Why does my wedding cake cost what it does?

As wedding season is in full swing for 2010 and bookings are starting for 2011, there are lots of articles on how to save money on your wedding. Some of these offer legitimate advice.  However, there are some that are ridiculous and I want to call up the editor and ask if they did ANY research.  With that said I hope to explain why wedding cakes cost more than a grocery store sheet cake.

You want your gluten free wedding cake fresh and baked with the very best ingredients, correct?  You'll also want it to be stunning and beautiful as it will be the centerpiece of dance floor that everyone will see.  You probably believe that everyone who hears the word "wedding" or “specialty ingredients” triples the price on you.  This is not true at all for Diamond Baking Co.!  Would you think twice of paying $5 to $7 for a slice of gluten free chocolate lava cake at a restaurant?  So, why would you expect fresh baked gluten free cake made with organic, local ingredients, delivered and set up to your reception location without a worry to you to cost any less? It takes a lot to make a gluten free cake that deserves a top spot at your reception!  In fact, it takes a minimum of 8 hours for a wedding cake.  No joke! 

Here's what goes into a typical gluten free wedding cake:
Let's start at the beginning...Before any baking and decorating happens, there is a free tasting. A tasting involves several kinds of cake (about $35.00 worth of ingredients in your samples) and sometimes up to three hours of time.  After the meeting, there is more discussion of design and sketching, emails back and forth, etc.

In preparation for making the gluten free cake, I need to make sure any special ingredients are on hand as well as any special decorations.  This means buying fresh ingredients, if needed, and supports for the cake (sometimes requiring a trip to the local hardware store).  How do you think the cake stays upright?

Then comes the baking of the gluten free cake layers (there are 4 cake layers in each tier of cake) – with pounds of gluten free flours, fresh organic, local eggs, the finest vanilla, organic rice milk, etc.  After the layers are baked, they need to cool and settle. We’re at a high altitude, so the cakes need time to compress so you don’t end up with that ugly bulge in the middle of the layers.  They do their thing overnight while wrapped tightly in plastic wrap to seal the moisture in.

Next the fresh buttercream is made with real butter for frosting your cake. That's butter, sugar (4 pounds of each per batch), vanilla and a good while of listening to the mixer whip it up to the perfect consistency.  Next, comes putting the gluten free cake layers together and frosting it smooth.  The layers can then be stacked into tiers with supports cut to match the cake height.  These keep your cake from toppling over, leaning over or the worst – collapsing from the weight of all the ingredients!  Lastly, all of the details get piped or placed onto the cake to create the finished masterpiece.

So now it’s finally ready to be on the move! Keep in mind the stress of driving a cake a distance from our kitchen and making sure it stays safe in the vehicle with plenty of air conditioning for those summer weddings!  The cake is delivered to your venue and set up on site.  Then the final touches get added - delicate decorations or fresh flowers, provided by your florist.  Now you get to come into your reception location and be awed by it!  This means we’ve done our job right!

I hope this helps to explain all that goes into the creation of a gluten free wedding cake.  It has become such an important and expected part of a wedding and sharing a piece with your new partner symbolizes the beginning of great things to come. Imagine the smile the photos of this magical moment will create for years to come as you reminisce.  Plus, how great does a gluten free cake of your favorite flavor or possibly flavors sound??  Yeah, it sounds fabulous!

Don’t forget here at Diamond Baking Co., EVERYONE can have their cake and eat it too!

Birthday cake anyone?

Here's a couple of our latest creations - gluten free birthday cakes.  The strawberry cake was for a 1 year old.  To serve all the "adults" a 1/4 sheet was made and then a small smash cake was given for the 1 year old to enjoy all on her own!  Made with layers of gluten free vanilla cake, vanilla buttercream and organic fresh strawberries.

The yellow writing cake was a gluten free chocolate cake with coconut frosting.  It was also dairy free and was very well received!  I even received a thank you call to tell me how much the cake was enjoyed and they will be sure to pass my information on to others!  YAY!  We love when we make people happy and even better happy enough to pass our name on as a cake maker.  Sweet and thanks!

Look forward to serving more cakes soon!

Stanley Hotel Gluten Free Wedding Cake

So, we made this fun and beautiful square 3 tiered gluten free wedding cake for a small wedding at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. Believe it or not each layer was a different flavor! The top was gluten free chocolate with vanilla buttercream filling, the middle gluten free vanilla cake with fresh strawberries and vanilla buttercream filling and the largest, bottom tier, was gluten free red velvet cake with cream cheese filling. All of it was finished with vanilla buttercream, chocolate brown scroll work and fresh flowers.  We loved it ourselves and now we know the bride and her guests loved it too!

