Best Deals on Buying Cake Supplies

Photo borrowed from Yelp, because I forgot to take one!

Buying supplies for a small business is a part time job in itself, especially if you are watching your pennies. I have spent hours comparing prices, shipping charges and finding new vendors. For today's blog post I'm going to tell you where I have found the best deals for me. Keep in mind that I live in Georgia so my shipping charges my vary widely from yours.

http://sweetwise.com
FondX, Elite, candy melts, meringue powder, some cake boards and boxes. They have a lot of other tools and such that are equally priced as their competitors. I love "the Mat" and don't think I could cover cakes without it! They also carry Satin Ice but I don't like it so I don't buy it anywhere.

http://www.ckproducts.com
This is for wholesale and you must have a business license but the prices are worth the trouble. There is a $150 minimum but that's pretty easy to spend. I get my cake boards and all sorts of CK products here. My hint, do not get their brand of fondant. It is horrible!

http://www.sugardelites.com
They have so great and unique molds and a nice variety of decorating tools. I also love they special way of wrapping all their packages in a
personal way.

http://www.discountsugarflowers.com. (Wholesale Sugar Flowers)
Cheap and Nice gum paste and royal icing flowers. They have a big selection but sometimes you will need to order ahead a bit. Don't wait to buy peonies you need in June when you need them the next week. They will be out of stock.

Sam's Club and Costco
We buy butter, sugar, eggs, and all the other food staples. We also get aprons and paper towels here. The fresh fruit is so much cheaper than local grocery stores and even wholesale produce companies! Sam's has let me down many times by being out of a staple that I needed. I like having the Costco as a backup.

Local Restaurant Supply Shop
They don't have to see your business license unless you want to be tax exempt. I only buy large quantities of boxes from these guys. They are more expensive until you factor in shipping from the other guys. It's a killer on boxes!

http://caljavaonline.com
Specialty gum paste flowers. These are way more expensive than Wholesale Sugar Flowers, but sometimes that is what you need.

http://www.cakedeco.com  (Pfeil & Holing)
Very lard containers of sanding sugar, jimmies and quinn's. Quinn's are the little circles sprinkles that people are putting a ton on a cake and painting them to look like sequins.

http://sugarartstudio.com
These people have the prettiest gum paste flowers pictured to drool over! They only sell the cutter to make them, but they are great tools! I love all their other cutters for Art Deco, repeating patterns and well everything! Their stuff is great and I don't care how much it costs!

http://www.dallas-foam.com/store/cakedummies.html
Cake styrofoam dummies and separator pieces. They are already cheap, but if you buy $200, you can get a 40% discount, but then you have to buy more!

http://www.polymerclayexpress.com/products/artway-tools
Best and biggest extruded guns and various dies. Love mine!

http://www.globalsugarart.com/index.php
Full disclosure, I used to buy a lot from these guys. I have been finding better prices, shipping and products on the first two sites listed above.

http://www.firstimpressionsmolds.com
Silicone molds with a huge selection! There are sites above that carry these molds, but they don't have the full selection or good sales with nice discounts.

http://www.designerstencils.com
Favorite stencils ever! Just like the molds above, you can get them elsewhere but not with as big of a selection.

Fondarific on Fondarific.com vs. Amazon.com
I use Fondarific for making lots of decorations like bead borders because the chill up hard very quickly so they don't distort when unfolding. A WHOLESALE account with shipping factored in is almost the same price as what I can buy the same thing on Amazon for a few dollars more. I have a Prime membership so I get free two day shipping and that is factored in here. It's kind of a pain buying from Fondarific Wholesale so I'm going to stick with Amazon for this.

I know this was a long post, but we buy from a lot of places. If you have a favorite place to buy supplies, please let us know so we can learn from your experiences too!

With a Little Help From Your Friends....

Congratulations Chris & Nancy!

