Easy Cake Finishes

Oreo, yum!  You know the easiest way to finish a cake?  Smush and smash something yummy all over it!   Oreo's,  chopped nuts, sprinkles, shaved chocolate, coconut or sanding sugar are excellent choices for covering cakes.  When I worked in a production kitchen environment I was shocked to learn how much faster it was to cover the sides of a cake and just add some rosettes on the top.  If you only want to cover the sides, you have to be a little brave and hold the cake that is on a cake board over a sheet pan and start taking handfuls of your yummy side finishing material and press it into the cake.  You want the cake to be chilled so that it doesn't yield too much to your hands pressure or slide around but you need a light fresh coat of icing so there is something sticky to grab your finishing material.  If you want to cover the whole cake, you can put your turntable inside a sheet pans and follow the same instructions above, just start with the top first.  I hope you will try this technique and really impress your friends with a look that is secretly super easy!  Happy decorating!

Pearl Dragee Finish	Sanding Sugar Finish

Happy Birthday Cole!

Bakers, do you know how to make a cake that has copyrighted material? According to Icing Smiles, give it away! That means don't post it on your website for sale or advertise how much it would cost on Facebook. That's about the only way to get past the strict laws that many companies WILL ENFORCE (and some will still debate that). I'm not going to lie, it's a little scary when you get an overnight letter from FedX, that you have to sign for, that says "cease and desist" from a big company. All you can do at that point is to take the pictures down from your website and social media locations and hope that's the end of it.

Unfortunately once it's out there you can't get it all back. Take that Copenhagen. We received one of those C&D letters once, and when we searched the web for other cakes with the same content, ours was really the best.  I mean if you're going to tell someone to cease and desist, shouldn't they start with the UGLY cakes?  Copyright is one of the most talked about topics in cake chat rooms and many bakers are absolute about their stance and won't take a chance on any questionable material. Others are more practical and do what they have to in order to make a sale.

Bakers Gotta Bake!

When do you not call your baker?  The day before the wedding!  Or the day of the wedding!  We had both happen recently and just wanted to tell you why it's not a good idea.  Toward the end of the month I pull all my orders for the next month and read through them.  I make a list of supplies I need, make sure no payments are needed, make sure everything is very clear (since it may have been months since I booked the cake) and make a task list for each week.  This is a best practice, even if I don't always do it, but I try!  If I'm really on top of my paperwork and cakes, I will email a bride a short note confirming the delivery date, place and time as well as any questions I may have.  Now this is the time for questions!
Here is an example of an email to send a brides a couple of weeks in advance of the wedding.

Your wedding day is almost here!  Please read over your contract, which is attached, and ask any questions or advise me of any changes that you need to make.  Here are the delivery details:
Date:  (include day of the week, like Saturday June 14, 2015)
Venue location:
Time we will be there with the cakes:

Please provide the name and phone number for the person that is going to return the cake stands the week after the wedding.

If you have a topper, please make sure it is at the venue and on the cake table.

Have you made arrangement for the florist to have the necessary flowers at the venue?

Brides that don't have a planner are typically more stressed shortly before the big day.  GOOD wedding planners will confirm the above details well before the wedding and often email all the vendors a list of all the other vendors and a time line.  If a bride has family help them out, they need to make a list of vendors, their contact info  and the expected delivery times.

We had a sister call us a 10pm the night before the wedding.  She was leaving a message with very inaccurate information when I picked up the phone.  She knew nothing other than I was making a cake.  She was panicking that they had been calling and calling and sent me several emails and I had not answered.  I was in the kitchen all day next to the phone.  I checked my email at Noon that day, but not since then because it's FRIDAY AND BAKERS GOTTA BAKE!  If I had sent the bride an email the week before , this would not have happened.

Then Saturday, the day of the wedding, a planner called to ask me when I was delivering the cakes.  Really? The day of the wedding?  What kind of planning is that?  We got to the venue and the bride had forgotten items for both the bridal and groom's cake!.  It's going to happen because they have so much on their minds, that's why GREAT wedding planners are awesome!

So if you are a baker, send that letter two weeks ahead of time!  If you are a bride, get a planner or at least make a really good "day of" list!

