from hate to love: cake (part 1)

Let's talk about cake. We got on the topic of funfetti cookies today at work and now my sweet tooth is aching. Seriously, has anyone else heard of using funfetti cake mix to make cookies?? I don't/can't bake, but I might have to try this.

Anyway, I've never been much of a cake person. I usually find it to be quite dry, the icing too sweet, and overall not too exciting. Don't get me started on fondant. I love cheesecake, though, and pies - apple, cherry, peach - a la mode of course. And after spending a semester in Italy I always enjoy a good tiramisu. Cake, not so much. Every year for my birthday, my mom (who is also not much of a baker) would make me an angel food cake with strawberries and strawberry flavored whipped cream icing. Yum. It was the total opposite of what I usually found cake to be. In fact, I think it's one of the only cakes I've ever really enjoyed. Until...

Until we moved here and I dragged the future mister to a local restaurant ONLY because I heard the cakes were out of this world. I was definitely skeptical. This restaurant doesn't make the cakes themselves, but rather gets them from a local baker. Dinner was definitely nothing to write home about. Then we ordered a slice of the raspberry cake for dessert - yellow cake with raspberry preserves and vanilla custard and raspberry buttercream icing. OMG. TOTALLY OUT OF THIS WORLD. I died, went to heaven, came back and died again with each bite. Yes, it was THAT GOOD. All of my criteria were met and then some - moist, fruity, creamy, not too sweet, light and fluffy icing. Here's a photo from the baker's website:

(source)

So after my amazing cake experience (I don't think we were engaged yet), I stored the information away for sometime in the (hopefully) near future. Well the near future came, the future mister proposed and then we started looking for venues. At our initial consultation with Epting Events they provided us with a food and cake tasting. In case you don't remember, they are the event planning company that owns The Hill (our venue) and in addition to event planning, they also take care of the catering, rentals, flowers, and cake. See where I'm going with this? Oh yes. They use the same baker for their clients' wedding cakes! Perfect venue, super delicious cake - it was fate.

Next up, I'll show you some of my cake inspiration.

Any other cake haters out there?