Hi all you C.C'ers. There are so many lovely cakes on this site. I'm just wondering how you find the time to make them?
I work p/t plus have a 4.5yr old (that of course always wants to help me.. ) and I find it hard when I have to do a cake to get it done..during the day..LOL.
Just curious how all of you manage...

It takes me 3 days... fillings Wed, frosting thurs and wrap the cake board, then Fri I bake and decorate... by Saturday it's done!

I have 2 kids ages 7 and 5 and I have been decorating since they were babies....I put in a DVD or they go play...I bake Tuesdays..refiridgerate..Wed I make icing...and decorate and Thursday,friday I decorate to have everything out by Saturday!!I take Sundays off and start all over Monday.

Lots of veeeeery early mornings and late nights, my kids like to sleep in. I take 3-4 days as well from start to finish, and I have a very extensive Disney movie collection, as well as Spongebob season 1, 2, and 3, and a fairly large collection of Dora and Diego episodes.

When people ask me what to buy my kids for Christmas/Birthdays I alsways have a list of DVD's handy!

I started doing this when my kids were about 1 and 8, full time job, taking night courses at the local branch of the university (one year I was taking a full load of 4 classes), plus was involved in a lot of community events.

I guess you can say I live on stress!

As far as the kids, they all knew that when mommy was in the kitchen, they weren't allowed in there. I'd lay a dining room chair across the doorway to keep the youngest out. He'd cry sometimes ..... but he learned to stand there and cry or go play with his toys 'coz mommy was working.

More recently, I spent about 18 months to 2 years living on 4 hours sleep a night.

But it's my passion and I luv it!!

I am a SAHM and it is difficult at times to find the time, let alone have the patience to do a cake. Same as Indy, when mommy is in the kitchen and her cake stuff is out, the kitchen is OFF LIMITS!!!! My boys, 3 & 6, go out in the back yard and play and if the weather is bad they watch a movie or play in the playroom that is in full view of my kitchen. I'm a pretty loud person so if I see "issues" arise, I just raise my voice and they shape up ( for like 5 minutes).

There are definately some late nights but like the others, I do fillings one day, icings and baking the next and then decorate the following. Sometimes I do bake and decorate in the same day but rarely. It just depends on how early in the day the cake is due.


Amy

Our daughter is an adult, so I don't have any little ones at the moment, but I do work part time for the city, we have a B&B, an extended stay cottage, rental property and hubby also works part time for a university. I'm also on a Board and am very active in a professional organization. Basically, you just get organized and stay organized. I make good use of my freezer. I've found you can survive on not a lot of sleep if you love what you're dong.

I also work part time. My DH is a stay at home dad so he cooks dinner during the week. I also do my work throughout the week. My days off are Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and all day Wednesdays. So I make any fondant decorations I have on Monday so they can dry. Then Tuesday I start my baking and on Wednesday, I finish my baking and make my fillings. On Thursday, I assemble cakes, make my fondant and ice the cakes. On Friday I stack and decorate. Then on the weekends, I catch up on the house cleaning and TRY to relax so I can start all over again on Monday.

I am a stay at home mum with a 4.5 and almost 3yr old. mondays/tuesdays i start the decorations so they dry, then I either bake monday/tuesday and freeze or if i am not too busy bake wednesady, gnache thursday decorate friday and deliver or pick up on fri/sat. my kids go to kindy wednesday and friday so i can have meetings with clients with out kids crawling all over me and we have a very large collection of colouring books, paper and pencils, I have a play area set up outside my kitchen window complete with picnic table and cubby house so i can watch the while i am working and yes we also have a very large dvd collection and my neighbour helps me deliver and set up my weddings so her hubby has the kids for us which is great. it also involves early mornings late nights and many days were you forget to eat until your kids remind you 'they are STARVING!!!' but then you see the look on the bride/ birthday person's face and its worth it!

Ya I have to say the same as everyone here, just spread it out over longer! Hope the kids behave, and don't stick there fingers in it!

I work FT often 7 days a week, I haven't been making cakes for long but it seems to be turning into a monster. Whilst I enjoy the reaction of people when they get my cakes I find it soo difficult to fit everything in. I am unable to say no, so I just end up not sleeping lol. I have had to make cakes in the late evening/night time over several days. Getting in from work at 11pm then starting to make the cake. I bake on one day torte it and coat in buttercream and put the fondant on and depending on time decorate it the same night or the next. I don't seem to get a break lol. Even my days off are taken up with it. Luckily at the moment I dont have any due til the end of August but then I have 2 due witin 4 days of each other. I think that may be a little stressful but hey they are paying for me to learn and to mess (as I love to do). It can be difficult but reading tips from people on here has really helped in my organising. And makes it bearable if somewhat chaotic at times.