Naked Cakes

 

We were asked to make a "naked"cake last year.  I was pretty excited until we actually did it.  So I had a culinary student as an intern for 11 weeks.  The cake was a 6/8/10/12" combination.  The first time it was baked, I think the oven was opened way too much, cakes were jiggled and batter wasn't whipped enough.  So Friday afternoon, I decided to bake it again, only doing it myself this time.  The picture above is the exact same size cakes and number of layers, they were just fluffier on the cake I baked.  I thinkshe learned a big lesson that day!

I had a lot of holes and inconsistencies that I wanted to "fill" on the skim coated cake.  Is that a term?  If not, what do you call these different styles of naked cakes?  Maybe the skim coated cake has her undergarments on?  I wanted the look on the left, but I worked with the cake too much and once you have that skim coat of buttercream on, it is on.  After baking the layers again, I put my buttercream in a piping bag with a #12 tip and piped the ooze onto the side of the layers before I stacked the next tier on top.  It wasn't a real "organic" ooze of buttercream, but I was happier than the first attempt and there would not be another!

 

 

 We did brush all the layers with simple syrup to try and keep them moist.  The family said it was yummy!  I wouldn't bake it or put in together until as close to the event as you can comfortably stand it to help it not drying out.

 

Once at the venue, we had to put on the fresh flowers and it took no less than an hour!  I guess it felt so unfinished to me that I needed to keep adding flowers.  The bride wanted lots of flowers and the florist left me a big bucket of gorgeous blooms so I had to use them, right?  I don't know where I stand on this trend yet, but maybe it will be out of style by the time I decide.

Y'all have a great week!

Facebook Rant over Illegal Bakers

Graphic via KeepCalm-o-matic

I joined a few Facebook "yard sale" groups in my area.  It seems like every other day someone asks for recommendations for a cake person.  One lady just said she "didn't want to pay as much as her wedding dress costs".  All of these people start stepping up and throwing names out there.  Maybe my hormones are crazy today, but I just had to say something.  It could make me very sorry, but I hope the ones that are running an illegal operation don't take it as bashing.  The people with nasty kitchens are the ones that will be upset.  Please read my post and tell me what you think...
 
" My wedding cake business is Cup a Dee Cakes LLC.  I don't make birthday cakes and start my prices at a $250 minimum so I don't post here looking for sales.  I have a business license, health department inspection every 6 months, Serve Safe certification, insurance, contracts and glowing reviews from brides as well as vendors.  I also pay sales tax, business tax, licenses, and advertising.  We spent about $40,000 building a legal kitchen onto our home.  All those things add to a businesses overhead.  I start my round tiered cakes at $3.75/serving for an all butter-NO Crisco buttercream.  You will get what you pay for in all things.  I have not tried ANYONE'S cake that posts on this board or checked to see if they are "legal".  It's not my place.  This is not against them personally, I'm just trying to give some advice.  A contract is there to protect both parties involved.  Often if a cake is great in taste and quality, they would/could charge more.  Cheap cakes cost less because the bakers don't have the same overhead, skill set, quality of ingredients or they haven't figured out how to charge in order to make a living.

I see cakes services on this board a lot.  I have respect for anyone trying to make a living.  I have not tasted or experienced anyone's cake that they have advertised in this group. Unlike, say handmade jewelry, cake is edible and can make someone ill or ruin a huge event when it falls over. I think it is not out of line to ask if a baker has any kind of license or where they bake and decorate their cakes.  Do they have pets or children in the workplace? If you haven't seen their kitchen, how could you serve the cake to your guests?  Cake can still give someone food poisoning.  If you are looking for a cheap  wedding cake, you may be better to get one from a grocery store or a baker that has a cottage food license.  That way, you can still have food safety standards and a contract. A birthday cake isn't nearly as big of a deal since it's less people and a smaller party.  Check out cakewrecks.com for some examples of how things could go wrong.  I really do wish the best to all those trying to make a living at making cakes.  I hope all cake customers get the cake they have been dreaming of for their special day."

The good thing is that I feel better and got to turn my rant into a blog post :)

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!

Wedding Cake with a Twist...that I don't like!

