FAQ

Tastings & Flavors

How far in advance should I schedule my tasting?
All of our tasting cakes are baked to order, so we require a minimum of three days notice for all tasting appointments. If you’re wondering if it’s too early to start thinking about a cake, it probably isn’t! Because all of our cakes are custom designed, we prefer to have plenty of time to flush out a design and leave room in case changes are needed. Six months before your wedding is a good guideline, but keep in mind that we get booked in advance, especially during wedding season.

Can I taste more than two flavors?
Because we bake and fill our tasting cakes to order, we have to limit your selections to two flavors. Tasting two flavors will give you a good idea of the quality and sophistication of our products, and more than two can be overwhelming for the palate. With that said, if you still desire to taste more than two flavors, we will happily bake them for you at a charge of $25 per additional cake flavor.

Can you change the fillings on my cake?
We can make substitutions in our flavors, but keep in mind that all of our cake flavors are the result of years of testing and refining our flavor profiles. Our cakes are designed to be four layers of cake and three different fillings in each tier. We can't make the cake with the same filling in every layer, and we don’t generally make substitutions for the purpose of simplification. If you have an allergy or a specific dislike, let us know and we can work with you on finding a tasty solution.

Why do I need to leave my credit card information to schedule a tasting?
Our cake tastings are complimentary. We bake the tasting cakes custom for you, so your credit card is simply for our security. We ask that if you are going to cancel, please give us at least three days notice. The only cause for charge would be if you were to fail to show up for your scheduled tasting or try to cancel within three days of the tasting day. In that event, you would be charged $50 for the tasting that was baked.

Who should I bring to my tasting?
We recommend that you bring no more than a total of 4 people to attend your tasting. Too many opinions can be overwhelming and distracting, and it can make your decision more challenging.

Is there a minimum requirement to be able to schedule a complementary tasting?
Due to the fact that we bake and fill tasting cakes to order, we limit our formal tastings to clients looking for cakes of a minimum slice count of 75. If you are planning a smaller event and have less than 75 guests, we would love for you to try one of our in-house flavors that we bake for informal tastings each week. If you are interested in coming in for an informal tasting, please feel free to give us a call and find out which flavors we have for the week. Even if we do not have the specific flavor you were interested in, an informal tasting is a great way for you to taste the quality of our cakes firsthand. Alternatively, you can pay for a formal tasting, at a charge of $25 per tasting cake, or you can see what mini cake flavors we have in stock.

Do you offer any pastries for those with special dietary restrictions?
Unfortunately, we do not offer any sugar-free, gluten-free, or eggless cakes. We strongly believe in using the highest quality ingredients available, which include real eggs, real butter, and real sugar. We apologize that we cannot accommodate everyone’s dietary needs.

Design and Decorative Elements

Can I bring you a picture of a cake I like and have your replicate it?

Can you do sheet cakes with my wedding cake?
Unfortunately, sheet cakes are not a service we provide for weddings. If your guest count is larger than 350, we can provide round cakes separate from the main showpiece cake for convenience of cutting. The additional rounds will be filled and iced to match the wedding cake and charged per slice at a reduced rate.

Can you send me a picture of a cake I saw on your show?
Unfortunately, we do not send out pictures of our previous cakes. Each of our wedding cakes is custom designed specifically for a couple, based on their invitation, dress, flowers, colors, and personal tastes. We don't replicate any of our cakes, and we wouldn't want the personalized wedding cakes of our couples to be replicated either. We hope you understand the reasons behind our policy, and we thank you for watching the show.

Can I order an unfinished or undecorated cake?
As long as the cake has our name on it then we need to be able to have control of the quality of the finished design. Therefore all cakes that leave the store must be decorated and finished.

Can I have my florist put flowers on my wedding cake? Why do you prefer to use sugar flowers?
We view all of our cakes as works of art. We would never presume to attend your reception and attempt to finish the arrangements done by the florist, so we ask the same respect and consideration for our art. In addition, anyone that touches the cake after delivery creates a sanitation and aesthetic liability. As long as we are assuming that liability, we must insist on supervising the handling and sanitation of the cake.

We take great pride in our sugar flowers and suggest that you speak with us about creating sugar flowers to match your floral arrangements. With sugar flowers, we can control the size and color of the flowers so that they are to scale with the cake and complement its other decorative elements rather than clash with or overpower them. If for some reason you have an absolute wish to use fresh flowers, then we will purchase and place the flowers on the cake during the execution of the design.

Can you place plastic or non-edible elements on top of my cake?
Many cake suppliers make plastic and resin pieces designed to be used on cakes. However, we don’t believe in using these non-edible decorations. We limit all decorative elements to those made from edible dough, sugar, or chocolate, with one exception; you may request certain sculptures or likenesses to be done in Sculpey or other poly clay if you want to be able to keep the artwork for a longer period of time. Poly clay is never used without a specific request from the customer. All elements on our cakes need to be made by hand, excluding certain wedding toppers and monogram letters.