For many years Chad and I have had a very special friend.  We treasure the time we get to hang out and chat because he's a fancy lawyer and works a million hours a week.  Luckily he found love in his own office and married his paralegal of fourteen years!  Some say that it was a long time coming!   We really didn't know his bride, Nancy, and had only met her briefly a couple of times.  She's fantastic though!  It's been especially challenging trying to help since they live an hour away.  When he told us they were engaged, I begged him to bring her up early and let me guide her in the planning process.  They did not come until a month before the wedding so that they could have a cake consultation.  At that point there was a plan in place, just incomplete.  That day, she was so overwhelmed with all she had to do that she almost didn't come.  By the end of the night, she had a good plan in place and finally started looking forward to the wedding.  I volunteered to help find some decorations, make the cakes as our gift, help decorate the tents the day before, to help figure how the food was going to be placed and to cut the cakes.  They had no decorations for the tents, so I talked to my favorite florist for some ideas and started ordering goodies.  Luckily Nancy was very easy to please and was so grateful for the help that there wasn't a lot of back and forth.  I'd send her some pictures and she would say, "great! buy them!"

I wish that I could say everything was smooth and easy.  People just don't understand how much is involved in throwing the most expensive "party" of your life.  The world sells this "magical time" kind of thing when it's NOT.  It's stressful and expensive and stressful.  There are power struggles between families, friends and bridesmaids.  There are vendors that forget orders and don't deliver what you had in your head.  The weather does not care that you are getting married, nor do the bugs!
For this wedding we had a special view of the process.  I hope that if you are getting married or know someone that is walking down the aisle soon, this may help in some small way.   Here is SOME of what we learned. 

The first challenge in helping the couple was the wedding was in a town that I don't have vendor friends and don't know who is good or bad.  Anyone can have a good website or fake good reviews, but word of mouth from fellow vendors is truly priceless.  Read online reviews on Facebook and WeddingWire.com.  They can be a great resource.

The second challenge was that they were holding the wedding at their home.  It wasn't necessarily a money saving decision, but partly so everyone could see their new home and so they could make memories there.  Chad and I also got married at our home only a month after we moved in.  I cannot stress this enough, don't do it.  You can't get a minute of peace, the house is a wreck and it's hard to get people to leave when all you want to do it go to bed.  It's a crazy time in your life and you just added the stress of cleaning the house and presenting it to everyone you know.  If you pick a hotel, for example, you can get a room to get ready in and get away from all the family.  Also, most of the extras are already there.  Tables, cloths, food, drinks, and rooms for out of town guests are a "given" instead of an "unknown"

The third challenge was that I didn't know anyone that Nancy was relying on to complete wedding tasks.  I didn't know if these people were dependable, had good taste, or if they had egos that I didn't want to step on.  I admit, I'm an "alpha" and have no problem taking lead on projects.  That is my default way, but when you come into a situation where you don't know anyone and really don't want to peeve anyone off that you just met, it's a little tricky.  Chad and I just did our thing, decorating our little buns off, and if people asked us if they could help, we gave them a task.  It wasn't my place to boss their people but after about eight hours with no break, I really wanted to, but I didn't...mostly.  There were several people that were fantastic and it was great to have them help! 

The fourth challenge was having no wedding planner.  I advised the couple to get a "day of" planner and sent a few names that I found.  I never asked why they didn't hire one, but let me tell you how it would have helped.  The day before, while everyone was gathering for a rehearsal one family member was late and it held everyone else up.  The DJ was running things and needed to leave thirty minutes before he did.  A planner could have been the "bad guy" and said we need to go ahead without her and fill her in on the details later.  The planner would also have a crew that could have helped with all the last minute set up details, like how to place tables.  The day of the wedding, a planner would have organized everyone and kept things on schedule.  Ten minutes before the wedding, the punch concentrate was still frozen and the food wasn't out.  I think a planner keeps things running on time, but not too fast also. 

The fifth challenge was that all the major "helpers" they were counting on were in the wedding party.  They were all dressed up and had places to be and stand.  Getting the dark purple punch out was not what they needed to be doing.  If you are getting married, your friends are there to enjoy the day with you, especially your close friends.  Do not make them work.  Hire people through the caterer or a planner.  Even just to pick up trash and refresh the food.  Who do you think is going to do that?  The day of was extra hard for these reasons.  Guests are busy being guests.

As a baker, I was sad that the couple didn't get 30 seconds to look at their cakes before they cut them.  They didn't get to eat either, but I didn't make the food :)  It's just one of those things that happens on the wedding day that I'm glad I don't normally witness.  I'm glad they have pictures afterwards.  My advice is to not have an outdoor wedding, too many variables and hot weather stinks!  This wedding was fine, but it rained the morning of and things were squishy and muddy.  The wedding cakes we delivered this weekend were at a "fancy" barn.  It was a beautiful OVEN.  My poor cakes and those poor guests.  How is that a fairytale?

