You definitely don't need to despair if you're throwing a baby shower and you're a lousy baker. There should be no need of nightmares of baby shower cakes dancing in your head. Your friendly neighborhood baker is there to help you!
The bakery is a veritable treasure trove of edibles. Just about anything you need for your baby shower menu may be found there. The first thing you should do is take a trip over and find out what they regularly have. And then, talk to the baker, if you can, to find out what he can give you on special order. Bakers usually love a challenge, and if it's a special type of bread you need – for example, the baby shower theme is October Harvest Moon and you need a wheat sheaf loaf to make the setting and the meal perfect – he'll be able to work that out given a sufficient amount of time.
The bakery can provide you with a ton of other things, too. The most common food you can get at the bakery is bread, of course, which you will need for your sandwiches and as sides for your salad or soup. Now, the hard part is deciding what kind of bread you will buy! If you live in a big city like New York, for example, you'll really be spoilt for choice with the goodies that are offered.
All kinds of pastries are available at the bakery, too. French or Danish pastries, muffins, cupcakes, gingerbread, cookies, and brownies are all available for order. There are other special things you can order, too, like ice cream sandwiches and cream cheese brownies. It really depends on how adventurous your baker is!
Lastly, you could definitely place your order for the baby shower cake here. Ask to see the pictures of previous baby shower cakes so you have an idea of the baker's style of decorating. Don't be afraid to bring in a picture of what you like, either. Have a discussion with the baker as to what's possible and how you can adapt the picture to suit your theme. He may have some great suggestions you hadn't thought about.
There are different types of cakes you can order; your baker will probably give you a choice as to whether you'd like a butter cake or a sponge cake and will give you advice on what to choose based on the decorations that you want. Basically, a butter cake is used when there are heavy decorations involved, like perhaps a teddy bear made out of fondant. A sponge cake is lighter (which doesn't have to mean that it has less calories) so it is used when the decorations are light, for example, fresh flowers, fresh berries, or sugar flowers.
What if the cakes are beyond your budget? Your baker can help you
there, too. You can just order a cake base that is covered with
a bare coat of icing that you can just decorate on your own with
decorations that you can just purchase online.