Can I vent here?  Really vent because you are reading my blog, so it's OK right?  I have to say this cake just drove me crazy!  I don't like the twist.  I didn't want to do the quarter twist.  What is the point of the twist?  Where is the front?  How do I place it at the venue?  What direction should I install the monogram topper? OK, now that's out of my sys... no!  WHY?  If the cake was too "normal, we could have done a more daring, offbeat cake without making it look like I was drunk and riding the tilt-a-whirl when I was stacking it!
 
Are you new to cake making or client pleasing?  PUT ON YOUR BIG GIRL PANTIES and make what they want.  Then start a blog and complain a little to keep your sanity...well a little sanity.  I have a good eye and good taste.  I was paid well for a long time to use those talents in the retail world.  Not all people have those things and I've come to accept that.  I don't think this cake is tacky or ugly, it just goes against my nature of symmetry. But I have been and will be asked to make tacky cakes.  I have done some turned some down.  I'm an artist, but also a business person.  Momma has to pay the bills! If you can make a product and still lay your business card down right next to it because you made that product the best it could be done, then do it.  If you would be so ashamed for people to know you made "that" and would never make it again, then don't make it in the first place.  Learn skills today that will let you steer a customer to a better option that will suit you both.  That may include you making another design cheaper to encourage the customer to pick the thing you want to make  (or overpricing the item you don't want to do, but my honesty gets in the way).  Sometimes you need to give options because of you don't want to tarnish "your brand" or you simply don't have the skills to make a certain design or the customers budget does not agree with their first choice.  You need the ability to adapt and "roll with the punches" whether that means making a cake you don't like or coming up with a better plan.  I hope all your projects this week are ones that you love!

Gold Dots and Instagram

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Cup a Dee Cakes Making a gold dot & line cake #flipagram made with @flipagram

View on Instagram

We make cakes for a living, but our part time job is social media.  It really does take up a lot of time for a small business owner and we certainly are not making the most of all the internet has to offer.  We have a very visual business, so we just joined Instagram!  More of our customers want to see pictures and not read lines of texts so we are trying to work on expanding our efforts toward that.

We made a very simple cake last week.  It was a 3 layer 6" and a 6 layer 9" combination in buttercream. We scored organic lines (another word for not perfect) and painted gold dots on the buttercream for the top tier.  We added some live baby's breath at the venue.  The fun part is that we took about 100 photos in process and used an app called flip a gram to make a little 15 second video for Instagram.  That s the longest video you can make for Instagram, lesson learned!  Please take a look and follow us! We need an audience if we are going to take that many pictures of a project!

Mini Kitchen Tour

I have had many public and private requests from a lot of you asking for a video tour of my baking kitchen.  Well, it's been a long time coming, but I finally had a slow week in the bakery where Chad and I could finish the video.  I hope the extra information I have provided afterward will be worth the delay.

 

If the video fails to play, click here to view

To follow up on our mini kitchen tour video, we are listing some of the main items that we have in our commercial kitchen.  These items are exactly what we have or are as close as possible because things change in eight years :)

We spent quite a bit of time making an Amazon store with categories and descriptions of how we used the item.  There is a commercial kitchen category that lists many items that we will show in the longer video tour later.  Full disclosure, we will make a few pennies if you buy from our pretty pink Amazon shop!  So shop away!

OUR AMAZON STORE 

http://astore.amazon.com/cuadeca-20


Restaurant Equippers is THE best place online for restaurant supplies.  We found that our local restaurant supply buys some items from these guys, marks them up and sells them! When we bought the giant commercial fridge, they only charged $80 to ship it!  Now, they don't bring it in and set it up, but that's what strong friends are for!

TABLES
Big Work able with mixers on it
Drawer for 30" wide tables
Two work tables that have custom laminate top over both 
Drawers  for 24"wide tables 
3 Compartment Sink  
Faucet
Cooling rack (this isn't the one I have, but if I was buying it again this would be the one!
Reach-in Fridge
Icing buckets
Ingredient bins

IKEA can be very inexpensive, if you get the right items.  Buying cabinets is kind of complicated, so it's best if you can take a few hours and go into the store.  The legs, drawers, self closers, and doors are all purchased separately.  The sizes on the cabinets are not exactly what I have, but you will get the idea. This list is so time consuming that I didn't add to it by measuring things too!

