talking about, here is an example of what appears on like 70% of all cake company sites on the web:
"At the tender age of 3 Mary accidentally baked herself into a pineapple upside down cake and was partially consumed by her older sister while friends and family sang Happy Birthday. Mary's sister may have eaten her pinky toe, but fortunately she didn't eat Mary's love for baking. In 2012 Mary decided that after taking a month of cake decorating classes that it was time to hone her cake skills the only way she knew how... on your wedding cake! Mary also enjoys watching Saved By The Bell, letting her cat walk on her countertops, and creating charcoal drawings of Brad Pitt in a Santa suit. Call Mary today for a wedding cake that people will be talking about for years."
I think we'll just keep ours like it is.
15. We saw a cake in a wedding magazine that we love. Would it be possible for a baker to make something similar?
A: Most likely! Over half of the wedding cakes we make are inspired by something a bride saw in a magazine. Be aware that many of the cakes shown in magazines are very labor-intensive. When you get a price quote from a baker for the design that you want, it may be substantially more than you were planning on budgeting for the cake. If that's the case, you should work with your baker to imitate the elements of your cake that you love, but eliminate some of the other details. Also, keep in mind that since cakes are decorated by hand, each person's style will be slightly different. We can mimic designs pretty well, but there will always be the imprint of our style on the cake.
Also make sure you are realistic when you choose a baker. Look closely at their photos for bumpy fondant or craterous buttercream. Just because you think they are nice and they are cheap doesn't mean they can pull off the design you are requesting and make it awesome. That's why we're neither nice nor cheap. ;)
16. I have heard that fondant tastes terrible, is that true?
A: Unfortunately fondant gets a bad rap because the one brand of fondant that is most readily available nationwide tastes... well... like feet. It's kind of like eating boiled brussels sprouts and then deciding "I hate vegetables", when really you have only tried the worst of the bunch. There are some great homemade and commercially available fondants on the market, so if you like a design that will look better in fondant don't be afraid to have your baker whip some fondant out so you can decide for yourself. Ours tastes like marshmallow and many a "fondant hater" has been caught eating globs of it during our tastings.
17. Cancellations or Postponements, what’s your policy?
A: If for any reason you need to postpone your wedding or event, please contact Piece of Cake Desserts, LLC. immediately. Your deposit will be held until the new date arrives. If you need to cancel your order entirely there are certain refund policies that we follow. If the cancellation is up to 45 days in advance of your wedding/event date, we will refund 100% of your deposit. From 15 to 44 days, you will receive a 50% refund of your deposit. Inside of 15 days, we cannot accept cancellation and cannot offer a refund. The deposit amount is equal to 50% of the total cake cost, with the remaining balance due 14 days prior to the wedding/event.