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The Cake Tasting.
So, I finally have a second to tell you about the epic day Richie & I sat in a coffee shop with http://alittlesomethinsweet.com founder/cake designer/artistic guru, Adam Beckworth.
Let me set the stage. I was starving. I had strategically not eaten that morning in order to fully appreciate the freecakertunity (in hindsight, I don’t recommend that, as my sugar buzz & subsequent crashing were ones for the record book).
We met in a quaint little coffee shop. Richie & I were excitedly waiting with palate cleansing bottles of water on the ready. Adam walked in with a little picnic basket and joined us.
Umm, how cute is he?? 🙂
We chatted for a bit (side note, I completely love this guy- he’s so much fun!) and then he proceeded to unpack our delicacies. I can’t even believe how adorably organized his system is.
Before.
And I’m in HEAVEN. The cakes were AMAZING- so moist & flavorful. The frostings were rich & delicious.
Richie & I immediately start chowing but realize quickly that we need to slow it down so we save enough of the cake samples to pair up with the different frosting samples- each combination is so different and unique!
Here’s what we tasted-
Cake:
Malted Vanilla cake
Red Velvet cake
Roasted Banana cake
Dark Chocolate Devil’s Food cake
Espresso Bourban Chocolate Fudge cake
Frostings:
Whipped Marscapone
Malted Sweet Cream Buttercream
Peanut infused Buttercream with French Sea Salt and Candied Peanuts
Milk Chocolate Ganache
Dark Chocolate Fudge Buttercream
And yeah, we did some damage 🙂
After.
The coolest part was, when you combined the cakes and frostings in different ways, you can create completely amazing flavor profiles!
Ultimately, these were our three favorites combinations:
-Red Velvet cake with Mascarpone Frosting
(This one was so light & delicious. Plus I feel like everyone loves red velvet)
-Banana Cake with Milk Chocolate Ganache and Dark Chocolate Fudge Frosting
(I would have never thought banana + wedding cake would be in the same sentence but it was DELICIOUS. Very chocolate covered banana, but in a mild, cakey way)
-Dark Chocolate Devil’s Food cake with Milk Chocolate Ganache and Peanut Buttercream with Sea Salt and Candied Peanuts
(Holy eff, this one was insane. And my favorite. It’s got the salty/sweet thing going on, like a chocolate covered pretzel. I can’t even describe this one & do it justice)
Who says we have to just pick one?
Overall, the day was amazing, the cake was amazing, Adam was amazing. This was definitely my favorite part of the wedding planning to date.
Side note, Adam just posted some new cake pics on his website- I had to share. These cakes were for a CAT. Well, for people, but in honor of a famous cat at the Algonquin Hotel in NYC.
Seriously, he's amazing.
Love it!
Definitely the perfect cat cake.
Adam opened my eyes to what’s possible as far as wedding cakes go & how to break out of the non-traditional rut. I’m thinking about asking him to write a guest blog on the topic because I know there are others out there who want a funky, personalized, unique, kick ass wedding like we do 🙂
xoxo,
R
Sweet tooth.
So, I’m extremely excited. And here’s why: today is CAKE TASTING SATURDAY!!!!!
You guys sent me a ton of recommendations (which I could not possibly appreciate more!) and one name kept popping up here in NYC:
http://alittlesomethinsweet.com
Adam Beckworth is originally from Texas (I feel like that begs for some sort of snappy joke about bigger cakes- I’ll let you know when I smooth that one out. Bear with me, I’m a smidge hungover). He grew up baking & decorating cakes but moved to NY to act almost 15 years ago. He went on to work in the graphic design world for several years, until he decided to pursue his baking passion full time. He describes his cake style as bold, graphic, clean and modern, and he’s drawn to unique flavor profiles made from scratch with fresh ingredients.
Here’s the other cool thing: he’s one of those amazing cake artists who can make cakes that look nothing like cakes. He needs to be on one of those TLC shows, his skill blows my mind. I first learned about Adam’s talent when my best friend (and marriage officiant! I’ll write about that another day), Ellie, showed me a picture of this cake from our mutual friend Melanie’s bachelorette party. Mel loves a good cheese plate…so he created this for her:
Yep. It's a CAKE.
I checked out Adam’s website & saw these ridiculously amazing pieces of delicious art:
Did you hear that part about this being a CAKE?
Also, please look at these cupcakes. CUPCAKES!!!!!
These are cupcakes. Are you freaking out yet?!
This is just insanity.
At some point, they're too pretty too eat. I mean, not really- I could eat 12 right now.
Lest you fear I’m doing a giant Doritos bag wedding cake, Adam does traditional cakes as well & they are all obscenely beautiful.
I want to lick this immediately
Are you looking at your computer screen in complete disbelief? Cause seriously, I’ve shown my friends these pictures a hundred times already & I’m still in awe.
So Richie & I are off this am to meet the great wizard behind the curtain at A Little Somethin Sweet. I hope to be in a borderline blood sugar emergency by the time I leave.
Will post all about it asap!
xoxo,
R
Cake & eat it too!
I’m going to be honest & say that aside from the ring, the wedding planning component I’m most excited about is cake shopping. Mostly the eating part of the cake shopping.
Let’s talk wedding cakes. I have questions. And you guys always seem to have answers.
First off, is the cupcake fad over? Or is that still happening? I like the portability of this dessert option, but have concern over A) triteness and B) over-it factor for our work friends. I don’t want the wedding cake to be a tired extension of Cupcake Wednesdays.
Second, can you go with any flavor or are there rules about this? For instance, I could live on chocolate. Richie could live on peanut butter. Can we just have some kind of crazy chocolate peanut butter cake or is that way too out there? Wait, If we did that, wouldn’t we need to have some sort of non-peanut option for allergic people? I feel like 74% of the population is allergic to peanuts (source: made up). Can you have a cake that is all different flavors? Or then is everyone cutting into each tier to get to the kind they like, the way I would with an unmarked box of chocolates?
Third, umm, can we schedule tastings with dozens (hundreds?) of bakeries? And if so, uh, how am I just now finding out about this? And why aren’t more people regularly taking advantage of free cake?! I actually went out and bought a piece of cake last week when I clearly should have just flashed the bling & begged to be fed.
I’m just not into the giant, flowery, gaudy, drawbridge & princessy looking mountains of frosting. And I’m not even exaggerating. Please tell me at least one of you has seen My Big, Fat, Gypsy Wedding. Because if I don’t post this recurring monstrosity, the terrorists will have won.
Yep. That's Ken & Barbie on there. And their friends I think. Subtle, just like I like it.
Thoughts on more non-traditional/less weddingy looking cakes?
Sweetly*,
Rach
*thought ” Fondantly,” might be too much of a stretch
Fine, change. 