After all was done and we were unbelievably tired, we were glad that we could help make their special day better.  I want any bride and groom to be able to enjoy the day while soaking in the love from everyone that wishes them well. 

Do you get bored?

I'm tired and maybe a little grumpy, so you get a grumpy blogger. :) Too many weddings, graduations and parties happening at the same time! We are in the height of the event season. We have made a version of this cake so often that I don't think I can say another thing about it! I'm getting bored with this design. I've made it in every combination, color and shape! But brides keeping asking for it as a whole or in parts! They all think it's an "original" idea. I've removed it from my inspiration scrapbook that brides look at as well as my Pinterest page. I don't think decorators should talk brides out of designs they have their hearts set on, BUT we don't want to copy another decorators work and we want to make something we like. That doesn't really matter does it?

I've been making cakes for over eight years and I still don't feel like my cakes show my taste and vision. They show good workmanship but are often not my original idea. Some brides have to see a cake in a photograph, often in their own colors. I really envy companies like the Caketress and Cotton & Crumbs. They have a distinct style that was perfected by them and is now being copied all over the world. Maybe they get bored with those designs too!

My Fourth Blogiversary!

Well, this week marks the fourth year my little old blog has been in existence.  In the beginning I didn't know if I would like writing it, or if anyone would even read it.  There's the occasion when I get really busy and it feels like work, but for the most part I really like sharing and communicating with other decorators from around the world.

Participating in the online caking community has been very rewarding.  I have made several very good friends, learned a lot about new cake techniques, and even had my cakes featured on several websites.  This last year alone I have had 2 cakes featured in digital cake publications.

So what does the next year hold?  Well I hope to do some more awesome cakes, learn a few new skills, and maybe even see some more of my cakes published.  And I would love to make some new friends... so more of the same!

And I really want to thank each of you for stopping by and reading my posts and flipping through my tutorials.  There will be more of those coming too!

Happy Third Blogiversary... to Me!!!

Chaddy reminded me yesterday that Wednesday was our 3rd year blogiversary.  It doesn't seem like I have been marking up this little corner of the interwebs for 3 whole years, but it's true!

I started writing this blog because I thought it might bring more brides to my website, and it does, as sometimes brides will mention it during a phone call or consultation.  But I soon found that I was finding it personally rewarding as well.  It was just nice to write down my feelings and troubles, and not to get all ten-dollar-wordy on you, but it was truly cathartic.  And soon after, other decorators showed up and agreed and sympathized with my problems.  And lots of you told me what a great job I was doing as I honed my cake skills.  Cleansing, validation, and respect (with a smidge of marketing) all in one place - why would I ever leave??

I do admit there's times when the blog becomes more of a chore, but I'm an opinionated girl, so I always eventually find something to talk about.  But I also want to hear from you!  As my little blog begins it's fourth year of existence is there anything you want to see more (or less) of?  Would you be heartbroken if I switched to blogging once a week instead of twice? 

Let me know in the Comments!
  

Cup a Dee Craft Time!

I have had a problem for quote some time.  When I meet with brides and we start discussing gumpaste flowers, they usually will want to see them.  And I'll confess right here and now that I buy a lot of my gumpaste flowers.  I have found that they look better than the ones I make and when I factor in the time it takes me to make them, they are more cost effective for the client (and me!).  So I wind up going into the pantry to pull out box after box of roses, lillies, etc. to show to the bride.  It's an "unelegant" moment to an otherwise classy and elegant consultation.

Then I had the idea to put a sample of each flower into a shadow box.  That way the bride can see each flower up close and personal.

To make your own, you'll only need a few things:

• Shadowboxes to hold all your flowers (I used 2)
• Floral pins, staples, hot glue, or other method of adhering the flowers to the back board
• Wire cutters
• Some gumpaste flowers to display (of course!)

I bought 2 18x24 shadowboxes at Michael's Craft Stores.  They were buy one, get one free so that was a bonus!  The back of the frame is also where you will pin your flowers, but it comes right off!  Word to the wise... when you flip the back over, make sure your hangers are facing the right way, you don't want you flowers hanging upside down!

Start arranging your flowers out on the board.  I tried to line mine up so that similar flowers were together and things lined up as nicely as possible.  Did you ever have to do a leaf collection in grade school?  Channel those memories here!  I found that clipping the wires with my snips made things look a little nicer.