CABINETS
Hand sink cabinet (two doors)
Fondant cabinet. One long skinny drawer on top with two big drawers below
Cake box cabinet.  When we used this, we actually turned it upside down so we had a solid top.  Also we bought a bunch of extra shelves.
Hooks that hang on the shelves below and the wire shelves from Lowe's
Wall Shelves
Accessories for the shelves are plentiful  I like this box because it's great for storing washed icing tips and couplers.

LOWES
Wire shelves which we use in the pantry and for storage in the kitchen

We have made a much longer, more complete,  "sit on the floor and explain our organizing" kind of video.  If there is interest in seeing it, I will bribe Chaddy to get it ready.  Just leave us a comment if you want more!

Gumpaste Flowers... Buy or Make?

 Do you buy any of your gumpaste flowers?  Let me guess!  If you are a cake hobbyist, you make your flowers.  It's fun and challenging and your time does not equal money.  If you sell cakes professionally, I will guess that you buy at least some of your flowers.  Why would you not?  Are you some sort of flower purist? Do you think it's cheating? I made some beautiful ranunculus for a magazine shoot and they took me eight hours per flower! 

When I meet with a bride, I ask if they want flowers and then if they want fresh or sugar flowers (they don't know what gumpaste flowers are...yet).  They will often hesitate and I fill in with "I buy most of my flowers and they are often close in price to fresh flowers".  At that point, they are interested.  If I said the flowers would be three times more than fresh, I'd hear "I'll just use fresh".  There is a rare bride in Chattanooga that would not baulk at a handmade flower price, but as I said that is rare.  On some cakes, I really want to use gumpaste flowers so I will make it even more attractive, as in price.  I charge the cost of the flowers plus shipping and the time and supplies it takes me to paint them (if needed).  I include extra flowers in the price to allow for breakage.  If I have to buy a flower that I will never need the extra (5 for the cake and have 4 left) then they pay for the whole box because that is still fair.  If you book a cake in January with gumpaste peonies, order them then because they will be out of stock when you need them.  Just write on the box of flowers so you don't accidentally use them on another project.  We also will make extra petals to add some softness and fill in gaps between flowers. 

 

The flowers from the pictured cake were bought from Cal-Java and Wholesale Sugar Flowers.  The challenging part was that the cake was ivory/yellow because that is the color of my buttercream (with whitener added) and all the purchased flowers were bright white so they had to be painted.  Luckily, I could paint them with the airbrush so that cut down on my time. 

We entered a contest and won so our cake picture is one the front (and some inside) of the Wholesale Sugar Flowers catalog.  We really like their flowers and the prices! Please let us know how you sell your gumpaste flowers and if you make them, buy them or a mix of the two. 

Sketchy Cake Designs

Click to Enlarge Image

When most everything you make is a custom design, you have to make a lot of sketches.  The only thing I like about recreating an exact copy of a cake is that I don't have to draw it out.  I can decorate cakes, I can't draw :(  My art teacher in high school told me that most people that are great artists, whether drawing, painting or sculpting, don't just wake up great.  She said that for 98% of artists, it's a skill that you learn over time.  I really don't think that occurred to me until then.  Now I know that it is true in most everything we do.  Things that used to take me forever are now easier.  I'm still pretty pitiful at sketching cake designs though.

Customers have to see a sketch of what they are getting because most people can't visualize all the things they are hearing.  It helps me too!  I can see the general idea and make changes when booking the cake instead of the day I'm decorating it.  The better the sketch, the easier it is for someone to "see" it.  Also, it helps bakers to come across as professional or not so much.  It is something we have to do, so we'd better get used to it!

Click to Enlarge  Image

Currently, I have PowerPoint templates that I've made and I "draw" on those.  If I can color them in the program, or use clip art, it does help a little, but it's still not at all realistic.  I've been trying the Tiered Caker iPad app and printing those out to draw on.  I really like the realism that they show, but I can't do "weird" things in the program, like adding a skull tier or flowers as a separators.  Also, when I'm just trying to show texture or white on white decorations, I have to pencil them in and that makes it very hard for them to visualize the final cake.

