|
Where are you located & what is your Mailing
address?
|
| 13 Staples St. Eliot, Maine
03903. We are a home-based establishment and do tastings and pick-ups
by appointment. For directions through google maps, you may input your
full address below:
|
|
Are you licensed?
|
| We are fully licensed and
inspected by the State of Maine. I also have a BS degree in Food
Science and am very aware of modern food safety regulations and codes.
|
|
How do you design your cakes?
|
| All of our cakes are custom
designed so we don't have a catalog for you to choose from. When you
come for a tasting, we discuss what type of design elements (colors,
flowers, ribbon, Swiss dots, trim, cake shape, etc.) you would like for
your cake. We also discuss the table centerpieces, theme, number of
guests, location of reception, time of day, indoor or outdoor
reception, etc. If you have cake photos that you like, we can use them
as inspiration to create your cake. Fabric swatches help immensely with
colors and artwork ideas. Out of respect to other cake designers, we
prefer not to duplicate their work. There are pictures on the Black
Bunny Bakery website under "Wedding Gallery" and "Celebration Cake
Gallery" of some of our previous work. In an ideal situation, you will
leave the tasting with your flavors picked, design chosen and a comfort
level with your cake decorator that will enable you to feel free to ask
questions or make changes if the need arises. You will have a quoted
cake price and a figure for the deposit required. |
|
Do you bake your cakes from scratch?
|
| Yes. All of our cakes,
frostings, fondant, and fillings are made from scratch and are never frozen.
We use the best ingredients including aluminum-free baking powder, real butter,
non-GMO cornstarch for our fruit fillings, and high cocoa content white and
dark chocolates. We bake our cakes a just prior to your event so they
are extremely fresh.
|
|
What is fondant?
|
| Fondant is a type of frosting
that can be made to a consistency where it can be "rolled out" like pie
dough and draped over buttercream-iced cakes. It creates a satiny
and very smooth finish. Fondant cakes can be molded, painted on, piped
on with various icings, tinted deep and beautiful colors, and
imprinted. Fondant also helps to keep the cake moist. Our custom-made
fondant tastes like sweet marshmallows. It should not be refrigerated to
keep the finish smooth. |
|
What is your fresh flower policy?
|
| The most important thing to remember is that cake is food.
Fresh flowers can be used as long as important safeguards are followed to ensure
safety. We have a Flower Addendum to our cake contract that explains out specific
policies and is available upon request.
|
|
Should I provide the ribbon?
|
| With fondant-covered cakes you may provide us with the
ribbon for your cake so it specifically matches bridesmaids dresses or
table centerpieces. Otherwise, I will apply edible chocolate ribbon to match your
design that does not need to be removed before cutting.
|
|
Do you provide cake samples or offer tastings?
|
| We offer cake tastingsfor a fee of $20.00.
The tasting will give you a chance to taste a few cake flavors over coffee
and tea while doing design work for your cake. The fee goes toward the
purchase of your cake if you decide to book with us, and as part of the
tasting we will hold your date for 10 days. After that time we require a deposit.
Please see the deposit section in this FAQ regarding the required deposit.
|
|
What kind of cake flavors do you offer?
|
| Please see our flavor page.
Other flavors may also be available, please inquire.
|
|
Are cupcakes a good money-saving option?
|
| Cupcakes may save you money on your cutting fee at your venue.
Otherwise, they are about equivalent in cost to a cake. A cupcake tower requires a
stand, stand decoration, set-up fees (they take a hour or more to set-up) and fairly
extensive decoration costs. We love doing cupcakes because they are fun and many
people really like cupcakes, but they aren't a big money-saver.
|
|
What are gum or sugarpaste flowers and how are they made?
|
| Gumpaste or sugarpaste is a type of sugar dough that is rolled
very thinly and cut out with special cutters. Each flower petal is shaped and formed
by hand until the desired flower is created. The flowers are left to dry for a few days
and finished with color dusting. Gumpaste are beautiful, completely foodsafe, come in
any color that you'd like and never wilt. They can be saved indefinately as long as
they are kept in a dry place. Gumpaste flowers are ideal for food use.
|
|
Do you provide cake stands to display the cake?
|
| All of our cakes are prepared on a base (called a cake drum) that
can be disposed of after use. We normally cover the drum in fondant and wrap it with
ribbon for fondant cakes. Buttercream cakes will be placed on the drum
which is covered in decorative foil and also wrapped with ribbon. We use cardboard stands
for cupcake towers that are decorated with ribbon and are also disposable (and can be
recycled!). We have a few small ceramic and glass stands available if you would like to
rent one.
|
|
How can I stay in my budget?
|
| Like you, we have read many articles written in bridal
magazines that propose all kinds of ways to save money on a wedding cake including sheet
cakes, fresh flowers, fake tiers, smaller cake slices and others. We can do any of these
things if you'd like and will work with you to stay within your budget. To be honest though,
these methods may save some money with a cake decorator in NYC that charges $15 a slice, but
not so much on the Maine coast and you may be sacrificing a lot of quality. The best ways
to save money are to go local (to save on delivery), to use cupcakes if your venue has a cake
cutting fee, and to use creative decoration that will give you the most effect with the least
cost (sometimes less is more!). If you have to keep the budget to a certain number, let us
know up front and we'll tell you if what you'd like is possible or what we can do to work
within that number.
|
|
How long can cakes sit out at a reception site?
|
| Your cake can safely sit out
(especially if it is fondant covered) for roughly 4 hours indoors. We
cannot by law use any fillings that would be at risk for spoilage such
as cream cheese or whipped cream. With summer outdoor receptions, we recommend that the
cake not sit out for more than 3 hours, and although fondant covered cakes keep well in
hot weather, the cake should not be in direct sunlight. Good common sense rules apply.
|
|
Do you have other options for decorating with sweets?
|
| We do mini-cakes, centerpiece cakes and cookie centerpieces such as
flower cookies in flower pots. We can also create favor cookies for place setting in bags.
|
|
When should I order my wedding/celebration cake?
|
| We usually recommend that you
book 4-6 months prior to the event. However, there are times when we
have dates open so do not hesitate to give us a call or email us and we
can check our schedule for availability.
|
|
How quickly do you become booked?
|
| We do two cakes a day, up to three per weekend to keep our cakes
fresh and our quality high. This is why we have to keep certain deposit and cancellation
policies. We don't want to turn someone away when a spot may come open that we weren't
expecting. Some popular weekends book almost a year in advance, so you may want to book
early to ensure a spot.
|
|
Do you require a deposit? When is the final balance due?
|
| We require 30% of your final balance as a deposit to secure the
date. The final balance is due 2 weeks prior to the event. |
|
Do you have any delivery/set-up fees?
|
| Delivery is free within the local area (Eliot, Kittery and Portsmouth)
and a small fee will be charged in neighboring areas that are circled on the pricing page map.
Outside of this area, a reasonable delivery fee will be assessed based on the cost of gas
and the time to get there and back from our address according to Google Maps.
We charge a $25-35 set-up fee for 4-tier cakes and cupcakes. These items
take 30 minutes to an hour for on-site assembly/extra doweling so we charge for this time.
|
|
Cancellation Policy
|
| Cancellations must be made at least 45 days prior to the event. The
deposit will be kept (30%) if the cancellation is made after this time. This is to compensate
for the loss of other potential clients since we have limited capacity.
|
