77408 Fri Jan 13 17:39:15 -0800 2006 18 2 Los Angeles Area 0 426564 I've been bombarded by wedding sites advertising fancy wedding cakes and expensive bakeries but would really love a simple wedding cake that is reasonable and more importantly, tastes great. I'm open to Pasadena, South Bay, and even the West side if need be. :) Fri Jan 13 17:39:15 -0800 2006 0 Jen 1 426568 I know I sound like a damn broke record, but Leda's in Sherman Oaks is really, really good. Stop in and get an assortment of her cupcakes if you're sceptical. The carrot cake with blood orange curd and mascarpone butter-cream, and all of the fruit flavors, lemon and passion fruit in particular, are simply amazing. Hands down, the best, most sophisticated, interesting cake/frosting flavors around LA right now. My only hesitation about this recommendation is that I don't know what they charge for a wedding cake; maybe call first to ask about prices and see if it's in your zone. Link: http://www.ledasbakeshop.com Fri Jan 13 17:54:53 -0800 2006 426564 0 David Kahn 2 426595 Having just been married this past August, I know how this wedding vendor business works. Do you have a budget for the cake? As you probably know, they charge by the slice. We got a beautiful and delicious cake (berries & cream, chocolate mousse, red velvet) from Topozio's for $5.50/slice. It looks like a snobby bakery, but once you get inside, you realize everything is top notch and the owner is very friendly and will be glad to work with whatever you have in mind. We also looked in to Cake Divas (cake not as good as Topozio's) and Rosebuds (cake mediocre, but cheap). Congrats! Fri Jan 13 18:57:56 -0800 2006 426568 0 jeb 1 426570 Sounds like a job for Phoenix Bakery in Chinatown - They deliver very simple, yet traditionally beautiful, wedding cakes that taste absolutely fantastic. AND they are very, very reasonably priced. Phoenix Bakery 969 N. Broadway (downtown) 213-628-4642 :) pk Fri Jan 13 17:59:36 -0800 2006 426564 0 PoetKitty 1 426574 Try Lido Bakery in Manhattan Beach. They have a website with pictures of their cakes. I used one for my daughter's birthday (berries and cream) and it was fabulous. Fri Jan 13 18:10:13 -0800 2006 426564 0 S 1 426575 Earlier this week, Burger Boy recommended Angel Maid for their Birthday Cakes. I had heard of the bakery before, for cream puffs and of course, cakes (Including someone's wedding cake) It was right in our neighborhood so yesterday BF picked up some of their cream puffs and they were WONDERFUL!!! I googled their name with wedding cakes and saw a VERY positive review of them on The Knot board with this picture... YUM!!! http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4cf28b3127cce9a89ab0be0db00000036108EbNGrZy4ba I'm not sure of the pricing, although the bride who posted this all up seemed to be on a budget too... :) Here's their info: Angel Maid Bakery (310) 915-2078 4542 S Centinela Ave Los Angeles, CA 90066 Oh! And congrats!! :) --Dommy! Fri Jan 13 18:14:45 -0800 2006 426564 0 Dommy! 1 426591 Hansen's cakes on Fairfax south of Olympic has terrific cakes -- including wedding cakes -- and is always very reasonable considering the very high quality of the product. Fri Jan 13 18:52:17 -0800 2006 426564 0 BHAppeal 2 426610 Hansens is my fav -- be sure to try the white cake w white choc chips. We had a Hansens for our wed cake a year ago and it was a humongous hit. Fri Jan 13 20:09:11 -0800 2006 426591 0 Silverlaker 2 426625 I got my wedding cake from Hansen's and it wasn't as good as I'd hoped. The design wasn't how I thought it was going to be, and the cake itself was very light on ingredients; had order the cake part with slivered almonds which were barely palpable and the frosting was spread really thin. I guess you get what you pay for. Not a total disaster but I wouldn't recommend it. Someone below recommended Phoenix in Chinatown. I've never had their wedding cake but have had birthday cakes from there and they were terrific. Good luck! Fri Jan 13 23:11:51 -0800 2006 426591 0 Andrea 1 426593 i'm wedding planning too! :) but i'm unfortunately tied to buying a cake via my site caterer unless i want to pay an exorbitant cake cutting fee. their cakes are pretty good nonetheless- http://www.sagardens.com otherwise, i would recommend..for good and reasonable: 1) kings hawaiian, torrance 2) torrance bakery, torrance 3) mrs. beasley's, the valley? 4) susina, la brea (maybe pricey but TASTY) 5) cakery bakery, la canada (their strawberry is to die for) hope this helps! :) Link: http://thestarvingstudent.blogspot.com Fri Jan 13 18:54:25 -0800 2006 426564 0 greengelato 1 426608 Congratulations!! I love Ruby's Cakes in Eagle Rock. I have not ordered a wedding cake from them, but I know they do them. I always order their Strawberry and Whipped Cream cakes (with white cake) and people rave about it (last time was for my niece's baptism last month. They are inexpesive and delicious. Ruby Bakery 5042 Eagle Rock Bl. (just south of Colorado Bl.) LA, CA 90041 (323) 259-9052 Open 7 days a week Cash Only Fri Jan 13 20:03:23 -0800 2006 426564 0 WildSwede 1 426635 Not in any particular order. I have been putting the list together for a friend. Sweet Lady Jane (Wedding Cakes, 70 different layer cakes, cheesecakes, pies and tarts) 8360 Melrose Ave Los Angeles, CA 90069-6501 (323) 653-7145 