I'm including two of my current sketches so that you can "grade" me and tell what you think I could do differently.  I recently watched a CakeFu by the awesome Liz Marek about digital cake sketching.  She has lots of video's and even a Facebook page for Cake Sketching.  I really like what she does and I wish I had that kind of time just to make a sketch.  She said that it can easily take an hour per sketch.  Like I said, I want to be able to do that, but it just doesn't seem to be practical.  Am I just whining and need to get over it?  I'm clearly not going to be able to draw it free hand, so something has to give.  Keep in mind, these sketches aren't "bad" ones!  Thanks so much for your input!

Our 5th Blogiversary!

 

We are five years old this week! Well actually The blog is five years old this week! Our little business is more along eight years old now. Time flies by when you are baking cakes! To be honest, 2013 was not a great year for business. Our sales were almost half of 2012 and 2011. It was a challenge some weeks to bring you a cake and blog worth reading, but I hope we did. We really do wish more people that read the blog would leave comments. There is a small faithful handful of you that are there every week with sweet and encouraging words. To you guys, we want to extend our wholehearted thank you! It truly does put "fuel" in our little blogging engine. See what I did there? I know signing up for a Google account takes a few minutes, but please do it. Little blogs like us really like to know you are there and that we aren't talking to the wind. I am not the type of a girl seeking praise for cakes. I really want feedback, opinions and requests for content. We are working on some new videos for the upcoming year. If there are things you want us to show, teach, or complain about, just let me know.
 

Lastly, I wanted to thank Chad for keeping this blog going. It is only because of him that this part of our story continues. That man will not let me skip a week because we have to "be consistent". There are many times that I try to bring him to the dark (lazy) side, but the man is committed and it's one of my favorite things about him! 

Make Your Own Top Pot Doughnuts

As a baker, I enjoy cooking, but I'll admit that baking just cakes can become tiring at times.  But that doesn't mean that I don't want to experiment with other kinds of sweet treats.  For Christmas I received the most awesome doughnut book - it was Top Pot Hand-Forged Doughnuts: Secrets and Recipes for the Home Baker.  I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed this book.  It's not just a recipe book; you get stories about how Top Pot got its start, and you get loads of information on what ingredients they use and why.  It's amazing how different doughnuts are than cake.

To date, I have made the three basic doughnuts; yeast, sour cream, and cake.  The sour cream ones have been my favorite, but tonight as I was making a batch of cake doughnuts I thought this might be something that you guys might be interested in too. I'm going to provide the recipe here, but it you like doughniuts you should really get this book!

Basic Spice Cake Doughnuts
Taken from "Top Pot Hand-Forged Doughnuts" (Chronicle Books)


INGREDIENTS
2 3/4 cups cake flour,  plus more for rolling and cutting
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp iodized salt
3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
2/3 cup sugar
2 TBS shortening
1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk
2/3 cup whole milk
Canola oil for frying

Powdered Sugar or cinnamon sugar, as a coating (optional, but not really ;-) )

DIRECTIONS
1. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg into a large bowl. Set aside for later use.

2. In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, mix the sugar and shortening for 1 minute on low speed, until sandy. Then add the egg and egg yolk, and mix for 1 more minute on medium speed, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary, until mixture is thickened and light in color.

3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in three separate batches, alternating with the milk, mixing until just combined on low speed each time. The dough will be very sticky. Transfer dough to a clean bowl and refrigerate, covered directly with plastic wrap, for 1 hour (or up to 24 hours).  I found that my dough was REALLY loose, so I added about a 1/4 cup of flour to the dough.  It worked much better!

4. Heat your deep fryer (or large pot of oil) to 370 degrees. Gently roll out the chilled dough on a floured surface until roughly 1/2 inch thick, using more flour as necessary. Using a doughnut cutter, cut as many doughnuts and holes as possible, dipping the cutter into flour before each cut. Fold and gently re-roll the dough to make extra doughnuts.

5. Remove any excess flour off the doughnuts before adding them to the oil, taking care not to crowd them. Once the doughnuts float, fry for about 1 minute per side. Drain on paper towels, and roll in powdered sugar, or cinnamon sugar while still hot.

