Have Your Cake... and eat it too!

Originally, FI and I weren't going to have a cake, but rather a cupcake tower. Neither one of us are big cake eaters, and we're planning on having an extensive dessert selection and maybe even a candy/pastry bar. My mother, however, was horrified at the idea of not having an actual wedding cake. Apparently, it's not "really" a wedding without a cake. So, to appease her, we gave in and decided to get a cake.

It's really not been a top priority for me, though. At every wedding I've been to, very few people actually eat the cake (especially when there are other dessert options), and usually the cake looks better than it actually tastes. Fondant makes for a very smooth and decorative surface, but it's hard as a rock.

Enter Ron Ben-Israel (http://www.weddingcakes.com/). My mother's obsessed with him and his cakes, and with good reason. They're gorgeous, and supposedly, they're actually good to eat. He uses a very thin layer of fondant over buttercream icing, which makes it scrumptious and not hard. Of course, he's also a famous cake designer with famous cake designer prices. He's also based in NYC, and while this isn't entirely prohibitive, it does pose a few transportation problems. Recently, though, one of my college friends (and sorority sister!) began working as a pastry chef for Ron Ben-Israel! Hopefully, I'll be able to utilize her expertise in making a decision.

I'm not a big fan of traditional cakes, but at the same time I don't like those cakes that are WAY out there. I want something in the middle (something that reflects our "modern traditionalist" theme), and I think this cake ... takes the cake (sorry, bad pun):

Isn't the detail amazing? Everything on this cake is edible! This cake is "adorned with confectionery lace and a sugarpaste bow" and it is "vanilla-bean cake filled with strawberry cream and champagne-chocolate ganache." Yum! It serves 300, which is way more than we need, and it costs $4,500! Hopefully, we can work with Ron on both making it smaller and substantially decreasing the price. Otherwise, we may see if someone in RI can replicate it. I'm also thinking about using flowers instead of a bow. This is really the first cake I've found, though, that I really like. Here are some of the detail shots: