Okay, so this is happing this Friday at 5pm and I don't know what to expect!?!?

I'm baking the complimentary taste (5inch by 2 inch round) cake tomorrow so that it'll be as fresh as possible. I don't know what to do? do I leave the couple alone for a couple minutes (I run my business out of my home, and all the wedding cakes I've done were for people I knew and have been over my house a gazillions times....) I have bottled water & canned soda, do I offer coffe or tea? OH do I decorate the cake as a tiny wedding cake? HELP???!

What should I expect them to ask me? How do I dress? Should I make a batch of cookies so that the house smells yummy? What do I say so that they choose me to make their cake?

Any help from your expriances will be GREATLY APPRECIATED! Thanks In Advance! (I'm a bag of nerves )

Ok -- I can't help you on everything.. because parts of it.. I simply haven't done. But I can help you a little bit.

1. You can be nervous, but it's very important that you DON'T act nervous. Act like you do this every single day. They want to know that you are confident and can get the job done. =o)

2. When you get to the tasting part, ask them if you can get them a drink. Just say, "I have water and Diet Coke. If you would like, I can make some tea or coffee".

3. The pictures from tastings that I have seen, are just little pieces of cake and little dollops of frosting. So I wouldn't worry about decorating it.

4. I would dress in a nice top and black pants.. IMO, you want to look professional.

5. I don't think you need to bake cookies. Just light a candle that's not overbearing in scent.

6. As you are finishing up at the table say something like, "I would love to make your wedding cake. I look forward to hearing from you". Then you should send an email or make a phone call in a couple of days saying "Thanks for coming to visit". If you could email a sketch of the cake or a final price or something that would be great too. Anything to help them remember you.

Last but not least, I think that you should have a list of questions for them concerning cakes.

1. How many servings will they need?
2. What colors?
3. What's your price range?

And anything else that you can think of. I'm sure that some other people will hit on this. If not, I'm sure that I can come up with some more stuff.

If you want to see a tasting plate. JKalman just put up her new website.
http://www.welldressedcakes.com/ Once you go to her website, click on the flavors catagory and she has a little tray of cake and frosting. I know that this is what she uses for tastings and she showed it in a forum once. Hopefully, she doesn't mind me sharing this with you now. =o) You could also PM her as she has lots of experience and could probably help.

Goodluck with everything! I hope you found this helpfu!

Ok -- I can't help you on everything.. because parts of it.. I simply haven't done. But I can help you a little bit.

1. You can be nervous, but it's very important that you DON'T act nervous. Act like you do this every single day. They want to know that you are confident and can get the job done. =o)

2. When you get to the tasting part, ask them if you can get them a drink. Just say, "I have water and Diet Coke. If you would like, I can make some tea or coffee".

3. The pictures from tastings that I have seen, are just little pieces of cake and little dollops of frosting. So I wouldn't worry about decorating it.

4. I would dress in a nice top and black pants.. IMO, you want to look professional.

5. I don't think you need to bake cookies. Just light a candle that's not overbearing in scent.

6. As you are finishing up at the table say something like, "I would love to make your wedding cake. I look forward to hearing from you". Then you should send an email or make a phone call in a couple of days saying "Thanks for coming to visit". If you could email a sketch of the cake or a final price or something that would be great too. Anything to help them remember you.

Last but not least, I think that you should have a list of questions for them concerning cakes.

1. How many servings will they need?
2. What colors?
3. What's your price range?

And anything else that you can think of. I'm sure that some other people will hit on this. If not, I'm sure that I can come up with some more stuff.

If you want to see a tasting plate. JKalman just put up her new website.
http://www.welldressedcakes.com/ Once you go to her website, click on the flavors catagory and she has a little tray of cake and frosting. I know that this is what she uses for tastings and she showed it in a forum once. Hopefully, she doesn't mind me sharing this with you now. =o) You could also PM her as she has lots of experience and could probably help.

Goodluck with everything! I hope you found this helpfu!

Sorry.. posted the same thing again.

cylstriaL, THANK YOU!

All this information will definately help me out. Thanks again!

Hi, i just bake 6" cakes and ice them with white fondant (ours is yummy here so no fair in using it). I put in a filling usually just a choc buttercream fillin but using real choc and may add different essenses pending on cake flavour required... i also ask prior to what flavours they were hoping to try so as to just make those... i dont stress over it too much as my family eats the left over cake for school lunchs etc...

