Posted By Suzanne Carvlin on March 16, 2011

Earlier this week, Martha Stewart Weddings hosted a live online luxury wedding expo that I had a lot of fun attending.

I am excited to report on my favorite live Q & A sessions with the featured Main Stage guests.

I already gave you the low-down on Cheree Berry Paper and Cheree’s own fabulous wedding details here:

Martha Stewart Weddings Luxury Expo – Live and Online!

Martha Stewart Weddings Luxury Expo – Cheree Berry Paper – Part 1 of 2

Martha Stewart Weddings Luxury Expo – Cheree Berry Paper – Part 2 of 2

Next up, Sylvia Weinstock of Sylvia Weinstock Cakes.

Darcy Miller, Editorial Director for Martha Stewart Weddings, sat down and talked about “cake flavors, fillings and finishing touches” with Sylvia Weinstock, master baker and owner of Sylvia Weinstock cakes. Sylvia has been creating wedding cakes for over 30 years.  You can imagine the stories she has to tell!

Sylvia Weinstock was wonderfully engaging while speaking about wedding cakes during the live online Martha Stewart Weddings Luxury Expo. I love her glasses, too. What a signature look!

Sylvia shared the following tips with Darcy:

1) Steer away from nut cakes for guests who have allergies. Instead, do 2 types of cake within the wedding cake to make all guests happy.

2) When designing a cake, Sylvia wants to know about the elements of the wedding: The bride’s wedding dress, her favorite flowers, her china pattern at the wedding, and any other details Sylvia can use for inspiration and duplicate on the wedding cake.

3) For cake size, the budget dictates the size of the cake. To save money, couples can do a smaller cake and have a kitchen back up cake. Mini cakes are appropriate for certain parties.

4) Brides should come with their groom, taste the flavors and figure out what flavors would please their guests the most. Because for the first time they are a host and hostess.

5) Sylvia’s wedding advice is to remember that, “Weddings are highlights. They are the beginning of a road together. Never go to sleep on an argument and marry your best friend.”

I agree. What excellent advice. Weddings are a highlight of your marriage, but it is important to remember the bigger picture.

Darcy Miller sits down and chats with wedding cake designer, Sylvia Weinstock, during Martha Stewart Weddings live online Luxury Expo.

Darcy Miller moderated the following Q & A. Darcy posed questions to Sylvia that were asked by brides:

Q. How do you keep your cake from melting in the heat?

A. You can mix the butter cream frosting with some margarine, which will help, as will keeping your cake inside or even keeping it refrigerated and cool. You could also wait to bring it out until the last possible moment. People melt at 90 degrees and so will your cake. Even fondant will start to melt and sweat. The structure of the cake can be compromised, too.

Darcy’s tip: If it is going to be an outdoor wedding in the heat, make sure your cake is not under the beating sun.

Darcy mentioned that IKEA has gauze tents or canopies to create an area for the cake so the cake isn’t in the sun or it will melt and sweat.

In my experience, have the cake refrigerated until 2-3 hours before you serve it. It is important that the butter in the cake comes to room temperature in order for the cake to taste its best. If it is really hot, this will happen rather quickly. Also, keeping the cake out of the sun is an excellent tip. A canopy is a great idea.

Q. What do you think of the new trend of using cupcakes instead of wedding cakes?

A. I think that cupcakes are divine…at a barbecue, a child’s party, or something informal. When I get dressed up to go to a wedding, I want to be served a slice of cake with a fork. Cupcakes are messy. Individual cakes are lovely for luncheons or second weddings, but they don’t have the same “pow.” As you do with a full cake. They are also pricy. It is expensive to frost and pipe several mini cakes.

One of Sylvia Weinstock's fabulous wedding cakes in the style of a Croquembouche (a traditional French cake made with a high cone of profiteroles), but covered in handmade sugar flowers.

Q. When should you serve your cake at your wedding?

A. Cutting your cake is the first sweet thing that you can do with your guests. Don’t wait until the very end to serve your cake. Before the first dance or after, you can cut the cake and make a speech so your cake can be cut and plated and be served right after main course. It is part of your dinner, not an afterthought.

Many guests wait until the cake is served and it isn’t nice to make them wait until late in the evening if they just want to go home. Have it as part of your meal.

We overdo the desserts at the table. Do one dessert cake and have the other sweets and food later for the dancing guests.

Q. Should you have a tasting if you only have a small cake?

A. Do a tasting even if you only have a one-tier cake. Some people charge for cake tastings, we do not. We have you choose from 15 types of fillings and 6 types of cake and you create your own cake, as you taste it.

Darcy. Planning is part of the fun of the wedding. Cake tasting is a memory for you.

Sylvia. And, you get to know the bride and groom and what they want the event to look like. We are an integral part of your event.

Darcy. Give your baker a rough budget so they know what you are working with. Be up front with your vendors so they know how they can help you.