I've got 3 kids. I can bake while they are around, but I usually don't decorate until the are getting ready for bed and I try to have all my icing done and colored, so I can jsut get started.

Occasionally, I have to decorate during the day and I have a "no kitchen" rule. They have to stay out while I"m decoatring and sometimes I'm lucky enough that my MIL takes them for a couple of hours while I'm decorating.

Hi everyone..I've been taking your advice and spreading things out. I've baked my cakes, today I will make the BC and crumbcoat them and maybe fondant them, then decorate tomorrow (time permitting) I guess I just try to do too much on one day. ( I always want to see what the final outcome will be... ) And as much as I ask my daughter to amuse herself she LOVES being in the kitchen and ALWAYS wants to help...Guess night time is when I'll have to do the bulk of it...
Thanks

my munchkins love to 'help' also but we have an understanding (yes they understand even at 2.5 and 4.5) that if it is a cake for us or friends etc they can absolutely help but if it is a cake 'for a wady (lady)' as my 2.5yr old says then its no touching, breathing or looking at it too closely! my 2.5 yr old comes to the kitchen and says mummy what you doing? this for a wasy? if i reply yes he always say 'i'm not gonna touch it mummy!' once completed i box and place on a shelf in my laundry so that little fingers can't find it! as long as they get cake off cuts and we get to make a cake together ocasionaly, they are happy little vegemites! (ausie saying ) i found another brilliant trick for when i am doing work with fondant is to give them playdough and they think they are doing the same thing as you but its nowhere near as sticky!! (forgot to add that tidbit earlier!)
to ebear: Why don't you start making your cakes ahead of time and freezing them i do this even up to 2 weeks prior especially if i have a major week or vistors comming to stay etc that way all i have to worry about that week is the actual decoration, i used to be limited to doing thtis with freezer space but then a good friend upgraded from an older freezer to a frost free and gave me the old one i now have enough room to freeze 5 tiered cakes! and its in the garage so out of the way -I now wonder how i managed without it! I am curerently baking for a fortnight away as my mum is commingt to stay for a few days and i don't want to waste it stuck in the kitchen!

I bake on Tuesday, make fondant on wednesay, buttercream on thursday, and cover any boards. Thursday and friday night belong to decorating. Any gumpaste things get made on sunday. I work full time mon-thurs, have 4 kids, two soccer teams, one football team, boy scouts, etc. I think y ou just manage when you enjoy it.

I stay up late, but I do not get up extra early. I have actually started to take a sleep aid because I can't wind down after a cake for a long long time. Also I have a don't bother mom rule. My kids have two parents...their dad can do SOMETHING....

I do let my kids help dump ingredients, and my older son has started to learn to make fondant. He can actually do it by himself.

I try to keep my 5 year old daughter busy but when videos fail me, I'll set her up at the kitchen table with a few balls of coloured fondant, a few cookie cutters, and a small roller and she's busy for hours!! She feels like she's helping "make cake" and I can get things done without her trying to sit on my lap.. The only problem comes when I'm finished and she gets mad that I don't add her decorations to the cake.. lol..

I usually bake at night when my 2 year old is sleeping or do things here and there during her naps and spread it out over days! Like this week, I have 3 cakes due. I baked everything on Sunday (my hubby is home from work so he takes care of my daughter). I did gumpaste work on Tuesday and Today. I just made frosting when she was sleep. Will frost my cakes tonight...cover with Fondant tomorrow and decorate on Friday. Being able to bake ahead and freeze is my lifesaver!!!!!! Not to mention it enhances the moisture of my scratch cakes. Just proper planning and spacing it out keeps me sane. I don't get frustrated and stuff when I spread it out. I am not superwoman and dont want to be. My sanity is way too important!

Tuesday: Prep-work (covering boards, printing inspiration photo's, etc); Wed: Make sure I don't need to make any supply-runs & bake that night after the kids go to bed (12yrs & 17mos twins); Thurs: Finalize baking/assembly/crumb-coating & any orders due Friday like to be done by tonight; Fri: Finish & deliver orders; then work on finalize Saturday orders. My cake hours are normally between 11:00-2:00 when the twins are napping, and then after 8:30pm until 12/1/2/3/4am, depending on how much I have to do. I'm TRYING to take Sunday & Monday's off, but I don't turn-away orders due those days. Most Saturdays I can deliver in the morning & have that afternoon off; or if I have a wedding then I must go around that schedule - and of course most of my Saturday's in Summer are booked! I try not to let my kids watch TV, and we go outside & play in the morning until naptime...... sometimes I feel like "Jeckel & Hyde", except "Baker & Mommy", or however you want to put it. Once they go to Kindergarden I'll probably expand my business and hire an employee - but we'll see! I have 3 years to wait for that!

The best thing to do is to keep to a schedule. I have things that have to get done on certain days, and I don't go to bed until they get done!
You can balance it all, it just take discipline.