Get In My Belly!

The time is finally coming up this weekend for our tasting with our wedding venue. I'm so excited. I feel like I should store up extra free space for all the food we'll be trying that day. It will be me, Mr. Kettle, Momma and Daddy Kettle, Mima and Poppa Kettle, FSIL Grand, and Grandmother Kettle. We take entourages everywhere we go now, apparently...

On that day, I'll feel like this:

Image via Cystic Fibrosis Fatboy

All the food possibilities overwhelmed me just a bit. Luckily, we only had to choose three entree options. I'm guessing they'll fill in the sides with options that compliment those choices best.

I just had a scary thought. What if we don't try any sides?! Oh, the horror! I'd hate to have to choose sides without knowing how they taste.

I must admit that I'm not so worried about side dishes. I'm really thinking about.. cake!

We're considering having our cake done by the venue as well. I don't have a big fancy cake idea in mind. I just want a basic buttercream cake that mimics the color and pattern on the top of my dress. Don't get me wrong, I have a strong distaste for buttercream, but I dislike fondant even more. And bakeries aren't exactly making wedding cakes with whipped cream, so I'll take what I can get.

We have to choose three entree options. We've chosen: chicken saltembucco (which seems to be spelled 3 different ways), new york strip steak, and chicken piquant. I can't wait to try these. We pretty much know the steak will be our beef option, but we have to decide between the other two for the chicken option.

I love me some strip steak! / Image via Sunrise Foods

Image via Skinny Chef

Image via Delectable Victuals

 Those look pretty tasty, right?

The other choices that have to be made is deciding which cakes to try. They want us to choose 2 batter and three filling.

Our batter options are: white, yellow, chocolate, marble, banana, carrot, red velvet.

Our frosting options are: white buttercream, chocolate buttercream, mocha buttercream, hazelnut buttercream, ivory buttercream.

The filling options are much more numerous. There are three fresh fruit options, two jelly options, four fruit mousse options, eight mousse options (including Bailey's irish cream and Grand Marnier!), six cream options, and one chocolate option. How am I supposed to choose?

I'm leaning towards white cake and red velvet for the batter options. That means ivory buttercream or maybe mocha buttercream. What's the difference between mocha and chocolate? Coffee flavor?

For fillings, I have no idea. I love the french lemon silk idea. Mr. Kettle and I both love lemon. There are a number of options we can't go with simply because of taste preferences of Mr. Kettle (he loathes the texture of most fruit, weird, right?) and the drinking preferences of a lot of our guests. I'd hate for a lot of people to be unable to eat our cake cause the entire filling was from a liqueur.

With those parameters narrowing down the options, I think we'll go with white cake, red velvet cake, white buttercream, and ivory buttercream. I just know Momma Kettle will be happiest with selections that aren't "doing too much". So no mixing crazy flavors. This is my cake. But we're not paying hundreds of dollars for a cake that nobody but me wants to eat!

For the fillings (how can I choose just three?!), I'm going to go with French Lemon Silk, Cream Cheese, and Milk Chocolate Mousse. That should give us enough mixes that may taste good enough to choose one for the wedding.

I know I also have to be prepared to discuss cake design, but I'm not even close to ready to have that discussion yet.

If you could pick out mixes of batter and filling what would you choose? Did you have to choose your cake options before you cake tasting?