I asked my cousin to do my cake and now there are doubts...

[CantWait4May07]

Alright, so my cousin has been a pastry chef for years. He is the head pastry chef at one of the big casinos around here and he has been on the Food Network show Challenge a few times. He's competed in national competitions and won the title of the second best pastry chef in the country in 2004. SO, needless to say, I wanted him to do our cake! Not only do I know he will do a phenomenal job, but it would mean so much to me for him to do it. So I jumped the gun and asked him and he said he would do it and he would work his whole schedule around it.

Well, apparently I didn't do my homework. It turns out that in the past he has kind of let down some family members because his work-load got in the way. Now, he's never let anyone down for a wedding - just birthday cakes and stuff. I love my cousin and I want him to do the cake, but I don't want to spend my wedding day worrying about whether or not the cake will show up at the hall! And I also don't want him to miss out on a great career opportunity because he needs to commit time to making a wedding cake.

Do I retract my request for him to do the cake? :confused:

I feel like kind of a jerk now... :o

[MrsJ]

HMM maybe talk to him about it a little more see how things seem to go.... tell him how important it is to you and maybe let him know if he can't commit to this you will have to find someone else to do it.

[StephandMike06]

I think most bakeries only need about 6 weeks notice on making cakes (at least in my area anyway). Maybe you could talk with other bakeries in the area, find out how much notice they would need, and if it is something like 6 weeks maybe your cousin would know his schedule a bit better by then.

[Jen062406]

I'd wait a while..like the other girls said most bakeries don't need a ton of notice. It all depends on the design of your cake..how intricate you want to get.

That's cool that your cousin was on the Food Network challenge!!

[CantWait4May07]

I think you guys are right - I actually talked to our coordinator yesterday and she said that if things are looking like they are not going to happen as it gets closer to the wedding, she can always get us a cake in a few weeks. But I am actually going to talk to him today so I am gonna lay down the law! Or something... haha

Thanks :)

[DeeSummerof06]

So what happened? Did you get it all squared away? If you don't mind..who is your cousin! I always watch the cake challenges on the Food Network. I wanted to hire Duff from Charm City Cakes in Baltimore. I had heard of him, but then saw him on a challenge and was hooked! $6.00 a slice to START was a bit too steep for my blood tho.

[CantWait4May07]

Well, the solution we ***e up with is we will have him do the cake for our engagement party and then take it from there! His name is Tariq Hanna and he did the Chocolate Fantasy Challenge and the Gingerbread Mansion challenge. I think he may have done a couple other ones in the past but I'm not sure which one. He's awesome when it comes to creativity. His wedding cake for his own wedding was beautiful - totally unique and non-traditional (like him!). Look out for him on the Food Network!

[NannyChoices]

While I agree that any cake Tariq makes would be amazing at it's worst.. if you think he won't come thru, you need to follow your gut. Weddings are stressful enough without worrying about whether or not you'll have a cake to cut.

However, a friend of mine made our cake for our wedding, and while she ***e in under the wire, it was amazing, and it was that much better because she did it for us.

I hope that makes sense!

Good luck!