Cross, Kings Rd. Near La Cienega Susina Bakery (Wedding Cake - Strawberry Shortcake) 7122 Beverly Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90036 (323) 934-7900 Cross Street: La Brea Boulevard http://www.susinabakery.com/wedding_cakes.shtml# Cake Divas (Wedding Cakes) 9626 Venice Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 (310) 287- 2609 http://www.cakedivas.com/ Joe's (Wedding Cake - chocolate and raspberry, & Cal-French cuisine at a good price) 1023 Abbot Kinney Blvd Venice, CA 90291-3386 (310) 399-5811 Leda’s Bake Shop (Wedding Cakes, Must try Cup Cakes) 13722 Ventura Blvd. Sherman Oaks, CA (818) 386-9644 http://www.ledasbakeshop.com/ Hansen's Cakes (Wedding cakes and novelty Birthday cakes) 1072 S Fairfax Ave Los Angeles, CA 90019-4401 (323) 936-5527 North of Pico, South of Olympic Helena Wirth Decorated Cakes (Wedding Cakes) 14042 Burbank Blvd Sherman Oaks, CA 91401-5030 (818) 904-9566 Porto’s (Cakes as they should be) 315 North Brand Blvd. Glendale, CA 91203 (818) 956-5996 Normandie Bakery & Coffee Incorporated (Wedding Cakes, Sandwiches, Bread) 5277 Jefferson Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90016 (Entrance on Cochran) (323)939-5528 http://www.normandieusa.com/ Normandie Bakery & Coffee Incorporated (Wedding Cakes, Sandwiches, Bread) 9201 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90069 (310) 273-2142 Sat Jan 14 01:01:59 -0800 2006 426564 0 Like-Go-Eat? 1 426654 one of the best cakes i had was by debra king, you can get her # from her website www.debrakingcakes.com she was on hiatus but is back baking! Sat Jan 14 12:39:08 -0800 2006 426564 0 crazy delish 1 426689 In Glendale, has a great reputation for pastries of all kinds including wedding cakes. I'm surprised none of you chowhounds suggested Porto's Bakery. Link: http://www.portosbakery.com/cakes.htm Sat Jan 14 15:29:17 -0800 2006 426564 0 Ollie 2 426721 Actually, Like-Go-Eat suggested it on her comprehensive list. Sat Jan 14 22:12:03 -0800 2006 426689 0 LAmonkeygirl 1 426729 Let me give you the rundown. Call the owner, Jenna, she can arrange a tasting for you. The Berry Blossom or the Bear Cake cannot be beat. For something a bit more unusual but unbelievably good - go for the Saint Honore -Italian Wedding Cake (picture below). The cakes are very simple looking, but much better tasting. Susina has someone come with the cake soon before service so it stays fresh (no gluey butter cream here). Call them at 323- 934-7900 You can see other wedding cake pix on the website: Link: http://www.susinabakery.com/index.shtml Image: http://www.susinabakery.com/images/wc4.jpg Sat Jan 14 23:27:18 -0800 2006 426564 0 Food Good 1 426737 After a long search that included Ruby's and Phoenix among lots of others, I chose Gelson's (Viktor Benes) Bakery. Their Princess cake (among others) is straight-ahead unpretentious delicious cake. And it's beautiful in a Marimekko/Martha Stewart kinda way. It's made with REAL ingredients, unlike Phoenix and Ruby's, which both (at the time five years ago) were using something other than real dairy cream for their cream toppings. Also, if you are seriously unpretentious and don't mind cake decor that's behind the times, Plusco's in Canoga Park makes superb whipped cream cake with champagne filling or banana filling. I agree with the Porto's suggestions, too, though it would be a second or third choice for me. Sun Jan 15 00:08:58 -0800 2006 426564 0 NeNePie 1 426769 I'm planning a Pasadena wedding too, and just two weeks ago finished my cake tastings. :) I went on TheKnot to look for cake recs, and then narrowed it down from there. We ended up getting one from Jacqui's Cake Creations in North Hollywood. What I loved about her cakes is that the frosting is really light and airy, more of a whipped cream than a buttercream. Very reasonably priced, even with fresh fruit filling. The storefront kinda looks dingy, but the cakes inside are really good. We tried a few others: Porto's is good, but I've heard of delivery problems in the past. Helena Wirth--yech! Very surgary/granulated texture to the frosting, and the cake batter tasted like it came straight from a box. Similar problem with Hansen's. I liked Chinese bakeries like Diamond and Phoenix, but was worried they couldn't style it the way I wanted. I wish we could afford cakes from Susina's, but they were out of my pricerange, esp given that most venues also charge a cake-cutting fee. Good luck on your search! Sun Jan 15 13:41:07 -0800 2006 426564 0 Jennifer W. 1 426849 We had a great cake from Regal Bakery for our wedding. It is located on Fairfax between the two Hansens storefronts. We've had two cakes from this place and we highly recommend it. We tried several bakeries and found this bakery fit our needs. We were looking for a moist cake without too much frosting. We did not like buttercream or fondant due their taste so this eliminated many bakeries. It was the only bakery that would use dairy whip cream. Some bakeries claimed that dairy whip cream would not hold its form and it would be unhealthy to sit out too long. Regal Bakery basically said that this is nonsense (out too long within reason, of course). The dairy whip looked and tasted great. Check it out. Also, Hansen's was our second choice. Torrance Bakery was cheap, but dry. Good luck. Sun Jan 15 20:34:48 -0800 2006 426564 0 JinCC