Let’s first discuss who not to choose.

Do you want a frozen Wedding Cake?

Do you want your wedding cake baked fresh or do you want it baked well beforehand and frozen?

If you want a frozen cake packed full of preservatives, corn syrup, and chemicals… the choice is clear: Publix Bakery.

Did you know that Publix bakes most of their cakes in a big bakery and freezes them? Fresh cakes from a supermarket? Think again– it’s not going to happen. Period.

If you want a freshly baked wedding cake baked with real ingredients, choose a real bakery.

Do you want a cake made from a hobby home baker?

Recently, Florida passed the cottage act allowing people to legally sell certain baked goods that are produced in their home. In their home… let’s imagine some of these scenarios:

• Is this the same kitchen where the kids go through the refrigerator? We know how good kids are at washing their hands.
• Is this the same kitchen where the cat loves to lay on the breakfast table? We’re sure the hair stays only in that one spot.
• Is this in the same home that has people living in it? I’m sure there’s no risk of cross contamination whatsoever. The wedding guests will be very happy knowing where the cake came from.

All kidding aside, the biggest issue with home bakers is that this is not a real profession– it’s a hobby. This means that the home baker might make some great looking cakes… and maybe even make 20 or so a year!

Think of this with your profession… did you get good at your most difficult activities during your free time? Or, did you work at it until you became an expert.

Hobbies are awesome, but a professional’s touch is second to none.

A true cakery can bake over 1,000 cakes per year… this means that the bakery/cake shop has most likely experienced every problem you can imagine. They’ve lived the nightmare scenarios and already know (1) how to prevent them and (2) what to do if something goes wrong.

Choose a Local Bakery

Dream Day Cakes

If you want a great wedding cake, the choice is simple: choose a real, licensed bakery. In Gainesville, Florida there are 3 licensed bakeries to choose from:

1. Uppercrust Productions — Gainesville’s oldest bakery, proudly serving since 1981.
2. Dream Day Cakes — a true cakery specializing in custom created amazing cakes.
3. Sarkara Sweets — a fun cupcake shop in downtown Gainesville.

Choose a licensed bakery in Gainesville, specializing in wedding cakes and specialty cakes. Your guests (and your wedding cake) will thank you.

Cakery Fresh Brewed Coffee

Life’s Too Short to Drink Cheap Coffee

ALACHUA, GAINESVILLE: The opposite of cheap coffee isn’t expensive coffee. The opposite of cheap coffee is GOOD coffee.

With a small, local town such as Alachua, Florida or Gainesville, Florida, one really can choose many places to enjoy a cup of GOOD coffee. The Gainesville Cakery website wants to share our favorite places with you. 

Dream Day Cakes

This amazing cakery in northwest Gainesville (just south of Alachua on US 441) serves an amazing cup of Colombian coffee. The owner, Yeni Monroy, is from Bogota, Colombia and knows a few things about coffee.

They also serve an incredible Italian espresso.

Their excellent coffee is also very reasonably priced. 12oz coffee goes for just $1.50 and Espresso is just $2.00.

This cakery serves excellent coffee.

Coffee Culture

Now with two locations in Gainesville (off of 13th street near Gainesville High School and on Newberry Road near Stonewood), this local coffee house serves excellent coffee at an excellent price.

With wi-fi, pastries, and other beverages, Coffee Culture is a great choice.

Avoid Chains

Wherever you enjoy coffee, choose a local, independent business over those named chains (like Starbucks).

Choosing a local, independent business to fill your coffee cup keeps the money local to our community!

Thanks for reading cakery, and we look forward to the next post.

Massage Throughout History — Cody Yelton, Licensed Massage Therapist

Cody’s based out of Gainesville, Florida. It’s a great read.

What are Cake Truffles?

Cake Truffles (aka Cake Balls or Cake Bites) are very similar to traditional chocolate truffles. Instead of a fruit or filling center, cake truffles contain moist cake and buttercream filling.  They are normally rolled by hand, dipped in chocolate, and then decorated. 

Where can I find these in Alachua, Florida?

Since becoming very popular, you can actually find these delicious cake truffles almost anywhere– even Sam’s Club is selling cake truffles. That being said, not all cake truffles are created equal! For a true, gourmet cake truffle you need to visit a cakery, bakery, or cake shop such as Dream Day Cakes®, right here in Alachua.

How much are they?

Prices can change depending on size and quantity– although some shops tend to slap around words like “gourmet” or use fancy boxes to charge an extra premium. On the low end, cake truffles cost $1.00 to $1.50 each. A good, fair price is $2.00/cake truffle. Many local bakeries will even discount based on a dozen or more ordered.

Flavors?

Generally, flavors chosen will work with either white or dark chocolate. One of the most popular flavors is Red Velvet.

Cake Truffles are the perfect dessert. In the Alachua area, we recommend visiting Dream Day Cakes for locally manufactured gourmet cake truffles. You can also learn how to make these on your own with such sites as Bakerella or YouTube.

Gainesville Cakery featured on Half Baked

Congratulations to Dream Day Cakes® for representing Gainesville with an AMAZING cake.

The word gourmet comes from the French. Originally dealing with wine connoisseurs and their sophisticated pallets, the term gourmet dealt with persons with a sophisticated love of food or for people having a love of good food.

In the 80′s, many specialty food (especially coffees) would have a gourmet and sub-gourmet blend. As food companies noted that people would pay more for products labeled gourmet, the word became over saturated. Of course, you can’t throw new paint on a car and call it something it isn’t. The same thing works for gourmet.

Is it really gourmet?

If someone’s selling you something gourmet, there’s a real simple way to verify the authenticity of the claim. First, ask them the ingredients. Gourmet products should only use fresh, very high quality ingredients. A true manufacturer will gladly tell you the ingredients of their products. Why? They’re proud of the ingredients they use.

Real gourmet products never use processed ingredients such as high-fructose corn syrup, mixes, or processed oils. Fresh butter, real sugar, and “from scratch” will be used in all gourmet products.

Gainesville Gourmet

There’s excellent locally owned gourmet products made in Gainesville, Florida. Some of our favorites include:

• Embers™ — Chef Briton Dumas prepares only the highest quality food, service and ambiance to create an exceptional dining experience in Gainesville. Using only USDA Prime Cut Meat, Embers™ clearly uses only the best ingredients.
• Dream Day Cakes® — Cake Artist/Baker Yeni Monroy prepares fresh high quality ingredients into the finest baked goods you’ve ever tasted. Their professional bakery products incredible cakes, cake truffles, and baked goods that are truly gourmet.
• Las Margaritas — Yes, a Mexican restaurant can also be gourmet. How? By using only authentic cooking methods, fresh food, high quality ingredients, and a commitment to excellent. Las Margaritas is gourmet food at an incredible price.