Enjoy making your doughnuts!!

FULL DISCLOSURE:  As a member of the Amazon Affiliate program, I receive a small commission if you buy a product from the links on my blog.  I actually own the products I recommend and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

What Happens When You Can't Deliver?

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and survived the holiday sales rush.  I'm thankful for my family and friends, and for my ever-growing business, as well as my good health.  But while we're still being thankful, I want us to all be "thinkful" for a minute.  A lot of us bakers are one-person shops - we do it all from baking and decorating, to record-keeping and marketing.  We all make sure our clients sign a contract (right?) ensuring that they hold us their end of the bargain.  But have you ever thought of what might happen if an illness or family emergency (or even an accident during delivery) kept you from holding up your end?

I received an e-mail a few weeks ago from one of my readers (let's call her "Susie") who had been blind-sided in a consultation with this very question by the father of the bride.  I was blind-sided with this same question a few years ago, also during a consultation  I didn't know what to day.  "Susie" did her best to laugh it off and say that she had never missed a delivery and hoped she wouldn't start anytime soon, but it bothered her.  And it really should.  Anyone operating with minimal staff should think about this and get a game plan together.

What would I do if I got sick?  Thank goodness I have an iron constitution and I do rarely get sick, but I have spent the day decorating when I didn't feel good.  If I were semi-homebound sick and needed some finishing touches, I would probably rely on Chaddy.  He's definitely a behind the scenes kind of guy, but he does watch and help me out a lot in the shop after his regular job.  His cakes aren't as smooth as mine, but they're passable.

But what if I were really sick?  Like IN the hospital sick?  Well, that's where having a backup bakery buddy comes in.  There are quite a few bakers in my area, and I have befriended several (all that will let me!) but Kimberly and I just click.  We have very similar personalities and decorating styles - she's not just a "cake friend", I consider her a true friend.  She's also my backup bakery buddy.  We have both committed to each other that in a real emergency we will be there for each other to make sure the cakes get out the door.  And to be specific, this isn't a "I waited until the last second to start this cake" emergency, this is an "I'm in surgery" emergency.  Even though we have had this arrangement for about 2 years, neither of us have ever had to use it.  But there are nights where it helps me sleep better.  If you don't have a backup bakery buddy do yourself a favor and start calling around to other bakers who you think do a good job.  They may not know what they would do in an emergency either!

What if something happens on the way to the venue?  What if my car gets hit and a truck just plowed through my client's wedding cake?  This is the much harder question, in my opinion.  If something unsalvageable should happen during a delivery, my only recourse would be to supply the couple with a dummy cake while I rebaked sheet cakes for the guests (if there was time) or go buy sheet cakes if time or distance didn't allow.  It's not optimal, but it's a gameplan.

So now when you (or "Susie") get asked this question during a consultation, you can have a good solid answer to give the client, and it will put their mind at ease, which makes it easier for them to sign on the dotted line.

Leave me a comment - what would you do in the event of an emergency?

New Life to Old Dummy Cakes

The life of a cake decorator is all about learning.  Learning new skills, new techniques, new ways to overcome obstacles.  At some point, every cake decorator will learn that purple fondant is horrible about fading.  And they'll also learn that decorating dummy cakes can sometimes be harder than decorating a real cake.

Take this cake for example.  I made it some time ago and initially it was the most beautiful shade of lavender.  But only a few months later it had faded to almost white, with just the faintest hint of purple.

Dummy cakes use styrofoam and can be costly, so you really want to get the most mileage out of them as you possibly can.  I wasn't quite ready to trash this cute little cake, so I used petal dusts in several shades of purple to give it what I thought was a nice watercolor effect.

I took it to a small bridal show soon after its renovation and one future bride just had a fit over it.  She called out to her future husband and said "Hey honey, come here and look at this awesome tie-dyed wedding cake!"  Hey, who am I to argue? 

A Tale of Two Shoes....

There are a lot of shoe box cake tutorials out there, so I won't bore you with another.  I do want to give you a few helpful hints I learned on the first, wait...actually second shoe I have ever made.  How have we gone this long and never made a shoe cake?  Just lucky?  Nah....just kidding it was fun.  I was instructed by the buyer that I could change the shoe a little (thank goodness) and add a red sole to the shoe bottom.  Oh those pretty, sexy shoes!

