Custom Cake Pricing

How easy is this cake?  Well of course that depends on your skill level.  I've been at it for about ten years and it takes me about four hours to do a cake like this.  I find getting a cake smooth tends to be the hardest part to learn for most people.  All you need to make the rest of this cake is some small circle cutters and a knife.  Well some colors, fondant and an owl template helps a lot.  We charge $3.75/per serving for a round buttercream cake and the. $30/hour for artwork and extra supplies.  This is a 6" and 9" and feeds 34.  34 x 3.75 = 127.50.  I would add another 1-2 hours for extra time.  You would need to account for all the time it takes you to mix all these colors and it adds up.  If I only add one hour/$30 that would make the total cake cost $157.50.  Would you pay that much?  Do you think it is too much?  Think about it for a minute before you read on.  I know if you make cakes your opinion will be skewed a bit.  

Now, I don't know how much a cake similar from a big box store would cost.  Said store probably has all their cake layers arrive baked and frozen and their icing is shortening based and comes in 5 gallons buckets.  I'm not trying to be a "snob" about it, I'm just pointing out some of the reasons those stores are cheaper.  The cost of  the ingredients are of course vastly different.  When you buy butter in four pound packs instead of 1,000 pounds at a time, prices are worlds apart.  Lastly, let's consider labor costs.  I don't know how much big box store bakery employes make, but I'm going to be generous and say $10/hour.  I know that after my years of experience, training and education entitles me to more than that.   I would say if you made this cake from buying supplies, baking, washing dishes, making icing,washing more dishes, and such you would have at least eight hours of time in the one cake.  If you subtract $20 for the supplies (a general guess) $20 for overhead (electricity, rent, licenses, insurance, gas,water trash removal etc) it leaves $117 (157.50-20-20=117). Now $117 divided by 8 hours = $14.63/hour.  Now do you still think we charge too much?  If you were a cake business person, how would you do it different?

Accompanying Smash Cake

Mickey Wedding & Pet Peeves

We will make this week's blog short and a little sour..... Is there something you see in your line of work that bugs the fool out of you? We all do I'm sure. In cake decorating we all start as beginners and I never judge those people. If you charge money, and sometimes a lot of money for a cake then it should be well executed. Piping should be neat and consistent. I'm not the best at piping so I use a small paint brush to even out and blend in my lines. Sometimes, I need to scrape things off and start again . One of the most popular borders are fondant pearls. If you will pay attention some decorators don't use the right product (it needs to be partially modeling chocolate or Fondarific so it will harden in the cooler) and stretch them out when unmoulding or applying them to the cake. It's a minor thing to most, but a pearl border that isn't rounded pearls is not clean work to me.

Last pet peeve is disintegrated dragees. Whether pearl, silver or gold those little balls cannot be applied and then put in the fridge. They break down and loose their sheen all together. This really does stink because you can't apply them ahead of time. I'll give you two things that I do. First, I put them on ahead of time when the icing is a little soft so that they will not just sit on top of the buttercream. If the cake gets room temperature and those dragees aren't pushed in a little, they will slide down the cake. Trust me, we stayed almost until a wedding started just gently pushing those things in before they all slide down. Did you catch that I just told you I do what I said you shouldn't? Well at the last minute, I take the bad dragees out and add fresh ones. Yes it takes more time, but I don't have to measure last minute or get a cake soft before adding the last minute. Oh! Get a gem/rhinestone setter for applying these and not leaving tweezer marks. They are just a little wad of wax on the end of a stick. It is easier to pick them up and apply them (but not removing, stick to tweezers for that). Yeah! I got those things out of my system!

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!

Safari Animal Birthday Cake

We create so few birthday cakes these days that when we get to make one, we tend to go a little overboard.   The cake is really a basic design to be a backdrop for the real stars, the animals.  I added a small piece of styrofoam to lift the top tier so I could have a place to hang the vines.   It really is best for the sake of stability.

We marbled a little fondant for the waterfall  and disguised the source with fondant rocks.  As a side note, if you want some AWESOME looking candy rocks and boulders that are solid chocolate covered in a candy she'll, check out Nuts.com.  I love these people, their almond flour and their cute packaging.
 

There are a million animal tutorials out there, so I can't add much new in that department.   The most important thing to remember is to add tylose to your fondant and let it sit up a while. This step will make your animals not  be droopy or melty looking.   Another tip is to add a little "makeup" to your animals. A little touch of blush will make your animals "come to life"!  Also, if you get the basic way of making an animal, you can search Etsy for an "elephant" and take some inspiration from a greeting card, stuffed animal or most anything.  If you are selling a cake with animals, you should allow about two hours to make each animal.  I'm just saying, don't start the animals at 8pm the night before the cake is due.  Happy animal making!

Sweet Sixteen Birthday Cake

This past weekend I made the cutest sweet sixteen for a young woman in Chattanooga.  I worked closely with her Mom to get a list of all her favorite things so we could surprise her with this grand birthday cake!

