Need help with a wedding cake

So, I'm getting married in August and my mom is going to make the cake. I can pick three flavors, one for each tier. The largest tier is definiftely going to be Chocolate. Any other ideas? The only flavor I don't want is lemon because I'm just not a big lemon cake fan.

The other question (that's more gardening related) is what kind of flowers will be blooming in August? The cake is going to have fresh flowers and I want to use organic ones. It's hard to find organic flowers so I'll probably need to grow them myself. I've been looking at my yard to figure out what's blooming in late summer and I come up with things that are not really suitable, like prickly gaillardia, tiny sage flowers, or caesalpinia that has strong smelling resin on the sepals. Morning Glories are in full bloom that time of year but they wouldn't last through the reception. I don't have any roses or lilies, do those bloom in the heat?

First Congrats on your upcoming wedding. I used to do cakes in the old days. I liked chocolate bottom...rasberry middle and white for top layer, makes a very pretty cake. Another good one is chocolate....orange....white. I did one that chocolate...chocolate marble and top white.
I liked all of them.

As for the flowers I have no idea in your area. I would check with the extension services in your area. Another source to find out what is available in your area that time of year would be Botanical gardens. They are always full of info. I would think the better plant nurseries would be able to give you some suggestions and guidence too.

I wish you the best of luck. Please keep us updated.

Best wishes. My DD is getting married in Oct and we have been talking wedding for months.

On the cake, how about a funfetti layer? Or a choc marble layer? Something that will surprise a person when it is cut. Fillings are really nice and keep things moist.

Not sure on your fresh flowers for your area either. I know Gerber daisies are very popular here for weddings with pots of mums for decorations, but that is fall here.

August is pretty hot there isn't it?

Dahlias should be in bloom in August and there are many you could grow yourself. Check out Swan Island and Dan's Dahlias or look at dahlias on Plant Files for ideas.

Chocolate cake with raspberry filling gets my vote! Best wishes for a lovely wedding.

Thanks everyone,
I like the idea of orange for the middle layer. Maybe we can add some orange zest so it looks like confetti. And, I will have lots of raspberries by august so raspberry filling would be easy.

Yes, it's going to be hot so we're planning a mid-morning wedding with a lunch reception. The arboretum we are renting has lots of shade trees and air-conditioning inside where the food will be served. My mom is a teacher's aid who works with handicapped children so it's hard for her to take time off during the school year to help with my wedding.

I did think of one flower that I will have in abundance, marigolds. I usually grow them with my veggies so I forget about them.

Our caterer is really flexible and willing to let us buy locally grown meats and produce as much as possible. So we're also trying to plan our menu around the fruits and veggies that available at the farmers market.

All this talk of cake and food is making me hungry, time for breakfast!

Daylilies can be blooming then, and they are edible!

When I did flowers for BIG receptions for a company I worked for, (I am NOT a professional florist) I was able to order fresh flowers thru Safeway. You could ASK around and see if there are any companies that do flowers that will order you in some organic flowers. It's a long shot but it's worth a try. I really hate last minute stuff & fresh flowers are the DEFINITION of last minute! I used good quality silk flowers for my weding cake, less stress!

A flower that MAY be in bloom in your area (depending HOW late in August) is Sweet Autumn Clematis. It is a beautiful sweet smelling small white bloom. You might be able to run an ad in Craigslist asking if anyone has a mature plant you could get flowers from when the time comes.

something to keep in mind is that real flowers look great ON the cake but you have to remove them to cut and then it's just ugly. Helps to limit the flowers to the floral ring around the bottom then have the topper be flowers. You can do icing work to fill in the color gap. Make sure the person cutting your cake knows not to take the flowers off till the photo op has passed if you go ahead and do the entire three layers in flowers.

Choc/rasp/white works well if your going to freeze the top layer as is custom. If not then choc/rasp/orange is great.

Please keep in mind that when you have a lunch or dinner rep that people will eat double what you think they should or would! LOL I always use to tell my client take a normal and triple it for any event that fell during a meal period. People will be rushed in the morning getting ready to go to the wedding/party etc so they will make up for lost time.

Saint

This message was edited Feb 15, 2008 4:54 PM

Sounds like the wedding will be wonderful.
The fresh flowers and fresh foods sound great.

Thanks for the tip on cutting and photo ops. I bet we can design the decorations so there's an unobtrusive spot where the first two pieces can be cut without removing the decorations. One thing I've seen my mom do with the flowers is stick a short piece of plastic straw into the cake and then slip the flower stem into that so it doesn't touch the cake. She also puts pieces of straws in the middle of the bottom tier to help support the weight of the upper ones. Who knew straws were so useful!

Since the ceremony is on a Sunday, a lot of people will be coming straight from church. I'm planning to have snacks and juice available before the ceremony for anyone who shows up early. I know I'm always hungry in the middle of the morning :)

There are a couple of organic farms that sell at the farmers market. I'll ask around when the market starts and see what kinds of flowers they might have in august.

lol true about the straws. I use wooden dowels and plastic layer supports and it's always a bit of a chuckle when I start taking the cake apart and lift out the dowels and plastic.