Once you have things looking like you want, you can start affixing your flowers.  I initially used big floral picks/staples, but they didn't really hold like I wanted them to.  I found that hot glue worked best, although I know that sort of ruins my board if I want to rearrange things in the future.  I also found that some of my flowers were a little too big to fit in the shadowbox and got crushed at first. Most of them I was able to manipulate so that they would fit.

Once you have all the flowers arranged, make sure you have cleaned up any gumpaste or wire bits from the board and put it into the shadowbox frame.  Then just mount it on the wall and you will have a very nice display for customers to look at as they pick out flowers for their big cake!

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

A Belated Christmas Gift!

I have several nieces and nephews, but there's only one school-aged niece in the family.  Kaitie's still a tween, and she still thinks I'm sorta cool.  The bad news is that her family lives in Oregon so I don't get to see them a lot.  But when I do, she always wants to see her Auntie Jen and make cakes! So for Christmas, I put together a cake decorating kit with some basic tools, some fondant, some cutters and other stuff and I sent it to her.  She was very tickled with it, but then I get the following pictures in my Inbox this week and I was SO thrilled!

Using the food markers on her leaves

Didn't her leaves turn out great?

The finished product!  Kaitie did excellent!!

 I enjoy passing down any cake wisdom I can, but it's especially fun when it's children (and family)! Have a great weekend!!

Green & Brown Wedding Cake

As you read this, I'll be traveling to Nashville to attend a food blogger seminar put on by Food Blog Forum.  I guess technically I am a "food blogger" as I do blog about food, but I still feel a little isolated, because I'm certainly not the traditional food blogger.  But I always enjoy meeting new people, and the topics they discuss at the seminar are all very applicable.  I am especially looking forward to the food stylists panel.

Speaking of food styling, take the photo of this cake here.  It was the prettiest shade of green and brown.  I even took it outside to get some of that sweet, sweet natural lighting.  But no matter what I tried, I just couldn't get my colors represented properly in my picture.  It seems like any chocolate accents on my cake always come out very black looking.

It's something I hope I can ask at Food Blog Forum this weekend.  Hopefully I'll give you all the lowdown on Tuesday (or maybe Friday)!

Have  great weekend!!  You can follow the action real-time on Twitter with hashtag #FBFNash!

Some of my First Cakes

A few weeks back I blogged about how I got started into cake decorating and how I wound up where I am today making a living doing something I truly enjoy.  Your comments were all so sweet with many of you expressing that you shared the same dream.

Since I did my buttercream smoothing tutorial I get maybe an e-mail a week from someone who has tried my method and still not happy with the way their cakes look.  I always tell them to keep practicing and keep decorating.  Just like any other artist, you will develop your own methods and your own sense of style over time.  And your cakes WILL get better!

So why am I saying all of this?  Well... I was going through some old photos the other night when I ran across some of the cakes I did when I was first starting out.  Chad and I looked through them and snickered and giggled at each one.  But, I was doing the best I could do at the time and I was really proud of them.

So for the novice bakers out there that see my current cakes and think "Wow, I could never do that", I wanted you to see that I didn't start out doing 5-tiered cakes or flawless buttercream.  Everyone else can just sit back and laugh like Chad and I did!!

Click on the picture for an even better look!

I know the firefly cake was one I recreated (I use the term very loosely) from the Whimsical Bakehouse book.  The rest I probably saw in a Woman's Day magazine or some such place.  That purple two-tiered cake was my Wilton final cake!  These were all giveaways, so luckily none of them should ever wind up on Cake Wrecks!  LOL!

Thanks for visiting!!

Happy Second Blogiversary!!

Holy cannolis, can you believe that's been 2 years since I first started this little blog?  In the past year my number of followers has tripled and I have made some really good friends along the way!

Birthdays and anniversaries are good times for reflection. And since I have had more than a few people ask me how I got to where I am now, I will tell the tale of how Cup a Dee came to be!

Seven years ago I lived the corporate lifestyle.  I worked for a big retail chain as a regional visual director.  I was on the road constantly traveling to 50+ stores.  I made good money, but I was never home to enjoy it, or my house, my kitties, or my husband.

But I had been bitten by the cake bug!  Heck, I had always liked baking, but the more frustrated I became at my job, the more I baked on the weekends to relieve that stress.  It felt good, and people were always happy to see what I brought them on Monday mornings.

