1 Do you have dairy-free options? Yes, to order: we make the carrot and apple cake without dairy. It is the same one we usually recommend for its high proportion of fibre-rich fruit, walnuts and raisins, and for carrying very little added sugar. 2 Do you make the cakes yourselves, or have them made? We make them ourselves. Every one of our cakes is the work of our own team, in our own kitchen, with fresh ingredients and by hand. 3 Do the cakes contain preservatives? No. We use no preservatives and no artificial additives: the cakes are made with fresh ingredients and by hand. 4 Do the fondant colours stain your mouth or teeth? Very intense fondant colours, black, deep red, royal blue, can tint the tongue for a while. It is temporary, it goes on its own and it has no consequences. 5 Who are L'Autrichienne by Sacher? A Mexican designed-cake bakery founded in the summer of 1999 by María Esther and her son Jaime, who began baking at home. The first shop opened in November 2000. We were among the first in Mexico to work with fondant and to coin the term pastelería de diseño. 6 How much does the cake actually weigh? Does the decoration count? The weight you order is edible cake, which is what gets served. Modelled decoration, sugar flowers and supports do not count as servings: they are work, not yield. 7 Do you have gluten-free, vegan or diabetic-friendly cakes? We are developing a gluten-free, vegan and refined-sugar-free line. Today we have a Keto Cheesecake with no added sugar and no gluten. For diabetics we usually recommend the carrot and apple cake, which carries very little added sugar. 8 Do you have seasonal products? Yes. Alongside the permanent catalogue we make Rosca de Reyes, with chocolate on top and in the filling, artisan cakes for Mother's Day, Christmas desserts and special collections through the year. 9 Do you make cakes for pets? Dog birthdays are a real thing and we are asked about them more than you would imagine. Our cakes are made for people: they contain sugar, chocolate and dairy, and chocolate is toxic to dogs. 10 Do you do dessert tables? What do they include? Yes, and they are built to match the main cake: the same colours, the same palette, the same feel. We usually combine cupcakes, decorated cookies, cakepops, breakables and individual pieces. We put them together from 50 guests upwards. 11 Do you make cupcakes or cookies by the dozen? Yes. Cupcakes, decorated cookies, cakepops and breakables are sold by the piece or by the dozen, not by number of people. They work beautifully for offices, classrooms, thank-you gifts and dessert tables. 12 How is a wedding or quinceañera cake quoted? Bespoke, because the price depends on the servings, the complexity of the design and the set-up. For cakes for more than 100 people a tasting appointment is booked at one of the shops, the cake is settled with you, and the quote comes out of that with several proposals. 13 Does the cake come with candles or a knife? Every cake is delivered in its box and on a rigid base, so you can handle it without touching the piece itself. Sparkler candles are sold separately. We do not currently supply knives. 14 Do you make cakes for companies and corporate events? Yes: cakes and desserts for companies, brand launches and celebrations. We have created pieces for the Museo Soumaya and for Cirque du Soleil, and we developed Cake & Bake Masters, which brought international pastry chefs together in Mexico. 15 Can I see the cakes in person before ordering? Yes, and it is what we recommend when the cake matters. At all three shops you can see finished pieces in the case, touch the fondant, look at the finishes close up and talk to an adviser who will show you references. 16 Can I taste the cake before buying it? Only for wedding and quinceañera cakes for more than 100 people: a tasting appointment is booked at any of the three shops. For every other order there is no tasting. 17 Can I put a message or a dedication on it? Of course, and there is no charge. Write us the text exactly as you want it to appear, with its accents and its punctuation, because we copy it literally. If a name has a particular spelling, that is the one that goes on. 18 Can I put fresh flowers on the cake? Yes, and at weddings it looks beautiful. It has to be done properly: not every flower is safe against food, and several of the prettiest are toxic or arrive treated with florists' chemicals. 19 Can I ask for an exact colour? Yes, and it is one of the most frequent requests for weddings and quinceañeras, where the cake has to match the palette of the event. Ideally send us a photo of the fabric, the invitation or the flowers, not just the name of the colour. Burgundy means different things to different people. 20 Can I order the cake undecorated so I can decorate it myself? Yes, in two ways. We can hand you the cake covered in fondant only, at a base price, so you put whatever you like on top. Or a naked cake, that style where the sponge shows between the layers of filling, which is not a half-finished cake but a finish in its own right. 21 Can you copy a cake I saw online? We can take it as a reference and work from that idea, which is what we do every day. Bring it without hesitation. 22 Can you personalise the cake to my idea? Yes, it is our speciality. You can bring a photo, a sketch or a description and we will work it out with you. Custom decorated cakes have a minimum of 4 kilos. 23 I have a design made with artificial intelligence. Can you make it? Yes, and we love it when you arrive with a clear image of what you want. Just bear one thing in mind: we are bakers, not printers. We will get as close as we possibly can and it will be beautiful, but a real cake looks like a real cake, not like the perfect render on a screen. 24 Do you make cakes of film or cartoon characters? Yes, and we have whole collections devoted to the ones we are asked for most: superheroes, princesses, Mario Bros, Frozen, Barbie, dinosaurs, Harry Potter, Paw Patrol and several more. It is worth browsing the catalogue, because the design you want often already exists. 