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Great wedding cake in Manhattan?


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My friends are getting married at the Waldorf in September, and are on the hunt for a fabulous wedding cake. They are what I would call foodies - not snobbish about it, but very into good food. The rehearsal dinner is at Aquavit, the wedding supper is a five-course tasting meal, etc.

The cakes they've tried so far (all of them very upscale) have been disappointing (the frostings have been too sweet, the cakes themselves too bland).

They are open to flavor - either something chocolate-y and delicious, or a berry-lemon twist. There will also be a separate dessert served, probably something in the sorbet family.

Any ideas? All help is appreciated!!

"We had dry martinis; great wing-shaped glasses of perfumed fire, tangy as the early morning air." - Elaine Dundy, The Dud Avocado

Queenie Takes Manhattan

eG Foodblogs: 2006 - 2007

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I wonder if any of these threads could be of use to you, even though they're not very recently posted to:

Fabulous NYC Cake Decorator Needed, Any recommendations?

Birthday Cake

I realize that some of the suggestions would be in the "too sweet" category, though.

Good luck!

One other idea:

Do you remember the Miss Grimble shops, where you could get fabulous cheesecake, linzer torte and the like? They're online and deliver:

http://www.missgrimble.com/

Michael aka "Pan"

 

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I would say Colette Peters. She does some AMAZING stuff if that style is what you're looking for. I am also very good friends with another cake designer who works with Colette and runs a cake design school with her. I can get you more info if you need it.

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My wife and I got our wedding cake from Fauchon last year. They do a pretty decent job. We tend to find pastries in NY way too sweet in general, so we must have sampled dozens of "upscale" places before we settled for Fauchon. Most of what we saw or tasted was 95% of the time too sweet or just plain tacky. The downside to Fauchon is that it is expensive ($15 to $20 a head).

One observation I made at my own wedding is that people tend to care more about how the cake looks than how it tastes. Lots of oohs and aahs when the cake makes its appearance however by that time, most of your guests are generally either full, drunk or on their way out...

Another place we liked was www.lovinsullivancakes.com/

"A chicken is just an egg's way of making another egg." Samuel Butler
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I would say Colette Peters.  She does some AMAZING stuff if that style is what you're looking for.  I am also very good friends with another cake designer who works with Colette and runs a cake design school with her.  I can get you more info if you need it.

Thanks, Bryan! I've found Colette's website and forwarded it to the happy couple...if they need more info, I'll let you know! Appreciate the tip!

"We had dry martinis; great wing-shaped glasses of perfumed fire, tangy as the early morning air." - Elaine Dundy, The Dud Avocado

Queenie Takes Manhattan

eG Foodblogs: 2006 - 2007

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One other idea:

Do you remember the Miss Grimble shops, where you could get fabulous cheesecake, linzer torte and the like? They're online and deliver:

http://www.missgrimble.com/

I've been trying to convince them to do something other than an actual wedding cake (or just have a small cake for cutting and then do something delicious for dessert), but they're way too traditional for that. You should see their china pattern! ;-)

Miss Grimble's does look mighty yummy.

Edited by Megan Blocker (log)

"We had dry martinis; great wing-shaped glasses of perfumed fire, tangy as the early morning air." - Elaine Dundy, The Dud Avocado

Queenie Takes Manhattan

eG Foodblogs: 2006 - 2007

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One of the most beautiful and tasty designer cakes that i've had in NYC came from Ron Ben Israel. I suspect he's pretty expensive but the cakes are delicious, flavorful and quite beautiful. I think his studio is in Soho. here's his website.

http://www.weddingcakes.com/

azlee

My friends are getting married at the Waldorf in September, and are on the hunt for a fabulous wedding cake.  They are what I would call foodies - not snobbish about it, but very into good food.  The rehearsal dinner is at Aquavit, the wedding supper is a five-course tasting meal, etc.

The cakes they've tried so far (all of them very upscale) have been disappointing (the frostings have been too sweet, the cakes themselves too bland).