Our birthday girl is on the rowing team, so I made a replica of her rowboat in her school's colors.  The rest of her cake followed a salmon and turquoise color scheme.  Does anyone besides me have a problem mentioning salmon and cake in the same sentence? ;-)

I made her favorite shopping bag, and even a set of car keys, something every s16 year-old wants, but I had the most trouble with the birthday girls' pup!  I initially starting molding the dog using Fondarific modeling chocolate, but I had to scrap it.  It was just a little too wilty and wouldn't hold its shape the way I wanted.  I made a quick batch of real modeling chocolate and that worked much better. 

Thanks to everyone that stops and reads my blog; I enjoy telling you my tales in the cake trenches.  Friday is Valentine's Day, so hug someone you love!!

Beautiful Roses Can Make the Cake

We delivered a wedding cake to Lindsay Street Hall in Chattanooga this weekend.  It was one of those simple pearl dotted wedding cakes.  I've done many like it before.  In fact, before leaving the shop I didn't even take a picture of it.  I just had to drop it off at the venue and put some fresh flowers on it.

When I got to Lindsay Street Hall I found the flowers that the florist had left for me.  Before I could even remove them from the container I couldn't help but notice that these were the largest, most beautiful pink and peach colored roses I had ever seen!  As I started putting these gigantic roses on the cake I began to really fall in love with it.  I checked the label on the container and saw that Humphreys Flowers had provided the florals.  I don't know the names of these roses YET!, but I will be speaking with someone from Humphreys soon to find out more about them!

It just goes to show that sometimes you can take something perfectly elegant and with just a simple addition turn it into something spectacular.

Saxophone Music Lover Cake

I made this groom's cake for a music lover a while back, and I was really thrilled with the way it came out!

I bought a musical note stencil a long time ago and I was so excited about using it when the client placed the order.  The stencil was pretty intricate, but it went on the cake really well.

I cut the saxophone out of modeling chocolate using some printed clip art as a guide.  Then I added some dots using my diamond impression mat.

A lot of my grooms are peanut butter lovers (my hubby included) and this groom was no different.  So we piled this cake up high with Reeses' Peanut Butter cups.  YUMMY!

Did any of you catch my interview over at CakesDecor.com?  If you didn't it would mean a lot to me if you stopped by and left a comment.

Cupcake Themed 1st Birthday Cake

I stay so booked up with wedding cakes that it's a rare occasion that I get to do a birthday cake anymore.  There are times when I'm under booked, or I owe a favor to one of the many wedding vendors that help me from time to time and I get to do one.

I had fun making this little birthday cake for one year old Wynn!  I iced the cake nice and smooth with pink buttercream and then went to town with the fondant accents.  I cut out the cupcake shapes and the polka dots, and even made a gumpaste plaque and #1 for the second tier / smash cake!

And it was the first time in a while I have had the chance to make "doomies" for the cake.  That's the fondant balls on the wire for those of you new to my blog.  I;m sure they have a real life bakery term, but we've just always called them "doomies".  I don't know why!

Have a great weekend!  I hope you have all your Christmas / Holiday shopping done by now!

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!

Gathered Fabric Autumn Wedding

This cake was the first cake I have done this season in more traditional autumn colors.  I really like cakes with varying tier heights, and this one's got it all; half-height, regular height, and double-height tiers.  There's even a couple of styrofoam risers thrown in there for good effect.

I did learn an important decorating lesson with this cake.  I was having trouble finding styrofoam circles in the right size, so I got one closed cell and one open cell.  Closed cell is the really smooth sytrofoam; open cell has a rough surface and is scratchy (like sandpaper).  The open cell styrofoam is NOT good for covering in fondant.  The fondant wanted to droop very badly.  I don't know if it was the piping gel or the fondant, but from now on I will get the right styrofoam for my risers!

And another quick tip I learned on this cake.  The bride wanted a dot border on most of the tiers.  I was sitting in the kitchen with my tape measure pondering just how to make these dots not only straight, but equally spaced as well.  Chad then mentioned my dot impression mat, but that is a whole page of dots.  I only needed one row.  Then he said, "Well, why don't we just cut one row off the mat and use that?"  Now that's my Sweet Genius!!  Well, we cut a strip off and it worked like a charm!  It certainly made quick work of those dot borders!

Are any of my readers going to Food Blog Forum Nashville this weekend?  If so, make sure we meet, OK?  Chaddy will be there too!

Updated Bow Wedding Cake

You might have seen this cake before... almost!  I made a cake just like this a year or so ago as a dummy cake.  The only difference was that the bows were shaped a little differently, and pink.  At my last bridal show I accidentally dropped it, and it completely cracked an entire side of the cake.  I found the nearest trash can and gave it a proper burial.

Fast forward a few months and I meet with a bride that wants that exact cake, only in her colors.  Good thing I had taken a picture, I guess!

There's nothing technically difficult about this cake, but it did turn out very elegantly.  A couple of years ago I was taking a class with Mike McCarey and we were asking him about all the crazy cakes he did and how we wished we could get out clientele to not only ask for such crazy cakes, but to be willing to pay for them as well.  He thought for a few minutes and replied "Don't get me wrong, I do some crazy cakes, but swiss dots are my bread and butter.  Swiss dots are what pay the bills."