One fateful business trip to New York we visited the Magnolia bakeshop.  People were lined out the door to buy cupcakes for $3 a piece!  And you were limited to a dozen!!  Somewhere in the back of my mind, wheels began to slowly turn.  If they can do it, why can't I?

During this time I continued to do free cakes on the weekends, and I bought every Woman's World or other checkout isle magazine that had cakes on it.  Chad and I started taking Wilton classes at Michael's craft store.

And then we booked a trip to Cancun using my frequent flyer miles, and stayed at the Westin resort using my hotel points.  It was the off-season and the resort wasn't busy, and honestly, we were having a fabulous time just resting by the pool.  I'm a big fan of "self help" books and I used to buy them all the time hoping I would find the time to read them.  One of the books I grabbed for this trip?  The Practical Dreamer's Handbook by Paul and Sara Evans.  I sat by the pool all week, sipping pina coladas and reading that book.  And it changed me (the book, not the drinks)!  I suddenly realized that there were others out there that had left the rat race for something simpler, something happier.  That week I gained a laser focus - I would someday be a baker.  I discussed it with Chad and we started a rough plan on how to make this dream happen.

Things at the corporate job got worse and worse, and now, since I knew something better was on the horizon, I was unwilling to put up with it.  I knew my simple happy life making cakes was just around the corner.  One day I came home after a horrible week at work and told Chad that I wanted to quit work and sell cakes.  The only problem: I didn't know how to sell cakes and I still wasn't great at it.  I considered culinary school, but we really didn't have the money for me to quit work AND spend tuition money.  As fate would have it, I found out about a pastry chef opening in Chattanooga.  The job was making cakes and pastries for 2 restaurants, a B&B, and a coffee shop.  It didn't pay much, but it would keep the bills paid.  I took the job and turned in my notice at my big girl job.

My 8 months in that pastry kitchen is what I now affectionately refer to as "pastry bootcamp".  I went in at 4am and I generally got home about 6pm each night.  Most weeks I worked 6 days, and it was a salaried position... so no overtime for me :(  But I was learning how to do things I never imagined, and best of all, I was learning the business aspects too.  I was also seeing mistakes they were making, and all the while taking notes on how I would run my own business someday.

Eight months later I finally felt I was ready so I began working with the local health department on what I needed to do to legally bake from my house.  The answer was building a separate addition on to my house.  We got a home equity loan and over the course of about 5 months made that happen..

I was now open, but where were all the customers?  I leveraged all my friends.  My friend Mark was a real-estate agent and he needed "Thank You" gift baskets for his clients.  So I made gift baskets with banana bread and cookies.  Another friend called to ask me if I could cater a luncheon at her office... sure I can!  If someone was hungry and had money, we could do business!

As I said when I started, that was almost 7 years ago.  I have continued to take classes and watch videos to hone my skills and now I exclusively do cakes from my little pink kitchen.  And I am happier than ever!

As I blow out these 2 tiny blogiversary candles, my wish is that everyone out there who hasn't already will find their dream and live it!

Bridal Show and Duff Meeting

Duff Signing our Ace of Cakes book

Wow, what a whirlwind weekend!  We worked on our show cake until 4 in the morning, setup our booth, finished 1400 samples, networked with vendors, and had a brief encounter with Duff Goldman!  It seems that all of the advertising brought in a lot of potential brides and cake fans from around the area.

At only 1 hour into the show, we had to leave out booth and wait in line in the VIP room to get Duff autograph.  This took us almost an hour and we only got to spend about 15 seconds with him.  We really hoped we would have had more face time with the Ace of Cakes!.

Than it was back to our booth and a few minutes later at 3:00 Duff came onstage for a live interview.  Since we had been out of our booth for so long, we had a line of brides waiting to talk to us, so we didn't get to hear a lot of what he said.  The tidbits we did hear:

• He told bakers and potential bakers to make sure they always value their work and make sure they always got paid for their time.  You bakers out there know that we have all made this mistake.
• The biggest news was that Duff has purchased a bakery location in Los Angeles and will soon move out there to start Charm City Cakes LA.  Geoff will be promoted to executive chef and will be running Charm City Cakes Baltimore.  I was SO shocked to hear this, Duff without Geoff is like peanut butter without jelly!

