Wedding Cake Love

Last month I attended a cousin's wedding in Florence, SC, an event which ordinarily wouldn't merit mention on this blog.  The couple in question, however, was originally from the DC area and the wedding cake(s) were from their favorite DC bakery: Cake Love.


When I first heard the touching story of how their friends carefully drove the cakes seven hours from DC to South Carolina, I groaned.  For a cake aficionado like myself, there's nothing worse than the torture of eyeing a wedding cake all night long, patiently waiting for the end of the reception so you can freaking eat the cake already, only to discover that the beautifully decorated cake tastes like toothpaste frosted cardboard.

[As long-time readers of this blog may know, I'm not the biggest fan of Cake Love - popular opinion seems to agree that their sparsely frosted cupcakes are way too dry (even after allowed to come to 72°F) and their runny buttercream is tasty but has obvious texture issues.]

After the cake was cut I forced myself to wait an excruciating 15 minutes before I ate my slice (it was still quite cold in the center), all the while mentally preparing myself for disappointment.  Long after everyone else had finished their cake and I couldn't stand the wait any longer, I took a bite, even though the center of my slice was still quite cold.  I was shocked to discover that the cake was really good.  In fact, it was one of the best wedding cakes I had ever tasted, if not THE best.  Holy crap!

I'd grabbed a slice from the ganache-covered cake which appeared to be alternating layers of white cake, chocolate cake, and some sort of white mousse with whole raspberries mixed in.  The chocolate cake was moist and rich, the white cake was soft and sweet, and the chocolate ganache was smooth and creamy with a dark cocoa flavor.  The white mousse was sweet and fluffy and the fresh raspberries added bursts of tart flavor that complimented the sweetness of the cake quite nicely.  My only complaint was that there was a too much mousse filling for the amount of cake - I think half as much would've been perfection.

Of the twenty weddings I've been to, two of the cakes were memorable for being good, and this was one of them.  Now I know - skip the cupcakes at Cake Love and drop the extra $4 for a slice of their delicious cake.