Cheese Wedding Cake
What is a Cheese Wedding Cake?
Cheese Wedding Cakes have become a regular feature of the wedding reception over the last few years. Often used as a replacement to traditional cake, and more frequently as an additional cake to add an exciting focal point at the reception.
The name is slightly misleading in that no cake is used, rather a wedding cake effect is created by layering a number of cheeses which are typically dressed in fruit or flowers to create a beautiful “Cheese Wedding Cake”.
Most wedding receptions will have a cheese course of some sort; the cheese wedding cake simply creates a feature out of the cheeses rather than having them pre-cut by caterers. There is limited, if any, additional cost in having the cheeses in the form of a cake over having them pre-cut, as by ordering whole cheeses we are able to offer a discount which typically will cover the costs of any additional dressing you may wish to adorn the cake with.
Is it possible to have one of these cakes for other events too?
Absolutely. Theses cakes have become popular for weddings, hence the name, but there is absolutely nothing stopping you from having one for a birthday, anniversary or any other event.
How much will it cost?
We take a tailored approach to creating your cake. We seek to find out what your preferences are, guest numbers, etc and give you a bespoke cake that we believe will exactly meet your requirements. We do not charge for this service.
As a typical indication of likely cost, we recommend basing the sizing of the cake on 100g of cheese per person. A few people love cheese and will eat more but this is typically compensated by those that don’t eat cheese at all.
The price of different cheeses varies greatly depending on age, milk type, scarcity and production methods, however on average it generally works out to be £2 per 100g and it’s the basis on which it’s possible to give an indicative price for a cheese wedding cake. So based on having 100 people at the wedding we suggest budgeting for £200 for the cheese.
If the cheese wedding cake replaces the traditional wedding cake completely it is worth adding a further 25% to the above.
We will provide an exact price once we have jointly agreed the list and volume of cheeses. The pricing of our cheese wedding cakes is based on our standard shop price, less a 10% discount. We do not charge for the consultancy on the cake, so this is all you will pay. Our pricing is based on you picking up the cheeses from the shop (we are open 7 days a week) and on the supply of the cheeses not on dressing of the cake.
What cheese can we use?
It’s important when choosing the cheese to get a good range (i.e. hard, soft and blue) as well as at least one non Cow’s milk cheese in the mix (i.e. Goat or Ewe’s milk) if possible.
The aesthetics of the cake are important, so getting an increasing diameter of cheeses and variation of colours is key in creating a visually impressive cheese wedding cake. Having very similar size cheeses will create a chimney of cheese, which doesn’t look as good (it’s also harder to dress with fruit). This is an area that a lot of people fall down on as it is not obvious from a cheese counter how large the cheeses are as whole or partial truckles . We can help on this as we will only use cheeses where we know the dimensions and weight.
In reality most cheeses can be used, however soft cheeses should only be used higher up the stack. Although a good French Brie works well as a base layer as long as it remains in its box.
With softer cheeses it’s important to take into account how long the cheese will be at room temperature, particularly in the summer.
Often people play safe and want Cheddar, here the issue can be size, in that many types of cheddar are 26KG each (enough to server 260 on its own!). However even here we have trimmed traditional farmhouse cheddars, such as the excellent Montgomery into half kilo quarters in the past and then formed them back into a circle. Once the cake is dressed with fruit the joins are largely hidden. So much is possible.
What is the best way to display the cheese wedding cake?
We find a simple black slate works well as the base for the cake. We can lend these to you at no additional charge (£20 refundable deposit per slate).
Whole wheels of cheese don’t lend themselves to a traditional cheese knife, so we always recommend that once the bride and groom have posed for photos, the wheels of cheese be put on individual boards and cut in half, at least for the larger layers (so have a large knife or cheese cutter available). Once they are in half people can either help themselves if it is a buffet or the cheese can be plated up if it is part of a formal meal.
How to dress the cake?
One option that often gets over-looked is to simply leave it undressed. By picking the right cheeses in the first place the cake will look beautiful without dressing.
If there is a colour theme for the wedding you may wish to have this represented with the cake, for example the same flowers or ribbons as the bridesmaids, etc.
We find the most popular method is to dress the cake with fruit. This can be anything from a few strategically placed grapes right through to a tower of cascading fruit pinned in place with cocktail sticks. Many fruits go well with cheese, and any that you use to adorn the cake should take this into account. We’d recommend grapes, figs, strawberries, physalis and seasonal British berries. Avoid things like apple and pears, as although they taste great with cheese, they will quickly go brown.
How do I order a cake?
To get a quote for a cheese wedding cake provide us with answers to the following questions:-
- How many people will be attending
- Will there be a traditional cake too
- Any preferences (cheese you really want or really don’t want)
- Any accoutrements you would also like
- Event date
- Pickup date
Ideally we can then arrange a time for you to come into the deli in Bristol so we can discuss the cheeses and various options in more detail.
Once you are happy we take a 50% deposit (refundable up until a month before) and arrange a day for collection from our Deli in Clifton, Bristol.
How much notice do I need to give?
We ideally require at least a month notice. Many of the cheese we select are made by small producers in low volumes and we therefore need to get orders in early to ensure delivery. We also seek to ensure cheeses are at their optimum for you, so for example making sure a brie is at its gooey best. Having said this we have had as little as 10 days notice before and managed to create a great cake, so please ask and we’ll do all we can to help.
Cheese Accoutrements
We can also supply a range of crackers (from Oat, Wheat, Rye or Rice Cakes) and chutneys to go with the cheese, such as the award winning Fig & Plum Chutney from Kitchen Garden or Old Bute Chutney from Henshelwoods. We also stock Bramley & Gage’s excellent Quince liqueur which goes perfectly with cheeses at the end of a meal or a selection of fine wines if preferred.
Recent Cakes and Customer Feedback
As well as many cakes for weddings in Bristol, we also recently provided English cheeses for an Anglo/Franco wedding in France. The English cheeses made up the bulk of the cake with soft French cheeses being used us the upper layers and decoration. They do things slightly differently in France, as you can see from this photo; Not just fruit but also fireworks!
Thanks to Marie-Josephe Obrentz for the photos and for taking the cheese back in her luggage.
"The cheese wedding cake was a tremendous success! Thank you" - Marie-Josephe Obrentz
We received this lovely photocard from Glenn and Sally thanking us for the help we gave them with this cheese wedding cake they took to Portugal for their daughters wedding.
"Fantastic cheese wedding cake, it worked perfectly and was a great centre piece for our wedding reception" - Lucy Martin
In the Press
Great feature on wedding cakes in the Feb/Mar 2012 issue of 'Your Bristol & Somerset Wedding' magazine dedicated to weddings in the Bristol and Somerset area.
We featured in the section about Wedding Cakes in general where David talked about what makes a great Cheese Wedding Cake.
Contact us or email us with your details and we will be pleased to provide you with a quote for your perfect cheese wedding cake