The bride later wrote to us to say:
"Heather, the wedding cake was AMAZING. My entire family was SO nice and couldn't believe it was gluten free (they've always been hesitant towards GF food, so it made my day THAT much better). In fact, more of the GF cake was eaten than the regular cake! We received so many compliments and even had a few people stop by (who weren't wedding guests) just to tell us how beautiful the cake was! Thank you again!!"

We are always so happy to hear we helped make a wedding day more memorable and special! That is why we are in business!

Gluten free in Edible Front Range

So does anyone read edible Front Range?? Well, it's a great magazine about local foods, farms, and even some good articles. This issue (Spring 2010) there's a great little article about gluten free "No Wheat? No Worries!" Time to celebrate the gluten free lifestyle. There's a bit about flours and where to shop in the Front Range for your gluten free eating pleasure! Check it out everyone. If you don't know where to find edible Front Range, here's a list! Happy eating!

Gluten free High Altitude Baking Tips

Ok. So people are always asking me for high altitude baking tips and telling me their stuff never works when they bake at home! I moved to high altitude from a sea level location where I was very accustomed to baking. When I first arrived, I was so worried about my recipes not working at high altitude. Then I tried baking and I started to wonder what all the fuss was about!?!?! I did a bit of research first and then I went straight for fun in the kitchen. Here's what I discovered:

1. LEAVENING AGENT: Most items need to lessen the baking powder, baking soda or other leavening agents. When I say lessen, I mean by a small amount or maybe in half. Most of my cakes' leavening agents were cut in half and work absolutely fine here. That is literally the only item I changed with absolutely no more testing needed. I find this to be true for tea breads as well. However, when making cookies, you should NOT lessen the baking soda as that will help to keep them from spreading too much! I didn't change my cookie recipes at all for high altitude and they come absolutely tasty.

2. OVEN TEMPERATURE: I have found a couple of items where I need to lower the oven temperature. My brownies needed this fix. With the lower temperature, they will bake a little slower. This will help them not rise so quickly and then collapse. I believe this to be a common problem. Not a major change, but my brownies baked better with a 25 degree change. Easy enough, right? You may also find this will change the baking time, but not by much! Things will bake faster because water boils at a lower temperature and evaporates from your baked goods. So with the lower temperature and the same time frame my brownie recipe was perfected at high altitude!

3. SUGAR: In some items I have found it helps to lower the sugar content. Once again when I say lower, I mean by a small amount. I measure all my ingredients in ounces and pounds and I have lowered sugar amounts by sometimes as little as an ounce to get my recipe to work perfectly. This seems easy enough, right? Once again my brownie recipe was perfected with this technique.

4. BREADS: The only differences I have found with breads is a little extra liquid is necessary and they rise faster. This means less time is needed to wait for the yeast to activate. I made some cinnamon buns and instead of letting them rise for an hour, it was 45 minutes. Once again the liquid addition was very small - maybe a tablespoon extra. Once you start baking lots of goodies you'll get to learn what the dough should look like.

Really the best advice I can give is have fun testing! Make one small change at a time and trust me you'll master high altitude baking too! You'll soon start to master baking and learns what all your doughs and batters look like unbaked. Good luck and have fun!

If you have specific questions, I'm happy to answer them. Leave a comment and I'll address them in a later post.

Our first Colorado gluten free wedding cake

SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED! We are excited to say our first wedding cake was made, decorated and safely delivered to the reception site today! It was a gluten and dairy free red velvet cake with "cream cheese" frosting. I'd say with four layers of cake and frosting that it was delicious as I got to eat the scraps ;) The bride requested it match her wedding invitation with gold circles. A beautiful setting for a wedding at the Wild Basin Lodge in Allens Park. I'm sure it was a great
evening. On to the next gluten free wedding cake and making the bridal couple even happier on their wedding day! Look for pictures soon for the next creation.

Gluten free foods at Coors Field!

Take me out to the ball game... buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks - oh! and some gluten free hot dogs and hamburger buns! Yes, it's true. You can attend a Rockies game at Coors Field and get to eat ball park food! Coors Field is the first to offer gluten free items, but it is starting to spread to other parks this summer! I think this is very cool so that everyone can enjoy some baseball food and even gluten free beer while taking in a home game. Go and enjoy!