Planning on ordering custom cakes for your next event? If so, it’s important to choose the right place to get it from. The ordering process for personalized cakes varies from bakery to bakery.
To make sure you end up with the perfect cake, it’s important to ask key questions about the customization options, pricing, cancellation policy, and more.
At For the Love of Sugar, our bakery has a reputation for creating delicious custom cakes near Dearborn, MI, and the surrounding areas. Contact us today to learn more about working with us to bring your cake design ideas to life.
5 Questions to Ask Before Ordering Custom Cakes for Your Event
Custom cakes are often the centerpiece of an event, whether it’s a wedding, birthday party, or graduation celebration. For this reason, the cake needs to capture the theme and joy of the occasion.
Creating specialty cakes is a long process that involves an initial design phase followed by significant amounts of work. To make sure your vision is brought to life, communication is essential. This starts before you even choose a bakery to work with.
Asking the right questions can help you find the best baker for custom cakes, and ensure your cake turns out the way you want. The top five questions you should ask include:
1. How Do You Handle Flavor & Filling Customizations?
If you want your custom cakes to have a specific flavor or filling type, make sure to ask the bakery if they can provide it.
Speciality fillings include unique buttercreams, fruit curds, or infusions with particular spice blends. Not every bakery is able to accommodate these requests, so be sure to ask what fillings they work with.
In addition, ask if they’re able to add different flavors for each layer, if that’s something you want for your custom cakes.
A professional bakery such as For the Love of Sugar should have a variety of filling options beyond standard vanilla and chocolate. They should also be able to combine flavors across multiple tiers.
2. How Does the Pricing Structure Work
When it comes to the cost of custom cakes, there are three main factors that affect the final price:
- Cake size and number of servings
- Ingredients and complexity of selected flavors
- Design time, which varies depending on the desired cake appearance
If the cake has any specialty chocolates or fresh fruit, it will be more expensive. In addition, the complexity of the visual design, number of layers, and number of tiers influences the price. The more complex elements on the cake, the higher the price will be.
When you’re asking bakeries for quotes on custom cakes, be sure the baker details the costs for each element, such as fondant work, hand painting, or sculpted flowers. These design elements tend to have the highest labor fees for custom cakes.
3. What is the Cake’s Structural Integrity Like?
If you’re looking for custom cakes with multiple tiers, it’s important to ask about how the cake will be structured for display. Most bakers include food-safe dowels and support plates in their custom cakes. These internal supports are essential to prevent sagging and collapsing, especially during transportation.
The structural integrity of the cake will also depend on the cake’s display environment at your event. For example, an outdoor event in the summer exposes the cake to excessive heat, which can cause a buttercream cake to collapse, even with the right supports.
A professional baker will incorporate information on the cake’s environment into the design process.
4. What is the Policy for Changes or Cancellations?
Since custom cakes involve more work, it’s generally difficult to make any last-minute changes. The specific design, ingredients, and schedule are usually determined two to four weeks before the event, and once work on the cake begins, it’s hard to change anything.
Some bakers may offer a window where you can make minor changes. Be sure to ask when the last day is to make any minor changes.
Similarly, it’s a good idea to know the bakery’s cancellation policy. Most bakeries require a non-refundable deposit to secure the date and purchase any specialty ingredients. If your event is cancelled, be sure to understand what the refund or credit policy is.
5. Can I See Examples of Previous Custom Cakes?
Before choosing a place to order custom cakes, it is important to see the bakery’s portfolio. A portfolio gives you an idea of whether the baker’s style matches what you’re looking for.
Each baker has their signature style and techniques, from modern and elegant, to hyper-realistic or sculpted.
Contact Us for Custom Cakes in Dearborn, MI
If you want custom, unique cakes for your next event in Dearborn, MI, or the surrounding area, contact For the Love of Sugar. Located in Detroit, our bakery is one of the best bakeries for custom cakes.
We believe our cakes are works of art, and we take pride in crafting every detail. We also use high-quality ingredients to bring your vision to life, so you can be sure you have a delicious, fresh-tasting cake.
Ready to craft the cake of your dreams? Call (313) 788-7111, or contact us online to get started with the design process.
