Tuesday, January 3, 2006

Sweeeet!

I've only briefly thought about cakes (it's probably too early anyway) but I remember when I saw this episode of Gilmore Girls, that I loved this cake that Sookie made for her wedding. It's so beautiful with the edible sugar flowers (this was the first time that I saw such realistic edible flowers). Unfortunately, sugar flowers are very expensive since they are handmade and I probably won't want a yellow cake so this is probably going to be filed in the 'nice, but not for me' category.
However, Sookie has made other cakes on the show. The one on the right, she made this past season for an upcoming wedding at the Inn. Though I don't care so much for the design (too square and modern), what the cake is made of sounds delish. She calls it her "dark chocolate s'mores wedding cake."

This cake at the left, was made for Lorelai and Max. Unfortunately, that didn't work out and Sookie had to scrap the whole cake (I don't remember if it showed her destroying it). This also may not be a good omen for our cake. But I noticed that this cake is very similar to the first pic (maybe they used the same form and just painted it?), even down to the tiger lilies.

Here's a cake (not made by Sookie) at the Gilmore vow renewal (see in the background; click picture for enlargement). I like this cake's simple design but what I really like is the cake topper -- an elegant silver monogram. I like how the big "G" is in the center, flanked by a smaller "E" (for Emily) and "R" (for Richard).
I am pretty sure that there were other cakes on the show but I have to find the pics.


So to share a little story about the cake hunt so far (not that we've really been looking). After a dinner one night in the Village, we strolled towards Veniero's for dessert. On our way there, the cakes in the corner shop down the street, Something Sweet, caught our eye. I had always wondered about this little bakery, especially since they are so close to Veniero's, how the competition must be difficult. In the window, we saw pretty little cakes (fake ones of course) and a sheet of paper advertising the prices for wedding cakes. We decided to go in. Fiance asked some questions about the cakes and the proprietor came out to discuss it with us. She was very nice and friendly, asking us about our wedding, when it is, how many people, etc. With so many people (this was back when the number was 300)
she recommended that that we get a small tiered cake for show and then have sheet cakes made for the rest of the people (besides, she doesn't have the capacity to make a tiered cake big enough for that many people -- everything is made in that tiny little shop). She also told us about Chinese couples that she has dealt with, how you can have three layers or five layers, but not four (sounds like "death" in Cantonese). Since we're having a fall wedding, she said that she could make something with cranberry (her eyes lit up as she said this). Recently, she made a cranberry cake for someone. All of a sudden, she took out a tart and pushed it across the counter for us. She told us to take it. We couldn't and she said she knows how hard it is for young couples, so we should take it. We said that we wanted to buy something and even said that we don't really like tarts so that she wouldn't force it on us. So she offered something else. We tried to refuse so we said we'd buy something else. Somehow we got to talking again (she recommended French restaurants to try, some similar bakeries to check out). She also told us how she can make any filling, except cannoli because it's Italian and that's what Veniero's does. So drawing the conversation to a close, fiance said we'd buy some other stuff and get something for my mother. She seemed to agree -- we got a mango mousse, tiramisu mousse, and a chocolate cranberry tart. At one point she had also shoved a brownie bite across the counter, sticking it into a white paper bag for us and insisted we take it. We were about to pay as she was wrapping things up. Then a guy came in and was very dismayed to learn that we got the last mango mousse. When he walked out, she refused to take our money. The guy walked back in after consulting with his wife and ordered something else. The woman said "We don't take tips" so as to not give the other guy any ideas that she was giving stuff out for free. After more insisting (and after the guy paid and left) we resigned to taking this boxful of stuff. We felt so bad and left with a business card (but no price sheet b/c I think her prices are flexible). Good thing is also that she can make the cake with two weeks' notice (though we would probably tell her earlier to work out the details). Afterwards, since it was fairly early, we stopped by the Verrazano Bridge and enjoyed these pastries. We didn't have spoons for the mousse so at first we were licking it bit by bit. Then we decided to break the chocolate tart and use that to scoop up the mango goodness and that made it so much better! The cranberry really complements the chocolate well and mixed with the mango, it really made all the flavors that much more pronounced. So yummy!!!

1 comment:

Sam said...

my mouth is watering... i should bring a guy in and say we're getting married... hahaha :) is it the little shop on 1st ave? i should ck it out next time!