I think it's a good point - I would love to feature outrageous cakes here every week, but I just don't get those kinds of orders, or have that level of clientele (just yet). But a cake doesn't have to be completely unique or super difficult to be beautiful!

Have a great weekend!!

Green Bow Polka Dot Wedding

Although this cake is smaller than some, it is still a lovely little wedding cake.  It was delivered to Trevitt Hall in Dalton, GA.  This bride wasn't afraid to being a splash of color to her wedding day celebration!

This time I used my Fondx to make my bow.  I have had problems in the past fashioning sturdy bows out of Fondx, but this time I used CMC Fondant Stabilizer to add to the Fondx and it made a big difference!  It made the Fondx hold its shape nicely, where tylose just doesn't cut it!

One of the things I like about ordering Elite by Fondx fondant is that it always comes with a little "surprise" inside.  Sometimes it's a dragee sampler, sometimes it's a little foam mold.  It reminds me of getting the prize inside of Cracker Jacks when I was a kid!  I used one of those foam molds to make the brooch on the bow.

Abigail's First Birthday

You all know how much I like making first birthday cakes.  They're like wedding cakes for newborns!

Little miss Abigail's cake was no exception. I was given a picture of Abigail's dress and used it for inspiration.

The colors, the polka dots, even the cupcake came from the dress' design.  I even broke out the Cricut Cake to cut the letters... so easy!  For the zigzag ribbons, I used a new silicone mold I just bought and it turned out beautifully.  Isn't that called rick-rack?  I have no sewing skills whatsoever - LOL!

The cupcake was made so that it could be easily removed to serve double duty as Abigail's smash cake.

Oh, and I almost forgot about the marabou boa around the cake board!  Too cute, huh?  Have a great weekend and a Happy Halloween!!

Taking it Outdoors

The neighbors must really think I'm crazy on a regular basis!  Especially when it's pretty out, I can be seen carrying plant stands, end tables, potted plants, or some other odd item from my house throughout the yard looking for the perfect place to snap a shot of some new confection I have crafted.

This weekend I made up a batch of cupcakes for a customer and with the few I had leftover, I grabbed a cake stand, and small table and headed for the great outdoors.  There's just something about that outdoor light and that green grass background that I think just makes for some beautiful photographs.

Hope you enjoy!

Deja vu all over again!

Look familiar?  Remember a couple of posts back I said that everyone was calling for wonky cakes?  Well, the day before I finished the blue wonky cake, someone called and ordered the exact same cake (only in green and pink).

I have to admit that sometimes I get tired of doing the exact same cakes over and over.  I don't know why it bothers me - each time I do the same cake I do it more quickly than the last time and usually a little better too.  I guess I just like spreading my artistic wings and seeking out new cake challenges.

Stop back in again soon and I promise I won't show you another version of this cake, in fact, I'll make sure to showcase something other than a wonky cake!

Have a great week, OK!

Wonky Blue Polka Dot Cake

Things definitely come in waves here at the bakery.  And lately, everybody that calls wants a wonky cake.

Maredith was turning sixteen and needed a special cake to celebrate the occasion.  She picked this cake off my website and changed the colors a bit

I went to town on it, carving it and covering it with fondant, while Chad was busy making bow loops, polka dots, and cutting out the 16.  We put it all together and I even accented it with some fondant ribbon roses.

I was pleased with the color scheme and thought it came out quite cute and whimsical.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Furry is the Head that Wears the Crown

How cute is this little fella?  You all know I have an affinity for making children's first birthday cakes, but I thought this one came out extra cute.

The cake is a simple two tier butter cream cake with fondant accents.  I hand molded the bear based off the design the mother showed me.  She did however want the crown added.  Now I didn't ask why, but I like to think that the crown was added either because (a) Jude is his mommy's little prince, or (b) to symbolize that all the world is his kingdom.

Rhinestone Wedding

This bride and groom (the same ones that wanted the upside down cake in the post below) had varied ideas about their bridal cake. They liked many different styles and designs. We decided to incorporate everything the bride like into one awesome wedding cake. We have square, round and octagonal cakes as well making use of quilted patterns, piped panels, and stripes. We even added some circles to compliment that crazy groom's cake!

But the bride also wanted some bling on this cake. She purchased the initial topped, but wanted a little something extra. Now, I like for everything on my cakes to be edible, but sometimes it just isn't technically or economically feasible. In this case, I found some rhinestone trimming in the ribbon section of my local hobby store. I used it as the border between tiers and it looked awesome!

As always, thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Candy Cake!

There's something just really fun about decorating a cake with candy, right? I think that's why I have always wanted to make gingerbread houses. Occasionally, I get to make a birthday cake where candy is the main theme.

I enjoy selecting the candies and thinking about the different and creative ways I can use them. The "8" is lined with gummy bears on both sides of gumpaste. I thought it turned out really cute! I spent a good searching through the bulk candy bins at The Fresh Market to find just what I wanted!

I did have a bit of a problem with the Twizzlers and Rainbow sour strips not wanting to stick. A little extra buttercream wrangled them in though!

As always, thanks for stopping by and check back on Friday for our next installment. I promise it will be a wedding cake!