More Cake Tasting with Drew and Robyn! [PICTURES]

Two issues of "Marriage License" in two days?  You better believe it!  This time, my lovely fiance and I ventured to Berthoud for another cake tasting.  How did it go?  Read on and find out!

While we were shopping around for the wedding venue and the reception catering, we kept hearing the same name with regard to wedding cakes: Colorado Rose.  It was difficult to ignore such shining recommendations from so many different people, so we decided to schedule a tasting and come to our own conclusions.

The Colorado Rose Cake Company is about a 40-minute drive from our home.  This worried us a little bit, because the last place we tried was only about ten minutes away.  We'd like to be able to keep track of our cake's progress at least a little bit, and making that long drive could be problematic.  Still, this place was highly recommended, so it might be worth it.

When we finally turned onto the street where the place was located, and I though I was lost.  We were in a sparse residential neighborhood, with no storefronts in sight.  I opened my mouth to curse at my GPS, when we pulled up to a beautiful country house with the Colorado Rose sign on the mailbox.  We had made it, though it wasn't what we were expecting!

We rang the bell, and were greeted by owner Marci.  She was very kind, despite the fact that we were nearly ten minutes early.

She led us through a living room full of beautiful wedding cake displays, and sat us down in the dining room, which was surrounded by more displays.  The talent behind Colorado Rose was on full display, and it was giving us a good feeling!

We went through the many books of cake pictures while Marci got our tasting plates ready.  She left little bookmarks in the middle of the table, so we could keep track of what we liked.

Finally, as my stomach gave an embarrassingly loud grumble, Marci presented us with our cake samples.  The presentation was clean, elegant, and inviting.  At our last tasting, all the elements (i.e. the cake, fillings, and icings) were separate, allowing us to combine them as we chose.  This time, however, Marci had prepared several combinations for us.  I was a little hesitant about not being able to mix-and-match...until we started tasting.

I honestly really liked the cake at our last tasting, and I didn't think it could get much better.  I was wrong.  This cake was incredible.  It was moist, silky, delicate...everything I've ever wanted out of a cake without knowing it.  This was no grocery store birthday cake; this was first class pastry skill to the core!

Most of the cake/filling combinations were right up our alley, with only one or two exceptions.  For example, we tried a lemon cake with blueberry filling; and Robyn and I both agreed that blueberry wasn't really our thing, and we'd probably go with strawberry filling instead.  But other than personal preferences like that, everything was really spectacular.

Then we talked with Marci about decorations and styling for the cake.  We had an idea of what we wanted, but were still a little unsure of how it would all come together.  Marci was very patient and caring, carefully walking through little details with us.  We went over color, design, shape, everything.  We were starting to get a clearer picture of how we wanted the cake to look.

Then, Marci mentioned adding in a "fleur de lis" design, and suddenly Robyn gasped.  In that moment, she and I both knew that we had just built our wedding cake.  We both actually teared up a little!

I stand by what I said about the last place we went to setting the bar pretty high, but Colorado Rose topped it.  So that's it!  Decision made.  This is where we'll be getting our wedding cake.  We know our guests are going to love it!

Any suggestions for planning a wedding that you think we should know?  Let me know in the comments below!