My Understanding a Southern Wedding Tradition...

A southern tradition, the groom's cake allows for some variety on the traditional wedding cake. As such, many of these cakes are chocolate or of some other dessert variety (I have heard of people using cheesecakes, chocolate covered strawberries and such). However, my experience with the groom's cake is limited. Not every wedding I have attended has had one...and the ones that did, it was merely a typical "cake" with a sports theme (or other groom interest theme).

Since our wedding cake is non-traditional as it is (chocolate iced), I have had a difficult time coming up with the best creation for our groom's cake... However, considering Jacob's interests (and tastes), I am heavily leaning toward a cookie cake for our groom's cake.


As many know, Jacob and I are major sweets lovers...and the Great American Cookie Company is a regular haunt for us when we are trying to satisfy a sweet tooth. They make the most delicious cookies cakes...in a variety of sizes. The shape/style/design of the cake I am thinking of is still TBD. I will need to consider those options here soon!

If going this route, I need to find a creative way to display this cake...ideas are welcome!

I think what confuses me about the groom's cake: how many servings should you expect to get out of it? Do more people eat the groom's cake over the traditional wedding cake? Less? Since GACC is not a traditional bakery, they will more than likely not know the answers to these questions. So that means I will have to guess on this one...

Operation Cake: Ordered

We placed the order for our wedding cake this morning!

We decided on a four layer round cake from Brown's Bakery in Lexington. The bottom layer will be German Chocolate cake (a Brown's specialty and our favorite flavor), the next layer will be yellow, the third layer will be white and the top layer will be chocolate. And, of course, the entire cake will be smothered in a yummy chocolate frosting!! Tasty!

The design/texture on the cake will look something like this cake (on right). We have not decided on the cake topper at this point, but I am going to look into flowers or a monogrammed "K." I wonder what kind of flowers would look best on a chocolate iced cake?

Not only will we get to enjoy the deliciousness and decadence of a Brown's cake on our wedding day, but we are having it made by our dear old friend, James Brown. To make it even more sweet, James gave us a discount on the cake! So exciting!

Let them eat cake.

Wedding cakes. Like everything else in the wedding planning process, choosing the right cake takes a little research. There are a plethora of bakeries in the Lexington area catering to brides (and grooms) to-be. But so many of them want, at least, $4 per slice! And if we were to buy enough to have at least one slice per invited guest, we are looking at upwards of $900! Insanity (and highly unlikely!)!

Early on in our engagement, we went to a cake tasting at Brown’s Bakery, over on Main Street, right before it turns into Leestown Road. We chose this bakery at random as we have an inside joke where we call each other “Brown,” so we thought it would be a fun place to at least check out…

On the date of our tasting, we walk into the bakery and to our surprise, the owner (and baker) is James Brown! We knew him as Chef James when he worked in the Chef Shoppe at the Bellerive Kroger. So much fun! He and his wife opened the place a few years back. (They rock, check them out here: http://brownbakery.com/).

While catching up over a plate of several varieties of cake/icing combinations, we went over some ideas we had for our cake and what James could do to make these ideas reality. Though not official, we need to make final decisions so we may secure James and our cake! Here is what we do know:

• We want a chocolate icing wedding cake.
• There will be at least three layers (German Chocolate, yellow and a plain chocolate). The German chocolate layer will have an AMAZING filling of coconut and rich, creamy chocolate. Trying to determine if other layers will have fillings…
• We are not sure about the shape…oval seems like a neat idea, but we also like round or square. And I have seen where people choose square, but stack the layers on an angle and the effect is really cool.
• We want a simple cake design with little decoration, but with noticeable texture.
  

Inspiration for our wedding cake:
Love the simplicity of this one. Jacob digs the strawberries.

Photo from Weddingbee.com









Love this one! It is so different. Not sure what I think about the flowers…

Photo from Squidoo.com/specialdaycakes

This one is so clean and elegant! Very pretty.

Photo from Julie Elefante’s eHow article

Loving this one. Much like the strawberry one above.

Photo from Zoebakes.com

Lots of texture and chocolaty goodness! YUM!

Photo from Martha Stewart

ALSO: not only are James’ cakes (and other concoctions) delicious, they are considerably more affordable than other bakeries in Lexington! Score!

Will let you know once a cake is chosen and ordered!