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?

Kaben's 3rd Birthday Cake and Stand

Kaben's cake at The Car Barn

To date, we have made all of  Kaben's birthday cakes.  The day I first met his Mom, she described Kaben as a "rock star" and truer words have not been spoken.  Plus, he's a little cutie-patootie to boot!

This year, Kaben wanted a a candy themed birthday party so we set out to design his cake.  But at some point Kaben decided that his favorite toy Tow Mater also needed to make an appearance.

Our instructions here were to make it big and make it busy, but Kaben's Mom trusted us and gave us some flexibility on the design.  I decided right away that the cake needed to have some wonky elements on it, plus I wanted it to have plenty of candy and candy themed elements.

I made lollipops out of fondant and used candy like gummy worms and suckers to make the design fuller and busier.  Oh, and the gummy bears!!  Not only did I use regular gummy bears, but I found these HUGE gummy bears on Amazon!  I placed them just underneath the top tier and used crystal columns and a LED light to back light them!  It's hard to tell in this picture, but they lit up really nicely!!

And speaking of extreme elements, we made a Tow Mater bursting out of the side of the cake and HE TALKED!  How did we do that??  Well, you'll just have to drop back in on Friday and Chaddy will tell you all about it (TEASE!!)

And if that wasn't enough, I even got my Bubbee from My Wood Working Solutions to help out with the cake stand.  He made a custom cake stand for Kaben's cake.  He bought lollipops and encased them in resin for the feet on the stand!  Isn't he brilliant!  You can read more about the stand on his blog, but I did get a closeup of it (below).  Yes, it has lights too!

Thanks for stopping by and make sure you come back on Friday for our Cake sound tutorial!  You're going to love it!!

Acoustic Guitar Groom's Cake

I know you've all been waiting, so here's the groom's cake that we delivered to the Tennessee Aquarium last weekend!  The groom wanted a replica of a Martin Acoustic Guitar.

Chad got busy on the Interwebs and found the appropriate guitar graphic and enlarged it so that we would have a scale template to work from.

I carved the cake but I was initially stumped on how to handle the neck of the guitar without building an elaborate stand.  We finally decided to use black modeling chocolate to "hide" all of the cake that wasn't part of the neck.  You can see it in the picture below, I thought it made for a very realistic effect.

The couple were very against fondant, so only the top of the cake is fondant.  I airbrushed the buttercream sides with browns and blacks to give that dark wood-tone look.  I made the strings by extruding fondant through my clay gun, but I wasn't totally happy with how they turned out.  Next time, they would either be smaller, or I would maybe try to use floral wire or some other medium.

Well, there's more cakes to do that will have to be it for this time!  Check back on Tuesday to see what new cake adventures we have been up to!

Do Not Adjust Your Sets...

This post weekend I visited the fine folks at the Chattanoogan. This time my bride and groom had a very clear idea of what they wanted for their extreme groom's cake.

They wanted an upside-down cake!

Luckily, I had a whole year to plan and get ready for this one. Did I use it all? Of course I did!! I had my brother make another of his soon to be famous cake stands. A rod screws into the base and runs through the center of the entire cake. Small clamps attach just above tier 1 and tier 2 to provide about an inch of clearance, as well as supporting the weight of tier above.

The topper was made using triangles cut from modeling chocolate and dusted with various luster dusts. I think it turned out really cute, don't you?

Back to the Future DeLorean Cake

This weekend our very good friends Greg and Kristin were married at Welcome Valley Village in Benton, Tennessee - very close to the Ocoee River. It was a beautifully rustic little place and we had a blast! Even though we deliver cakes to weddings almost every weekend, we rarely get to go to one. Greg is a big Back to the Future fan, and wanted a Delorean cake as his grooms cake. Greg was really happy with it (as were we) and there was a lot of people there that didn't believe it was cake. I stopped counting the Ace of Cakes references at somewhere around 20!

A while back we purchased Mike McCary's Cakenology DVD and ever since we have wanted to give it a shot. Chad and I worked on this cake over 24 hours, but we had an absolute blast making it. Mike certainly makes it look easy, but he gives excellent instruction.

Speaking of Mike McCary and instruction, tomorrow I will be attending Mike's modeling chocolate class at the Nicholas Lodge school in Atlanta. I am absolutely giddy with excitement. I got my first experience working with modeling chocolate on this car and I am really in love with it. I see Chad making lots more modeling chocolate in our future!!

Everyone have a great week and Congratulations Greg & Kristin! Have a great time in Key West!!

Extreme Groom's Cake!

OK, I want to confess that originally I wanted to blog tonight with some shots of cakes I have coming up this weekend. As luck would have it I'm running terribly behind schedule and I didn't want some of my new followers to wait another day so I pulled a cake from our archives.

Several months ago I met with a couple and the groom was a big fisherman. He had a real passion for deep sea fishing and on one such trip had reeled in a 4 foot mahi mahi (dolphin fish). He wanted his trophy fish immortalized in cake for his big wedding day.

We started out with a reference photo from Wikipedia and then enlarged it on the computer. Once it was printed on 20-30 sheets of paper, we arranged them and taped them all together and cut out the shape of the fish. We used this template to carve the cake and make the fins and tail (out of gumpaste). The body was then covered in fondant and airbrushed to match the reference photo.

When it was all said and done, we delivered this extreme groom's cake to the Fairyland Club on Lookout Mountain. I have never been SO swarmed by the fellas in all my life! They all wanted their picture taken with the trophy fish! It was a blast to make and we learned a really cool technique. So now, without further ado, here's the resulting 2 foot by 4 foot mahi mahi cake... Enjoy!

What a Wild Weekend!

Wow! What a crazy weekend! On Friday I got a call from my good friends over at The Chattanoogan hotel. It seems an Atlanta bride brought her wedding and groom's cake with her to the Chattanoogan. Her cake didn't really survive the trip and with her cake decorator 2 hours away in Atlanta, she was freaking out just a bit. I grabbed my emergency repair kit and scooted up to assess the situation. Things weren't great, but 2 hours later the cake looked good as new and the bride was tickled pink. That's why all quotes at Cup a Dee Cakes include setup and delivery within a 30 mile radius. Just ask THAT bride, that's one thing you don't want to worry about on your big day.

Saturday started out with a customer standing me up for a large birthday cake (grumble grumble). The rest of the day faired much better. We made our first delivery to Gordon Lee Mansion in Chickamauga, GA. What a nice facility! We had a lot of fun with the bridal couple; they wanted an Alice in Wonderland themed cupcake tree. The best part was they left the design of the topper cake completely up to us! We decided to go with a Mad Hatter's hat cake to top off this whimsical centerpiece. We even made a really cool pocketwatch using gumpaste and a little edible image trickery!! Normally, we don't get that immediate reaction from the bride, but this time the fates put the brides path to the alter right by the cake just as we were finishing setup. She was so excited and happy - it was a very VERY nice end to our crazy little week.