Cakes by Graham

We love our cake baker. He is awesome. Cakes by Graham is the sole cake baker recommended by our venue, Virginia Crossings Resort, and for good reason. Graham's the best. He was a baker with the British Royal Navy for 15 years. Then he crossed the pond, and began working for some top bakeries in Central Virginia when he decided to go into business for himself. We met with Graham for the first time a few weeks ago. I definitely appreciate their scheduling flexibility. We met with them on a Saturday morning, Graham's busiest day of the week, but they new we were coming from Maryland and called to let us know once he had a Saturday opening. On arriving at his business, the first thing we saw was the model cakes in the window. He does cakes for all occasions. When we went inside, we found ourselves in the cutest little sitting room with comfy couches and table holding numerous albums of cakes that Graham had made. In front of us, was a very updated reception desk, with the necessary office equipment and there were cabinets on the two walls behind the desk. Throughout the whole room were little baker collectibles and figurines. Many were in display cases. Some were on tops of the cabinets, a couple were whimsically hung from the ceiling, and all the little bakers looked like Graham! I suppose that many of them were gifts from clients. There were also frames news articles and plaques on the walls, as well as a digital photo frames showing images of some of Graham tasty works of art. We sat on the sofa, and in front of us was a framed welcome sign that read "Welcome Miss Glen Allen and Mr Glen Allen. Please make yourselves comfortable. Graham has another client at the moment, but he will be with you in just a few minutes." How thoughtful! Next to the sign was another little baker figurine holding a tray for samples. In a few minutes, Graham came out a greeted us and brought us into his office, where he sat at this lovely little antique desk. To the right and left behind the desk were armoires holding more display cakes. We discussed out thoughts for our weddings for our wedding cake, pretty briefly, because Fi and I had no idea what we wanted. We were pretty much leaving it to Graham to use his creative license and make a masterpiece. He told us all about the elements of cake construction relating to the shape, size, flavoring, and decoration. We definitely learned alot. We designed what we're sure will be a beautiful cake, and the samples were delicious!!! One thing I had been concerned about was potentially dry cake. Before this meeting, I had never tasted Graham's cake before. Needless to say, I am no longer worried. His cake was so good, and very moist. We left so excited about our wedding cake and about Graham. Our cake will be 3 square tiers, turned, with buttercream frosting, decorated in ivy and pearl designs with our monogram on the top tier. Our cake topper will be fresh flowers, and we will have flowers decorating the rest of the cake as well. Of course, our cake is not baked, yet, but here are a few pictures of some of Grahams creations.

We can't forget about the grooms, now can we? I'm considering changing this to an Xbox 360 for my groom's cake. I detest video games, but for my darling . . . anything.

For Henrico County's finest . . .

A few days later, Graham's assistant placed a follow-up call to us to thank us for our visit and to see if we had any questions. They definitely gave us excellent service and answered all our questions in the first meeting, but it was thoughtful of them to call afterwards. The service provided by Cakes by Graham has been excellent.