Full disclosure: We didn't end up working with Jenny for our wedding, but based on our experience…read morewith her before, during, and after the tasting, we would wholeheartedly recommend her.
We contacted Jenny when we were looking around for a baker for our wedding cake. Emailing with her was easy enough and we ended up getting a tasting scheduled a few weeks out. Jenny was responsive and detailed in all of her email correspondence.
When we showed up on the day of the tasting, Jenny welcomed us and ensured we were comfortable. It took me a few minutes to warm up to her (the fiance loved her from the get-go), but once we sat down and got talking, Jenny was fantastic!
She listened to all our thoughts, despite them being less than precise, proposed a number of truly excellent ideas, all while showing us bits and pieces of previous cakes she made. Once we settled down on a couple ideas, Jenny sketched out a couple options, provided suggestions, and adapted based on our comments. I (and the fiance) appreciate when others can provide their own creativity and suggestions in a way that doesn't ignore or invalidate my (our) own ideas. This is one of the things that distinguishes a good service from a great service.
At one point, we were talking about adding sugar flowers/hand painting. When Jenny realized that we weren't set on one of these looks over a simpler look, she volunteered pricing information and transparently indicated the difference in cost to aid us in decision making. We weren't concerned about pricing and hadn't mentioned anything about pricing to Jenny either, but the fact that she was looking for the best way to get us what we want without the "up-sell" was just awesome. I love when service providers are honest and down-to-earth like this.
Moving onto the cake - when Jenny brought out the tasting plate, I immediately noticed that it was very carefully curated with different cake types, filling flavours, and filling types. The way she squeezed in so many different options that allowed you to get a sense of what she can do with a cake was brilliant! No other baker we worked with did anything of the sort. We definitely appreciated the ability to get a rather broad tour of Jenny's options in a single sitting.
Let's talk about the taste. Just wow. Her cakes and fillings were superb. Some of the best we've had despite visiting three other very, very carefully curated bakers (from word-of-mouth recommendations, Yelp reviews, and multiple wedding website reviews). You could taste the quality of the ingredients, feel the perfect texture of the cakes, and pick out the tastes in the buttercream, fillings, and cake itself. Her cake wasn't overly sweet, which I've found is a common problem in mass produced cakes (where cakes are either dry and tasteless or moistened with sugar syrup and cloying), and her buttercream was great (of the European variety - hers is either Swiss or Italian, I believe - that is less sweet and more tasty than your more common American buttercream). We were both more than pleased with the cakes.
Once we were done, Jenny wrote up a couple of quotes for us and sent us on our way. She was an absolute delight. When we walked out the door, we both knew we had a really difficult decision in front of us. We were waiting for a quote from another baker we really liked and Jenny, who was the last baker we had a tasting with, had just jumped right into first place tying with that other baker. After deliberating for quite some time, we ended up going with the other baker for the mere fact that she provided a handful of flavours that worked better with the direction we were taking our reception.
We emailed Jenny once we made the decision and were surprised to receive a response thanking us and wishing us the best. That was totally unexpected, but very appreciated. Despite choosing another baker for our wedding, based on our interactions before, during, and after our tasting and on the quality and taste of her cake, we are convinced that Jenny would be an excellent choice for any special occasion. We'll certainly have to find an excuse one of these days to try her pumpkin spice cake!