At 4:30 all the bakers in the competition were asked to go over to the competition area and wait by their cakes.  Chad and I left our booth once again and went and waited (and waited).  Eventually we were told that only one baker from each team (sorry Chad!) could go back stage with Duff to wait for the competition results.  When we got back there, Duff was not there, the coordinators had whisked him to some back room area.

Our cakes were judged, but we weren't present for the judging, and we didn't get to see our score sheets, but my brother was nearby taking pictures when Duff starting judging our cake.  Duff's first words were "Damn, that's a nice cake!". Whooooo, I was on cloud nine when I heard that (still am)!

Duff wasn't the only celebrity there!

We also got a visit from Shannon from Family Bites Blog!  She came all the way down from Nashville!  We hadn't seen here since the Food Blogger Forum back in September and it was good to catch up with her.

Rumor even has it that she got so close to Duff at point that she could have hugged him, but resisted the urge!  LOL!

And we met some new friends too.  I spoke to these 2 ladies for the longest time.  They are aspiring decorators and we talked about the wonders of modeling chocolate.  Once it was all said and done I don't even think they told me their names.  So ladies, if you happen to read this post, please leave a comment and introduce yourselves!!

As always, I appreciate all of you that stop by and read my blog and especially those of you that take the time to comment on my posts.  This blog has been cake poor for the last week or so, but I will definitely have a cake for you on Tuesday.  I am doing my first cake for Icing Smiles this weekend!

Formal Affair 2011 Cake Competition

OK, so the bridal show and the cake competition is finally over!  Sadly, we did not win, but we had a great time making the cake and an even better time visiting with the other cake competitors.  There is a lot of great cake talent in Chattanooga, and it was great to see everyone's different styles come together.  I am proud to be among them.

I will go into greater detail in future posts, but today I'll be discussing the cake competition.

This is going to be a lengthy post, so click the link below to read all about it!

Still Working on Competition Cake!

OK, gang... so really the only extra time I have had since the last post on Tuesday was to find another picture of Duff to post - at least it's cute and cartoony, right?

Chad and I have been up until almost midnight every night working on decorations for the big cake at the Formal Affair Bridal Show on Sunday.  If you are in the Chattanooga area, drop by the Trade Center for a chance to see Duff Goldman, and maybe even see me too!  I am proud to report that we are just a wee bit behind our schedule, but we are having a good time even though we are getting really tired at this point.

I still have all day (and night) today (Friday) and I'll have time on Saturday after we set our booth up to put on those finishing touches.  We'll take a camera and maybe even ask some of our photog friends if they'll snap plenty of pictures for a nice mega-post on Tuesday to make up for these last 2 wimpy ones!

"No" New Year's Resolution

Earlier this week, my friend Kathia at Pink Little Cake blogged about a staying up late to do a last-minute order for a customer and how hard it was for her to say "No".  My comment was that bakers as a whole have a hard time saying No.  Is it our compulsion to make for and feed others, or is it as simple as not wanting to lose a paying customer?

It reminded me that I haven't shared my New Year's resolution with you all.  It's to learn better how to say "No" when I know I should. 

Case in point:  February is a horribly jam-packed month for us.  Two bridal shows (1 / 2) and a cake competition to be judged by none other than Duff Goldman of Charm City Cakes (but that's another post), and a special tasting at the Chattanoogan, not to mention the scarce few orders I felt I could take to bring in some revenue for the month..  And then I get a call from my good friend Tara at The Car Barn.  She is so excited and tells me that ABC's Extreme Home Makeover is coming to Chattanooga and she wants me to do a big elaborate cake for the fundraiser.  It broke my heart to tell her No, but I had already committed my time to these other people and projects.

I spent the next few days worrying about disappointing a friend and colleague, and about losing some potentially great exposure, but in the end I know that my customers, my husband, and my sanity will thank me for it!

So the question of the day for the other bakers that stop by is, Do you have a hard time saying No?

PS: If you're in the Chattanooga area, stop by the Chattanooga Convention Center this Sunday (Feb 6) and say "Hi".  We'll even give you some cake!

Blogging for The Pink Book

A few weeks ago I was contacted by one of the Pink Ladies over at the ThePinkBook.com.  They were looking for "Pink Brides" and "Pink Pros".  Real brides and wedding professionals that can share their experiences and offer their suggestions.  As for the pros, they picked me (yay!!) as well as a photographer and someone that runs a wedding venue (what the heck is the term for that... venuist?)

