Wedding cake tasting (and Clarion update)

 Two weeks ago, my fiancé and I went to our wedding cake tasting, accompanied by my mother. Our cake is being made by Mayra Pérez, a friend of my sister and an excellent baker. I don't have her bio, but I know that her story is quite interesting. For her, baking began as a hobby and she trained to be a professional baker on her spare time. It's only recently that baking became her full-time job and I predict a long journey of success for her. She has already won prizes in cake decoration and appeared in local TV. It's great to be friends with such a talented person.

 

The wonderful Red Velvet cake by Mayra Pérez

 Before we spoke for the first time about my wedding cake, I spent some time browsing her website. I was amazed at the talent, the elegance and the dedication shown in the pictures. However, I hadn't tasted anything she'd baked. I expected good, but oh boy, was I in for a surprise. She sent me a looooooong list of flavors to chose from, which was fairly intimidating. We discarded the flavors my fiancé doesn't like (chocolate, nuts, coconut, raisins) and the ones I don't like (cinnamon), thus reducing the list considerably. We chose three for the tasting: 

•     vanilla cake with vanilla and peaches filling
•     pink champagne cake with vanilla and strawberry filling
•     red velvet with cream cheese filling.

Pink champagne and Vanilla cakes by Mayra Pérez

 

First, we tried the white cake. My fiancé fell in love with it quickly and I knew we had a winner. The cake was soft and spongy, not overly sweet, and the filling was marvelous. Then, we tried the pink one and I was happy. The flavor is amazing and we had the same spongy, soft cake. Before we tried the red one, Mayra had a warning for us. Red velvet isn't popular in Venezuela, so she was worried about our expectations. We had already tried red velvet before, but nothing like this one. If I was happy about the other flavors, then I could say I was madly in love with the red velvet cake. The color was so intense but natural, the smell, the flavor... My mom, who is a great baker herself, was deeply impressed with Mayra's skills.   

Lovely 3-tiered cake by Mayra Pérez

 Since our cake will have three tiers, we didn't have to choose among these wonderful options. It will be like an inside-ombré cake, with a white tier in the bottom, pink in the middle and red in the top. You know which one I'm having on my wedding day, right? Oh, and one final detail, she will make us a tiny cake next year to celebrate our anniversary, so no need to eat one year old cake. Isn't she wonderful?

 

More amazing cakes by Mayra Pérez

 After eating, we talked about decorations and style. We settled on something and then she surprised me again. She's going to make a model of the cake for us to see how it looks. It won't be an edible model, but who cares? We will be able to know what our cake is going to look like and make alterations if needed. This is part of the package and comes at no additional cost. By the way, her work is reasonably priced and you can set a budget and work from that. She's a true professional and I'd recommend her with my eyes closed.

Please, visit her website and Facebook page. I know you'll enjoy her work as much as I do. When she becomes an international sensation, you'll be able to say you knew it from the start. 

 To finish this long overdue post, I'd like to tell you how the Clarion Write-a-thon ended. I didn't make it to my writing goals, but I learned a lot and definitely achieved more than I'd ever done before. I raised 150$ for the workshop, for which I thank my wonderful donors Jeannette, Agostinho, Jason and an anonymous giver. It is your support that made me finish one story and almost complete a second one. I still have plans related to this, but I won't tell you until they're more solid. For my blog readers, thanks for your patience and support. I'll be posting more regularly now.

Cheers!