The mini cake can't be too fancy unless you are willing to spend a fortune on it, but this is definitely a practical choice because most guests by the end would skip the dessert. We would hate to see our cake go to waste, by having mini cakes guests may choose to take their pieces away or we can easily pack the leftovers to give to someone else.
Actually many couples opt to serve cupcakes instead of a traditional cake, but this is something we are still unsure of. I know cupcake is getting increasingly popular, it can look quite trendy and cute…but up to this point we still haven't seen any design to our satisfaction.
So far we have spoken to 8 cake shops and still awaiting for a bunch of replies from additional shops. While we were in Vancouver, we visited Anna's Cake House, La Patisserie, Goldilocks and King's Bakery. Communication with other cake shops are all done through email after we came back to the UK.
Anna's Cake House - 606 E Broadway, Vancouver, BC
Anna offers free cake tasting and we were given four flavors to try: Napoleon (has a wafer layer), Tiramisu, strawberry mousse and a fresh fruit cake. Our favorite is Napoleon, the runner up is the fruit cake. I never like Tiramisu and not a huge fan of mousse cake of any type. In terms of cost and taste, we don't have much to complain about Anna, but the designs are tad too ordinary and old fashion. Most Chinese bakeries don't use fondant or royal icing, that's why they are unable to create the grand sophisticated designs. Taste wise, the cakes are less sweet compare to western bakeries.
The mini cakes from Anna look just like the petits fours you buy from the shop (同普通西餅冇乜分別)…ok maybe slightly prettier than the ones in the fridge. Anyway, Anna's mini cakes are not quite what we have in mind.
La Patisserie - #2-6360 No. 3 Road, Richmond, BC
The designs from La Patisserie, also a bakery owned by Chinese, are more appealing than Anna. We bought a few slices of cake to taste: chestnut, green tea and mango. According to the owner, fresh mango cake is the best seller. Actually we have no intention of having any of these flavors as our wedding cake due to uncertainty of their popularity at the wedding. The cost of a wedding cake is higher than Anna, but still reasonable…taste is better too. However, without fondant and royal icing, the designs are still a bit off from what we want. We would not consider to order mini cakes here for the same reason as Anna's.
Goldilocks - 1606 W Broadway, Vancouver, BC
Goldilocks, a Filipino bakery, capable of remarkable wedding cake designs. In terms of technique and presentation of the cake, this bakery can certainly deliver what we want. However, the taste of the cupcakes we bought as samples weren't very good.
The cupcakes tasted very dry but we think it's not fair to reject the shop completely until we try some sort of cake. A cake should be less dry since there are layers of buttercream in between. In terms of cost, Goldilocks is comparable to the above two bakeries. This shop doesn't do any mini cakes, except cupcakes only. King's Bakery - #135-4200 No. 3 Road, Richmond, BC
We were on a rush the day we stopped by King's Bakery, so we only asked a few questions, no time to buy anything to try. From what I heard, this is one of the best Chinese bakeries in town. People I know who tried King's petits fours and cakes all said they love them. I was also told that King's can do a lot of designs outside of the conventional stream. I saw a vibrant looking hamburger sitting inside the fridge waiting for pick up when we were there. Back to wedding cake, the boss told me he makes fake wedding cake only with a slab cake to serve. We have nothing against fake cake, but currently not considering to have it as part of our wedding. In view of the cost factor, King is quite expensive. It will cost us just as much as the above shops for a fake and slab cake.
Inquires through Email
Chocolate Lover Cakes - #1-3891 Chatham Street, Richmond, BC
My cousin, Michelle, told me Chocolate Lover Cakes is a super famous bakery in town. Basically the owner can make whatever you want. I wrote an email to the owner and she gave me a quote of CAD$1000 for a 3-tier wedding cake and $20/pc for the mini cake. The price is really too far out from what we have budget for.
The pug and the sushi platter are examples of this talented cake chef.
Valley Bakery - 4058 E Hastings Street, Burnaby, BC
Our potential decorator, Kimberly, recommended Valley Bakery. She ordered from here petits fours, raspberry flavor covered in liquid fondant with drizzle chocolate, on her wedding two years ago.
For a 3-tier wedding cake, Valley Bakery is substantially more expensive than the first three shops we talked to. From the website photos, the cakes look no better than the others. The quote on the mini cake is the least expensive among the ones we have been in touch with so far. We want to try something from Valley Bakery the next time we visit Vancouver to decide if this can be one of our potential vendors.
The other two vendors we wrote to are really not worth mentioning. They seem ridiculously expensive for what they are capable of producing.
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