My first attempt - Everything was way too thick!  Don't do this!!

 The first thing I did was to buy a shoe kit from Jennifer Dontz.  I guess that is pretty lazy or spoiled of me but it sure did make things a bit easier.  Really, the styrofoam form was the biggest help, but I'm sure it could be done with a posterboard form or something else the shoe tutorials advise.  The shoe in my inspiration  picture had a black sole and a cream insole.  Now I had to add a third layer to this and still make it look delicate.  My first attempt was bad, just bad (see below!).  It was too thick and looked silly when you look at it from the side.  I decided to get my pasta machine out to get things nice and thin.  I rolled all three layers of gumpaste (50/50 mix) as thin as I could on the cream and red, but a little thicker on the black.  I put the three layers together and gave it a little roll and cut out the sole.  I did go back and paint the little bit of red showing on the sides so it would look more seamless. Easy squeezy!

This is WAY too thick and not delicate at all.  The pasta roller helped!

The ankle strap in the inspiration picture was crazy!  It was sticking way up it the air!  I really could not make it happen and I hate that.  I told the customer up front that I probably could not duplicate the crazy straps so the pressure wasn't crazy like if he expected it.  I tried putting a wire in the straps, but thin wire was too wimpy and thick wire was too bulky for the look of the straps I needed.  In the end, my straps were just gumpaste with no wires.  I used some rhinestones from the scrap booking department that already had glue dots.  Handy!  No one was going to eat the shoe so why not?

To hold the straps in a gravity defying position, I poked two sets of skewers in either side of the styrofoam mold.  Then I took a long piece of scotch tape and wrapped around each set of skewers.  This gave the straps something to rest on while drying.  I let the shoe set up for a couple days before the straps and then for another six days with the straps installed.

For traveling with the shoe, I got a 10x10 box, cut the top off and put a 10" square cake board in the box for stability.  Since I use grippy/shelf liner under everything, I added a good piece on the cake board.  I left the shoe on the form and put it on the cake board/shelf liner and anchored it down by gently hammering (with my baby hammer) with 2" pieces of strong floral wire (Wal-Mart type).  I didn't want to ruin my expensive piece of styrofoam ;)

 A very sweet friend of ours gave us a glorious recommendation to his good friend.  Unfortunately he doesn't realize that we really only make wedding cakes.  I just felt like I had to make this shoe box cake.   We were given a picture to follow very closely.  I wish I knew the original cake artist.  If you do, please let me know so that I can credit them.

Texture on Buttercream Cakes

Almost all my customers say "I don't want fondant!" and they mean it, so I've worked hard at coming up with buttercream alternatives. Since we make a bunch of all white wedding cakes, texture seems to be a huge trend that I'm seeing.  Brides don't want very busy or piped cakes, but they do want some design.  They are bringing me pictures of rough iced cakes, stenciled cakes, combed cakes, and sugared cakes.  I want to go over a few options they you may want to consider when designing a cake for any occasion.
I've blogged about stencils before, so please give it a read.  It's a great option in all one color for texture or two different colors for more detail.  It's also a good idea to add pearls or extra piping on the stenciled design.

Buttercream ruffles are very trendy and you don't have to do the entire cake.  Just a few rows will give you lots of  femininity and texture.

Diamonds and lines are are classic and easy.  Use a bench scraper and blow torch or super hot water and melt the design into the cake.  Sanding sugar or pearl dragees are great on buttercream for sparkle and opulence.  Covering a cake in this material also keeps you from having to get a cake perfectly smooth.  If you a beginner, give it a shot.  Just keep in mind, it gets everywhere!

Lastly, buttercream combs are a great way to add a side design and it's super easy!  Wilton and many others sell all kinds of different designs.  Just get your cake level, basically smoothed and chilled.  Add another thick layer of buttercream and quickly run your comb through it and poof! You have a design.

Tell me about any great ideas you have for buttercream texture!

Happy caking!