Pricing

We specialize in custom designed cakes meant to dazzle and delight your guests, from both an artistic and culinary standpoint. Because every one of our cakes is custom designed, pricing is highly variable. The best way to get pricing information on a cake for your next event is to call us and discuss your ideas with one of our designers. Below are a few guidelines that may help answer some of your preliminary questions.

We use only the highest quality ingredients to ensure that our clients get the moist, delicious cake and luscious, creamy fillings that they crave. Because all of our cakes are made from scratch and custom designed, we have a $350 minimum on all cake orders.

All of our pricing is based on a formula of slice count and labor time. With this said, labor time is generally the variable that holds more weight in the pricing equation. Many clients ask what they can get for $350, but it really depends on what they are looking for. We can make a small cake with a lot of decorations on it, or a large cake with very simple decorations on it for the same price. Because the decorating time is priced hourly, we will need to flush out a design with you in order to be able to give you a quote on a cake.

As a general rule, 3-D cakes are more expensive due to the amount of time involved in carving, icing, and decorating complex shapes. These cakes also often require extra internal support structures that must be built and planned for ahead of time.

2-D cakes also require carving time, but because they lie flat on the cake board, there are generally fewer labor hours involved in their execution.

For tiered cakes, our pricing structure is a bit different, starting at $7.50 per slice. Starting from this base price, the final cost of our tiered cake is dependent upon the specific design of the cake. For more elaborate and over the top designs, the cost is higher due to the labor time involved. Because of the highly artistic nature of our work and the singularity of each of our cakes, please understand that we cannot give exact quotes for wedding cakes. The cost will depend upon the final design, which is not determined until it is sketched and approved. We would be happy to further discuss pricing and design options with you, as well as work with you on setting an investment potential for your cake.

How much is that cake on your web site?
All the cakes seen on our web site, in our cake gallery, and on TV have been custom designed for a particular client. Therefore, it would not be appropriate to tell you how much they paid for the cake. We custom design each of our cakes to fit individual clients’ needs, so there is no catalogued price for any given cake. We will not replicate the design of another client’s cake, so the prices of the cakes we designed for others will have little bearing on your pricing. We can use an image from our web site or portfolios for inspiration, but we want your cake to have personalized elements and reflect your individual design aesthetic. We would be happy to discuss design options and pricing for a cake for your event. Please feel free to give us a call or schedule an appointment to come in and speak with one of our designers.

How do I go about placing a cake order?
The best way to make a cake order inquiry is to give us a call or make an appointment to come in and speak with one of our designers. Keep in mind that we need at least three days notice for all cake orders and that we are closed on Sundays and Mondays. If you would like a cake order for a Sunday or Monday, you can still have your cake delivered. Let us know if you have a theme or idea in mind for the cake, and we would be more than happy to discuss design options with you. To place an order, we will need a 25% deposit on the cake. Some dates book up months in advance, so it is always advisable to book as far in advance as possible. However, make sure that the cake is a commitment you are willing to make, because there is a cancellation fee that is 20% of the cost of the cake.

Why are your cakes more expensive than my local bakery?
Because we make everything from scratch and by hand, the labor on our products is much higher than at the average bakery. Imagine the difference in labor and costs between spending twenty minutes making lemon curd on the stove with fresh juice and butter, versus popping the top off of a bucket of premade filling. We also use fresh fruit and berries in a lot of our flavors, as well as high quality ingredients such as European butter and European chocolate. Our decorated cakes also have the added factor of design and decorating time. Please keep in mind that we maintain a high standard of quality and put a lot of care and detail in all of our work. Remember, you get what you pay for!

Other

Can you ship my cake out of state?
Unfortunately, we are not equipped to ship cakes at this time. If you really want us to design and create your wedding cake but are out of state, we would be happy to fly to the destination and make the cake on site. You would need to cover the costs of airfare and accommodations, in addition to the cost of the cake, and we would have to have somewhere to make the cake. We have flown as far as Tokyo, Japan with wedding cake.

How do you deliver your cakes?
We assemble all of our cakes at our bakery and transport them fully assembled to the party or reception site. Too many things can go wrong and/or details missed when assembly is done on site. Delivery costs vary with distance.

Where does the store name come from?
Christopher Garren’s gets its name from the store owner. Chris’s full name is actually Garren Christopher Russom, so the store name is just parts of his name switched around. We used to be called Let Them Eat Cake, but because of the recent proliferation of other unrelated businesses that have opened with the same name, we wanted to avoid any confusion. We only have our one location in Costa Mesa, California.

Do you offer internships?
We offer internships based on our work load and projected schedules. An internship with us is a three month, full-time, unpaid commitment. We require all interns to have graduated culinary school. If you are interested in speaking with us about an internship opportunity, please send us an email with your resume to christophergarrens@gmail.com.

Do you ever rent out cake stands?
If you are interested in renting a cake stand, please let us know and we would be happy to show you the stands we have available. The rental is $25, and we require a $150 security deposit that will be returned to you when you return the stand to our bakery. A return date will be established upon rental, and there is a late fee of $15 per day.