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Wendy Kromer has a wedding cake for just about any style or taste. The master baker and decorator who has been creating cakes for Martha Stewart Weddings magazine for more than a decade is based at Wendy Kromer Confections in Sandusky.

For those who can't make it to the cake gallery extraordinaire at 137 East Water St., there's a picture book of wedding cakes to give any bride ideas in style and taste. Ms. Kromer has collaborated with Martha Stewart on the Martha Stewart's Wedding Cakes by Martha Stewart with Wendy Kromer (Clarkson Potter, $60).

The project started in 2006. "The book has cakes that we've published over the years," said Ms. Kromer in a phone interview. "Half are mine."

She doesn't have a favorite design. "I love them all," she said.

Pink Madeleine Cake is pictured on the inside back cover of the book and a selection in the book. "Pink Madeleine Cake is a cake you immediately want to cut into," she said. The lemon-flavored cookie-like madeleines are nestled against shell-pink buttercream tiers and wrapped in gold ribbon. The citrus taste is carried over to the light and airy sponge cake, which is brushed with lemon syrup.

There are classic piped cakes, including the Seven-Tier Classic Cake, and candy shop cakes such as the Patterned Nonpariel Cake which is a dramatic confection fashioned from different sizes of chocolate nonpariel candies attached to a fondant coating with dots of royal icing.

Among a bride's many decisions is whether to decorate the cake in fondant or buttercream icing. "Fondant is still gaining ground," said Ms. Kromer. "But people still love buttercream cake."

Guidelines in the book mention at least a dozen flavors of cake, including almond cornmeal pound cake, carrot cake, and mocha spice cake. Frostings and fillings include caramel-cream cheese filling, lemon curd, and whipped chocolate ganache.

Also featured is how to choose the right style and flavors, considering the season, location, and theme of the event, and creative ways to display the cake. There are triple-tiered cakes, a tower of cupcakes, Pink Cherry Blossom Cake with gum-paste blossoms, and miniature cakes for guests.

Ms. Kromer estimates she spent 12 to 14 weeks in New York in 2007 working on the book and making cakes for Weddings magazine. This year she'll be promoting the book, working on cakes for Weddings magazine, and working on the wedding cake bookings for her Sandusky shop, which is expanding in the coming months.

The 19th annual Boston Wine Festival will begin Friday and continue through April 4. Hosted by the Boston Harbor Hotel, the festival offers more then 50 food and wine pairing events. This includes a variety of evening receptions, wine seminars, dinners, and themed Sunday brunches.

Among the events is Battle of Cabernets Jan. 16, 17, and 18; a Champagne Dinner at 7 p.m. Feb. 14; a Valentine's Dinner Dance at 7 p.m. Feb. 15, and a Valentine's Brunch at 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 17. A Jazz Brunch on Feb. 24 will have Cajun-influenced cuisine inspired by the French Quarter Wine Festival.

For information and tickets, call 888-660-WINE or visit www.
bostonwinefestival.net.

There's a renaissance in cheese-making, according to the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. Cheese-makers are rediscovering the past when farmstead operations, pasture grazing, and the aging of cheese were common.

As elegant, upscale cheese shops open around the country, supermarkets are also going more upscale to be competitive. There is interest by some in developing in-store cheese centers that feature more specialty and artisanal items. Cheese centers will be stocked with compatible foods and beverages. Leading supermarket chains are developing private label programs.

Not only is there growth in Hispanic cheese selections such as queso blanco and fresco, there is also interest in savory, not-so-sweet desserts that feature spices and cheese such as a black pepper shortbread with Asian pears.

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