A wedding cake tasting sounds romantic. In practice it is a working meeting where you decide things we cannot change a week before the wedding. That is why we take it seriously, and why it takes longer than fifteen minutes.
When to book
Ideally 4 to 6 months before the wedding. Not because the cake takes half a year to bake, but because our Saturday capacity in season is limited — two or three wedding cakes plus banquet trays. Saturdays in May and September are usually taken by January. We hold tastings on weekday mornings when the shop is quiet; book on 0948 128 000.
What happens at the appointment
It runs about 90 minutes and has four parts.
- Tasting (30 min). Six samples — three sponges (vanilla, cocoa, walnut), three fillings and two fruit layers. Samples are 30 g each so you are not full by the third one. Have lunch beforehand; on an empty stomach everything tastes equally good.
- Design (25 min). We show photos of cakes we have actually made, not internet inspiration, and sketch your cake with dimensions as we go.
- Costing (20 min). We count portions, tiers and decoration, and give you a firm price.
- Logistics (15 min). Collection or delivery, who sets it up, where it stands, whether the venue has air conditioning.
What to bring
A photo or two of what you have in mind. A colour sample — a scrap of fabric, a ribbon, a piece of your invitation. A colour on a phone screen and a colour in fondant are two different things, and without a physical sample we cannot match it precisely. If you have a florist, bring their contact — we collect fresh flowers from them directly and need to know whether they are edible or purely decorative.
The most common change at a tasting: a couple arrives with a picture of a five-tier white cake and leaves with a two-tier cake for 60 guests plus trays of sweets. The rest of the cake in the photo was polystyrene.
What is actually being decided
The filling matters most. A wedding cake often stands out for five or six hours, in summer, in a hall with no air conditioning. We will not put whipped cream in it, however much you want it — we will offer buttercream or ganache and explain why. The second thing is the cut. If you want to cut the cake in front of guests at midnight, it has to stay chilled until then. If the venue has no fridge, the cake comes out just before the cut and we need to know that in advance.
Price and deposit
We price wedding cakes by weight, tiers and decoration complexity. Hand-modelled flowers and figures are slow work — a single fondant peony is 40 minutes, and that shows in the price. After the tasting we email a written quote, and the date is firmly reserved once the deposit is paid. If you order, the tasting fee comes off the final price.
What we do the day before
The cake is baked two days ahead, filled the day before, and covered and decorated either the evening before or on the morning of the wedding. Fondant sweats in a fridge — moisture condenses on it — so we keep the finished cake chilled only as long as strictly necessary. We handle delivery ourselves, transport the cake in a box on a level base, and stack it on site.
Who to bring along
Two people, ideally, not six. The more opinions in the room, the longer the meeting runs and the less actually gets decided. If a wedding coordinator is helping you, bringing her makes sense — she knows when the cake gets cut and whether the venue has a fridge. Parents tend to push for a bigger cake than you need (“so there is enough”), and that is the single most common reason half a wedding cake ends up in the bin. Bring their requests written down and make the call as a couple.
Write to daniela@nakolace.sk with your wedding date, guest count and venue, and we will find a tasting slot.