Well, my duties as "Pink Pro Jen" (as I'm affectionately known over there) is to blog once a week about something cake related that might be helpful to brides.

What will I blog about?  Gee I dunno!  My first post is already up and I wrote about the "tall cake" trend that I'm seeing with the brides during my recent consultations.

Will it affect my blogging here?  Heck no!  You can still find my blog posts here every Tuesday and Friday.  While I initially started blogging to bring information to brides, I suddenly found that I was connecting more and more with other decorators, and frankly, it nice to use this place to blog about what I want, whether that's cake tips or just pretty pictures!.

If you're interested, find my Pink Book post(s) here:

Icing Smiles Update:  Icing Smiles has fallen to #27 in their quest for funding through the Pepsi Refresh Project.  They REALLY need our votes!  http://www.refresheverything.com/icingsmiles

My Web site is my Best Friend

Many of you know that I am a "one girl" operation.  I also have a very talented, supportive husband who does all the things I can't do (or don't want to!).  He works for Cup a Dee Cakes every minute he is not at his regular job.  Chad has built my website from scratch and changed it every time I ever wanted it to be "prettier" or more functional.  I hate to say that I don't often take into account how very hard website work is to do.  Much like my customers don't always realize how much work goes into a cake, they just want it "pretty".  (At least I get paid for my work).

My website is my best friend (except for Chad!) because it is like a salesman, an information desk, a photo album, direction giver, price estimator, policy police, availability calendar, etc.  "Webby" (let's call her) does so many things that it frees me up to bake and decorate.  Since the beginning, I have tried to give my customers all the information I could.  I don't feel like hiding my prices, or designs, or the fact the I have a legal commercial kitchen built onto my home (I have posted pictures as well as health department scores in the past).

If a competitor uses my design or knows my prices, so what?  We have worked hard to make our prices and policies fair.  I don't feel like I am competing with anyone in my area.  We all have different styles, personalities, prices and not to mention cakes.  I've looked at my biggest three competitor's websites today and am surprised that the are giving customers very little useful information.  They show some pictures, some cake flavors, and maybe some 'partners'.  No pricing or consultation information. 

Our first presence on the web didn't have pricing.  I spent half of my day answering phone calls about how much a certain pictured cake was or where my prices started.  The minute we posted prices my "how much is it" phone calls stopped and I had more time to make cakes.  I am a frugal person,.  I know that my prices are a lot higher than the local "Super" center.  I started with party cakes about $1/serving and delivered everything for free!  I am now at $3/serving for round cakes because I am staying booked up.  That didn't happen in a year though; it's taken us six years.  I don't want to be the biggest place in town, I want to be the best! I am 110% alright with doing two weddings on a weekend and that's all.  I want to continue to enjoy what I do.

I am soooo off subject here....

We had over 600 pictures on Webby, we narrowed those down to about 275.  There were just some on there that I was NOT proud of anymore.  I had about 150 pictures from the past year that we haven't put on the site because we have been so busy.  We focus on making wedding cakes now, so we narrowed our categories down from things like "animals, first birthday, girly, sports" to "traditional, contemporary, celebration".

When we changed to Go Daddy for web hosting it opened some new ways of doing our site (so I am told :)...)  We now have a formula that computes the price of the cake for us, where before every time I had a price increase/change I had to re figure each cake and Chad has to change it on the site.  Now if I want to go up .25 on a square cake and .25 on fondant the code will do it all for us.  Oh how I love Webby!
 
My point to this rambling is:

1. I am proud of my husband and the improved website and want you all to know it!  He only gets paid in cupcakes, so your kind words will be welcomed!
2. Ask someone "If you are looking for a baker, what would you like to see on their website?  What kind of information do you need to help you make a decision?"
3. Many of us are very small businesses.  Use your website as a tool to take some of the everyday questions off of you.
4. Know that your website is the first and sometimes the only impression people will get of you.  If it's not good, they won't even pick up the phone.

You may look at Webby and think parts are too wordy or too complicated.  For example, I know I still have too many pictures under "Birthday", but they are all my babies and I can't choose which to get rid of yet.  We have done everything with great thought, trial and error, and for the benefit of customer service.  It suits our business and I don't claim for a minute that it is for everyone.  I am grateful to have such a "pretty" and useful tool that can evolve and grow with our business!  Thanks Chad! 

Now I have to go ice some cakes because Webby hasn't learned to do that yet!