I usually try to dress respectful not in my best but definately tidy...

we all sit round my dining table i have a plate each for them with a serviette and a knife for cutting their piece of cake. I offer a drink usually tea or coffee to which most times they decline as they arent here for that..

we then go over pics of cakes i have made along with any references i can show them.

then we have a piece of paper to which we sketch out a design stating colours sizes etc.. ohhh and big tip i can offer here is i get out my cake tins and use the sizes they are thinking about set up in way they want to give them a true visual works a treat and have been thanked heaps for that as makes it easier to visualize for them. I then try and work out a price as close as possible by giving them a minimum cost incase of any changes they may do a bit later on and of course with food prices going up all the time it allows for that too.. (I dont work on a price per serving system too confusing and i think it can work out to expensive in some cakes and tooo cheap in others)

If they decide then and there that they wish for me to make their cake we go over an order form, to which they then sign and are meant to pay a non refundable deposit of no less than $50.

HOpe that all helps and good luck with yours do let us know how it goes..

ok..... how did it go?

Ooh, I'm gonna copy this down... Good stuff for my growing business...

And yes, how did it go?

Okay, I'm going to try to sound as calm as possible.....It went REAL GOOD! Thank you everyone for your help on this... Thursday night I made a mini wedding cake, that incorporated her 2 taste flavors. I didn't want to just have plain cake with icing thrown over it so I decided to go out and take a chance. The cake was really simple, 4 inch stacked on 6 inch, covered in fondant and I pipped some dots as border and some minimal decoration and put a single white rose in the middle (I forgot to put the leaves) ...Guess What? She had a nice cake design in mind and when I brought her the mini cake, she and her hubby-2-be really LOVED the idea of a mini cake and they loved the carrot cake I made. Needless to say they ordered a 3 tiered cake to feed 100 and 20 mini wedding cakes to match the big one!!!!! OH MY GOODNESS!!!! This has been the biggest order I've ever received!

During the consultation, I remained surprising calm. It was kinda weird cause it felt as if we knew eachother, her colors are going to be lavendar and light blue.

I'll post a picture of the mini cake I made. Thank you ALL again for your advices they really did help and brought me good luck!

Awesome! Going the extra mile really paid off here! Congrats!

Yeah!! I'm really excited for you!!! You did make them sign a contract right?? And the cake was super cute!!

Thank you! yes, I have a signed contract and they paid for paid for the whole cake up front! The hubby-2-be said that they have been so busy doing wedding stuff that they forget alot of things and didn't want to worry about payment 3 weeks before the big day. I can't wait to make this cake, its gonna be so cool!

Ahhhh! I am sooo excited for you! My stomach jumped when I read their order & that they paid up front. Awesome! So happy for you! Congrats & good luck.

Congrats to you! I guess I'm a bit late with advice but I'll post what I do in case it helps out others.

I rent a shared commercial kitchen and I do tastings at my home although recently I've been renting the conference room at mykitchen once a month for tastings.

I bake up 3 or 4 - 6" single layer cakes and with my 2" circle cutter I cut out the cakes on place them on plates (one for each guest). I allow the bride to bring up to 2 guests.

I use IMBC so I flavor about 1/2 cup of BC with different flavors and use a mini cookie scoop and place little scoops of each flavor on their plates. I also include scoops of other fillings.

I set a place at the table for each guest. I have a pretty glass pitcher that I fill with ice water and place it on the table. I also have a display cake as well as several cake magazines.

Each guest also gets a "tasting" sheet that has a "map" with the names of the cake flavors and fillings that they are sampling. I give them suggestions as to what flavors might taste good. They jot down their favorites on their sheet.

I also give them a basic price list and a copy of my terms and conditions for them to read over.

I think the most important thing is to be yourself. If they like you, like your cakes and if your price is right they will book with you.

Hope this helps!

ladyonzlake - could you give us a copy of your "tasting sheet w/ map"? it sounds interesting & I would love to incorporate something like this into my cake ordering.

TIA!

ladyonzlake, Thank you for this is info that you've posted. If you could post your tasting sheet and map? I'd really like to see them and maybe be able to incorporate into my consultations?
I'm printing all these post and saving them in my binder... One day when I've done 100 or more of these nerve recking consultations I'll look back and read my first one.

You ladies are GREAT! Thanks again!

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If you email me I can send you my tasting work sheet. Maybe "map" is not a good term. What I do is place the samples on a plate and then on my tasting work sheet I write down the flavors that is on their plate in the order that it appears on the plate.

Then below that I have a place for them to jot down the flavors combinations that they like.

I just finished a tasting and I should have taken a picture of my plates. The bride came with her mom and mother-n-law to be and they were so cute...snapping pictures of everything from their plate, the table, my display cake and the the final choice of cake design...all with the bride in the photos of course.

They were like little girls at a tea party!

what is your e-mail ladyonzlake? I would love the worksheet too. Thanks a lot for sharing!
mine is [email protected]
Jen...