25 Do you make cakes with an edible photo? Yes. The image is printed on edible paper with food-grade inks and mounted on a catalogue cake or a bespoke one, so it is eaten along with the rest. 26 Do you make number or letter shaped cakes? Yes, they are among the most requested for milestone birthdays and first birthdays. They are done in two ways, depending on the effect you are after: sculpted as the number itself, or with the figure mounted on top of a cake. 27 How do I find out how my order is going? Ring the shop where you placed it with your order number, or message us on WhatsApp. The order number is what lets us find your order immediately. 28 How long have you been making cakes? Since the summer of 1999, at first from home and on a small scale. The first shop opened in November 2000. 29 How do I go about ordering a cake? There are three routes: the online catalogue, WhatsApp, or turning up at any of the three shops. For a catalogue cake the website is quickest; for a custom design it is worth talking to an adviser. 30 Do you have a catalogue with photos, sizes and prices? Yes: every design is photographed and explained in the online shop, with its servings and its price according to size. Wedding and quinceañera cakes are quoted separately because the price depends on the design. 31 Can you make a large catalogue cake smaller? It rarely works well, and we will say so plainly. A tiered cake was conceived with a balance and a movement of its own; cutting it down to one tier takes away exactly what you liked. What we do instead is propose options for fewer people with the same impact. 32 Is the whole cake really edible? Yes. Even though the design may look like a prop and the figures look artificial, everything is edible. The only things removed before cutting are the small fixings that hold the structure up. 33 Why isn't every flavour available in every shop? Because each shop's stock is replenished in cycles and they do not always coincide. If you cannot find a flavour, you can look for it at another shop or, more reliably, order it by phone two days ahead and we will have it ready wherever you like. 34 What counts as a small, medium and large cake? They are not official categories, but in practice they work out like this: small up to 2 kilos, medium from 3 to 5, and large from 6 kilos upwards, almost always in tiers. 35 What cake flavours do you offer? Twelve: expresso, blueberry cheesecake, trufa, rompope with coconut, apple and carrot, sacher torte, mont blanc, controy, black forest, amaretto, moka and nutella cake. Below is each one with what it contains, whether it carries liqueur and whether it takes fondant, because not all of them do. 36 Which flavour do you recommend when the guests are all sorts? When the table is mixed, with children, grandparents and people who do not eat chocolate, what works best is a gentle, not-too-sweet flavour, and letting the decoration take the lead. 37 How many people does a kilo of cake serve? Around ten pastry portions, which is the 100-gram slice: the one served after a meal, not as a main course. 38 Is there a minimum order? Each cake in the catalogue states its own minimum in kilos on its page. For custom decorated designs the minimum is 4 kilos. 39 Do the cakes have a filling? Can I choose it? Yes, and the filling comes with the flavour. Each flavour on the list is a considered combination of sponge and filling, tested so that it works together: the moisture, the sweetness and the texture are worked out as a whole. 40 Do the cakes contain alcohol? Eight of the twelve do: expresso, trufa, rompope with coconut, sacher torte, mont blanc, controy, black forest and moka. The four free of alcohol are the blueberry cheesecake, the apple and carrot, the amaretto and the nutella cake. 41 Do you make tres leches cake? It is not on our flavour list. We can make it to order, from 3 kilos upwards, because it is a very wet sponge and in small pieces it does not give the result we would want. 42 What is fondant, what does it taste like, and is it very hard? Fondant is an edible sugar paste, similar to modelling clay to work with but sweet and pleasant to eat. It is what makes the finishes and textures of a designed cake possible. 43 How many kilos of cake for 100 people? Ten kilos, with the same rule of 100 grams per person. From this size upwards the cake is almost always resolved in tiers, both for how it looks and for handling: a single ten-kilo piece is hard to move and hard to cut. 44 How many kilos of cake do I need for 50 people? Five kilos. It is the question we get most and the sum is simple: on cakes over two kilos we count slices of 100 grams per person, so you just divide the number of guests by ten. 45 How do you cut a round cake so it goes further? The way most of us cut a round cake, in triangles from the centre like a pizza, is precisely the one that yields least. The triangles come out enormous at the edge and tiny at the point, and halfway through there is nowhere left to cut. 46 How do you cut a tiered cake? From the top down, tier by tier, never all three at once. First lift the top tier onto a separate plate, cut its portions, and only then move to the next. 47 Can I combine several flavours in one cake? On cakes for more than 150 people, yes: one section of tiers in one flavour and another section in another. On sculpted cakes it cannot be done, because holding two different textures inside a carved piece is not workable. 48 What if I have no room in the fridge? It happens more than you would think, especially with tiered cakes. Three ways out, best to worst: genuinely make room, collect as late as possible, or arrange it with the venue. 49 Can a cake be frozen? A designed cake, better not. Fondant and the freezer do not get on: as it thaws, moisture in the air condenses on the surface, the finish turns sticky, marks and loses its shine. Modelled figures soften and colours can run. 50 What do I do with the leftover cake? Cover the cut face with cling film so the sponge does not dry out, and keep it refrigerated. It will hold well for another couple of days.