Best Way to Sample at Bridal Shows

I posted a couple of weeks ago about my latest showing at the Chattanooga Bridal Show.  One of the comments on that post was about how I provide cake samples to the attendees of the bridal shows.

Now I've seen samples done several different ways.  The most common method I have seen is a sheet cake that is cut into small portions and handed out.  I don't like this method because not only is it messy, but it takes someone (maybe you) away from interacting with your customers.  There's not a lot of room in a 10 x 10 booth for employees - I would say no more than 3.  You don't want one of those people cutting cake.

 Then there's mini-cupcakes and cupcakes.  I have never tried mini cupcakes, just because I hate making them so much!! :-)  But I did try full-sized cupcakes at my first couple of bridal shows and it was a total disaster,  Some people thought it was too much cake and wouldn't even take a sample.  Some people were so enthralled by the cupcakes that they just wanted to know how many they could get and take home to kids, nieces, etc. And the people that did want cupcakes also wanted something to carry them in.  So I bought cups and lids.  That just increased my costs!

What I have found that works best for ME is using the Solo 2 ounce condiment cup with lid.  I will cut a small circle our of a sheet cake to fir in the cup and I still have room for icing and a filling, if necessary.  Then the lids go on.  I also put a small label on the lid with my business name, website, and phone number. The cup size offers the client a nice 2-bite sample; the lid allows the the client to pop it in their goodie bag to take home, and the label reminds them about who made that awesome cake later on.  The best part is that I make them up a couple of days before and just set them out in the booth.  They stack nicely and it allows people to take one and run if they want to.  And I'm available to talk flavors or otherwise discuss cake with my potential clients.

For those that have done bridal shows, how do you provide samples?

Quick Delivery Tip

Some weeks, I have to make several trips to get my cakes delivered.  Sometimes the timing of the deliveries just works out that way.  Some weeks all my cakes are due within a hour or so of each other and basically in the same part of town.  This can pose a problem of how to fit all those cakes in whatever vehicle you use to deliver your cakes.  A couple of weeks ago I had 5 cakes to deliver, and these were some big cakes.  My problem was figuring out the best use of my trunk space.  That's when it hit me!!  I went and got cake boards to match all my cakes and used these to figure out cake placement in our SUV.  I even realized that by rearranging the cakes (first cakes to be delivered go in last) I could be even more efficient.  I'm sure I'm not the first person to think of this, but it sure won't be the last time I use it.  From now on, anytime I have 4 or 5 cakes cakes to deliver I will be using this little trick to make things easier.

I hope you can make use of this too!  Have an awesome week!!

Banjo Cake Armature Design

Last week I showed you guys the awesome banjo cake I made for Rachel and Daniel's wedding.  They were thrilled with the cake; I even heard from the bridal planner that they wouldn't allow the cake to be cut!  They took the whole thing home with them without a scratch on it!  That's the way I like to think all my cakes go over.  I HATE seeing pictures of my cakes after they have been fed upon!!

Anyhoo, back to the design of  banjo armature.  I wanted this cake to look as much like a banjo as possible and as little like a cake as possible.  Even though it would mean more inedible pieces, I wanted the neck to be "floating", I wanted to use real guitar strings, and I didn't want a visible cake board.

In the picture above, I have removed the neck from the armature and screwed 6 small eye screws into the bottom of the banjo.  These will hold the strings.  The bottom cake is om the armature.  I included the thickness of the cake board into my design so that the banjo would keep it's scale and since it was the same size as the cake (14"), you would never know there was a cake board.  Even though the cake actually only measures 1.25 inches thick, I decided to put in some supports because I didn't want ANY shifting or sinking.  The cake above has it's basic decoration already done, which was a block modeling chocolate top with a wood grain modeling chocolate wrap around the sides.

This is the 2nd tier of the banjo, which is a 12 " cake.  It is sitting on a very thin cardboard round.  I cut out the holes for the armature.  Once it was on the cake I had to fill in the bottom with just a smidge of modeling chocolate to fully round out the bottom.  From there, it got a similar coating as the bottom tier.  White on the top with a gray wrap around the sides.  The neck could then be attached and then the details could be added.  Here's one more shot of the completed cake, just in case you missed it last week!

Have a great week!