They are open to flavor - either something chocolate-y and delicious, or a berry-lemon twist.  There will also be a separate dessert served, probably something in the sorbet family.

Any ideas?  All help is appreciated!!

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I got married a couple months ago and our cake was by Ron Ben Israel. The cake was absolutely delicious (even defrosted a few months later, it was still really good). We had his cake at another wedding as well and I can easily say they were the two best cakes I have ever had. He is very creative and great to work with. We wanted a traditional cake with lots of flowers and he delivered exactly what we wanted. Prices vary based on what you want. In general, he is expensive, but not that much more than the other bakers we looked at (and cheaper than the Fauchon cake already mentioned) and the taste was much much better than anywhere else we tasted.

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  • 4 weeks later...
I got married a couple months ago and our cake was by Ron Ben Israel.  The cake was absolutely delicious (even defrosted a few months later, it was still really good).  We had his cake at another wedding as well and I can easily say they were the two best cakes I have ever had.  He is very creative and great to work with.  We wanted a traditional cake with lots of flowers and he delivered exactly what we wanted.  Prices vary based on what you want.  In general, he is expensive, but not that much more than the other bakers we looked at (and cheaper than the Fauchon cake already mentioned) and the taste was much much better than anywhere else we tasted.

Thanks to all for your suggestions! The happy couple met with Ron Ben Israel on Friday and have decided to go with him (something with honey and ginger cake, caramel and cinnamon filling, I think!). They thought he was an incredible artist, but not at all temperamental, and totally willing to incorporate their vision and suggestions into what he will do, which is not the feeling they got at some of the other places they visited.

So, thanks again! :biggrin: I'll report back after the big day (September 24th) on the results.

"We had dry martinis; great wing-shaped glasses of perfumed fire, tangy as the early morning air." - Elaine Dundy, The Dud Avocado

Queenie Takes Manhattan

eG Foodblogs: 2006 - 2007

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  • 1 month later...

Here's the final product! Thanks again to you all for your help and suggestions...the final choice was vanilla and hazlenut cake with cinnamon buttercream and a layer of caramel. Delicious!

gallery_26775_1623_198391.jpg

There was also an adorable groom's cake (in the Southern tradition - the bride is from Virginia) in the shape of a sailboat (chocolate with raspberry buttcream), since the groom is learning to sail. For some reason, though, the photo of that one won't upload!

"We had dry martinis; great wing-shaped glasses of perfumed fire, tangy as the early morning air." - Elaine Dundy, The Dud Avocado

Queenie Takes Manhattan

eG Foodblogs: 2006 - 2007

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Here's the final product!  Thanks again to you all for your help and suggestions...the final choice was vanilla and hazlenut cake with cinnamon buttercream and a layer of caramel.  Delicious!

There was also an adorable groom's cake (in the Southern tradition - the bride is from Virginia) in the shape of a sailboat (chocolate with raspberry buttcream), since the groom is learning to sail.  For some reason, though, the photo of that one won't upload!

Thanks for reporting back! That is a lovely-looking cake. Very elegant.

Congratulations to your friends!

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  • 2 weeks later...
Here's the final product!  Thanks again to you all for your help and suggestions...the final choice was vanilla and hazlenut cake with cinnamon buttercream and a layer of caramel.  Delicious!

There was also an adorable groom's cake (in the Southern tradition - the bride is from Virginia) in the shape of a sailboat (chocolate with raspberry buttcream), since the groom is learning to sail.  For some reason, though, the photo of that one won't upload!

Thanks for reporting back! That is a lovely-looking cake. Very elegant.

Congratulations to your friends!

Thanks, Makan and Pan! It really was nice...I forgot to mention that they modeled those little sprays on the bride's antique earrings (on loan from the groom's grandmother) - every little detail was so well thought out!

"We had dry martinis; great wing-shaped glasses of perfumed fire, tangy as the early morning air." - Elaine Dundy, The Dud Avocado

Queenie Takes Manhattan

eG Foodblogs: 2006 - 2007

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