Traveling to Oxnard for tasting #2. Finding the place was easy thanks to google maps, but there’s no proper exit going west bound on the 101, so we had to find our way onto the other side of the freeway by some magical mystery route.

We ended up on time and at A Gift of Taste. First impressions of the place was “wow, this is kinda ghetto”. But the cakes tasted way better than our first adventure, granted they didn’t have the pomp and frills of the last time.

So we had the Chocolate w/Mocha Chocolate mousse, Marble w/fresh strawberries, and a white cake w/raspberry-chiffon custard. All of these were pretty sick, despite the fact that they looked like something I could have made in 5 seconds, but it got the job done as far as tasting goes.

The fresh strawberry one was my favorite, but we’re also thinking about our location and time of year we’re going to be having the wedding. We’re also unsure that everyone would like strawberries, so a strawberry-chiffon custard option would most likely be our best bet.

Ultimately I felt like we weren’t getting the proper attention at their small cramped table on the side of the wall. We were more like a side-show to their plethora of decorations they had on display in their crowded store (reminded me more of Hallmark than a bakery). They forgot forks at first, the cake fell over and went everywhere after one person would attempt to cut with the side of the fork, and we were told we would be one of four wedding cakes that day. Yah, wedding cakes.

We have two other places in mind to check out, so we’re hoping to feel comfortable with the people and the taste of the cake and be done with our decision. This hasn’t been the easiest decision making process like I anticipated, but perhaps we’re making up for everything else which came together so smoothly.

Today, me and my future extended family went to our first location of cake tastings called For Heavens Cakes. Granted I’ve never been to a tasting before so I had little to no expectations, so the name of the place wasn’t out of place with my feelings about it all. My first impression going in was YES CAKE. But no, it’s not all about the cake. There’s money and thinking involved. F***.

First they brought out four samples for us four that we could try.

Out came some of the more popular samples people tend to choose from. White cake with a raspberry puree, chocolate devil’s food, yellow cake, and a weird donut looking orange flavor one. I wished that I liked chocolate more cause that one was super good. I never really liked yellow cake, the orange one was plain weird, so we eventually decided that white cake would best. Okay time to think. They won’t make you another cake, so at this point you have to imagine what these flavors would taste like if you shuffled them around with each other.

So we got white cake decision out of the way. Sweet. Now we had to pick a type of filling. Strawberry sounded nice. Okay. Then the frosting, buttersomething or other. K. Then flower arrangement decor. Uhm, fresh? K. Then it’s all about design. Luckily we went in there with a photo my fianceé picked out, and I’m not super picky and I naturally agreed that it looks rad. Simple right? Maybe for us.

Then they did the whole “Oh you gotta book us fast if you wanna have something locked in for your wedding!”. No. “We’re going to be airing a reality tv show in May things will really pick up for us then so you gotta throw a deposit down soon!”. Really? No. We’re not getting married in June or July and how much attention will you really be giving us in September if you have a “reality tv show” to deal with? Hmm?

Regardless, we’re looking forward to the next place on our list in the next week or so. Overall it was a good experience, but I don’t see us locking this place in just yet.