Often Thea is asked if she can provide specialty cake for weddings, and the response is always ‘Yes!’

Her  most frequent requests are for:

(a) flourless chocolate
(b) allergy-specific, such as spelt, egg-free, or dairy-free cake
(c) traditional fruitcake

Flourless chocolate cake is much like a Genoise cake – using air suspended in the batter during mixing to give volume, it uses low heat from melted chocolate to create an aerated chocolate custard, used to build the cake – a very delicious and safe option for gluten-free diets!

Flourless Chocolate Cake by Sweet Thea (photo credit Suzanne Paxton)

Spelt is an ancient grain, which has had a considerable revival as a health alternative in the last several years.  The organic farming movement has embraced it because it uses fewer fertilizers than many grains, and it has a lower gluten-content, allowing some people with wheat allergy or intolerance to use it.  Slightly crunchy with a nutty flavor, it can be sprouted, and has even been used to make vodka and beer!

a Sweet Thea Spelt Cake

Egg-free cakes are also quite popular.  Many young children are hypersensitive to eggs, and some people remain allergic for their entire lifetime – some to egg whites, others the yolk, while some can’t tolerate either.  This allergy can cause a severe overreaction of the immune system, leading straight to a hospital emergency  room – not fun!  Eggs work in a cake as an emulsifier – they help the ingredients to mix smoother – and other options are available – even applesauce can work as an emulsifier.

Dairy-free Cakes are very important, as dairy products affect many people poorly. Some  are lactose-intolerant, while others are allergic to specific dairy-based items.  The best way to manage these reactions is by avoiding milk proteins altogether. This is hard to do in an average supermarket, where most processed foods use dairy products or derivatives in their composition!

Fruit Cake is most often requested by couples of British descent,  where it has been traditionally used since the Victorian era, when it was a symbol of prosperity and goodness; there is even an old wedding custom that has an unmarried wedding guest sleeping with a piece of the fruitcake underneath their pillow, so that they may dream of their future spouse!

Fruit Cake on the Top Tier

Thea is enthusiastic about bringing her preference to fresh, natural ingredients to her specialty cakes, and will be happy to design one for you. While many bakers prefer not to make specialty cakes, as it incurs additional cost and labor (and non-traditional ingredients can be fussy work in the kitchen!), Thea can generally deliver a delicious and beautiful high-quality cake for you, for only about an additional fifty cents per slice.

When you book your consultation with Thea, let her know about your specialty requirements – you will not need to sacrifice anything to have your dream cake on your special day!

Tags: dairy-free, egg-free, flourless chocolate, Fruit Cake, fruitcake, spelt, Wedding Cake

This entry was posted on Friday, June 12th, 2009 at 1:48 am and is filed under News, Wedding Cake. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.