Sylvia. Have a general idea so you are not shocked and are not wasting the baker’s time.

Darcy. Make your budget 10-15% less than what it really is because you will go over with things you don’t anticipate: alterations, tipping, etc.

Sylvia. Don’t go into debt and don’t take out a loan for your wedding.

Q. How can I do a vintage style cake topper?

A. Check within your family and see if anyone has theirs so it can be an heirloom. Go to ebay and look online and go to Martha Stewart Weddings.com for info or how to make one.

Darcy. The greenvase.com makes a lot of beautiful cake toppers that are in the magazine. Denise Sharp makes paper cake toppers from personal items, such as a love letter or your invitation that is an amazing keepsake.

A fabulous, tiered wedding cake by Sylvia Weinstock with her famous handmade sugar flowers.

Q. How many tiers should you have for 300 people?

A. Anywhere from 5-6 tiers. If you want something bigger, you can have dummy tiers. Non-edible parts of the cake or I like to do layers that are not filled so the butter cream can hold to the cake better.

Q. If you don’t like the taste of fondant what do you do to get the look of fondant?

A. If you want the look, you can use butter cream and it can look the same as fondant. The cake could also be refrigerated. ALL of our cakes are done with butter cream. You can top it with a ganache or a sugar glaze. Ganache can be tinted any color.

(Sylvia really liked this one. Apparently she is not a fan of fondant, either. “Oh, I love you,” Sylvia said to the bride asking the question.)

Q. Should you have a groom’s cake and when would you serve it?

A. I like groom’s cakes. It is a big tradition in the South and it honors the groom. It should be smaller and more personalized and not be in competition with the bride’s cake. You can do it at a rehearsal dinner, but be careful to not outdo the wedding.

Darcy notes that you should make the rehearsal dinner about the toasts, the stories, and the couple instead of details of favors and cakes. Sylvia agrees that rehearsal dinners are for close family members and out of town guests.

Q. Should you use real or sugar flowers for cake design?

A. I never use real because of insects and insecticide. My sugar flowers can save and if kept dry and clean they can last forever.

Darcy notes that you will know what your cake will look like with sugar flowers. Real flowers can be instable, wilt and vary upon availability.

Master cake artist, Sylvia Weinstock, posing with her signature sugar flowers and her round black spectacles.

Q. Can you ship your cakes?

A. Yes. Our cakes can be shipped anywhere in the US. And, they have shipped to India, France, Turkey, Morocco….

Q. Can a sheet cake save you money?

A. Sheet cakes don’t save money because your fake cake still needs to be decorated. Sheet cakes do help with being cut and served to guests while the main cake is being ceremonially cut.

Q. Many people in my family are diabetic. What can I do for them?

A. For diabetics, and dietary needs, you can always do ½ with sugarless frostings like Splenda in baking; you can also avoid nuts (for allergies) and certain fruits. I can also do a cake with no eggs.

My tip: You can do a special tier unless there are severe allergies, then can’t have the layers near each other and can do a separate cake.

Sylvia. Because you are a host and hostess, choose flavors that please your guests. You can have one layer or two to suit your personal tastes and have a layer that will be more guest friendly. Weddings are a gathering of family and friends, so guests should always be made a focus.

Q. What do you like to do for seasonal cakes?

A. Summer cakes should be lighter with fruit such as lemon curd and strawberries. Winter evening weddings can have richer flavors such as chocolate with caramel. Seasons definitely play a part.

Q. My fiancée doesn’t like chocolate cake, but he likes brownies. Can we do a brownie layer in our cake?

A. If you do a brownie layer, change the design so some layers are different heights because you would not want a 5-inch brownie. Different layer heights can be used and it would create an interesting structure. (My note: I think Sylvia means it would be heavy as heck because a 5-inch brownie sounds awesome to me!)

Darcy notes that you can also do brownies as a favor or served later.

Q. My mother and grandmother are bakers and what could we do to incorporate their recipes into our cake?

A. If you want to do family recipes, you can do little mini cakes around the big one and incorporate the designs. Have the baker look at the recipe to determine they will work.

Sylvia also loved Darcy’s idea of baking a few cookies as a favor along with the recipe and a tag that says, “from grandmother with love.”

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Darcy and Sylvia. You can hear their passion for what they do in their conversation.

It was also a joy to listen to two masters of their craft chat about weddings and my personal favorite, wedding cake.

Stay tuned for more on the live Q & A’s with Matthew Robbins and Jeffrey Selden.

All photos were taken from the live online: Martha Stewart Wedding Luxury Expo

You can still listen to recorded Q & A’s until April 22nd!

Suzanne

Category: Cakes, Desserts & Treats, How To, Wedding Expos, Wedding Planning, Wedding Tips & Organization
Tags: darcy miller, luxury expo, martha stewart, martha stewart weddings, sugar flowers, sylvia weinstock, wedding cakes