I wasn't impressed with her brownies.. I am still on the quest for the perfect brownie recipe. It's been a long road. It's a good thing that the "failures" don't taste too bad.
not to hijack the thread - but which ones have you tried. here is my list to bronwnies to test
Outrageous Brownies - Ina Garten
Supernatural Brownies - David Liebowitz
Amazing Brownies - Elissa Strauss
Perfect Brownies - Martha Stewart (ive already tried these - they were good)
i really dont want to waste any choc/eggs if not necessary.
I wasn't impressed with her brownies.. I am still on the quest for the perfect brownie recipe. It's been a long road. It's a good thing that the "failures" don't taste too bad.
Are you pullin' my leg, woman? I'd take a bullet for those brownies! Well, maybe that's a little extreme... a rubber bullet, maybe.
Sorry... not pulling your leg. I love Ina... and so many of her recipes are just spot on, but the brownies to me were just meh. I love her cheesecake... her lemon pound cake is yummy too... but not the brownies. I'm not in to chunks of things in my brownies and I did omit the chips, but I don't think that would have made me love them either. 
Zakia..I wish I could remember the ones I have tried. I have tried a bunch, but I think the only one from that list is the Ina Garten recipe.
I'll have to take a look at the recipes and see.
That's funny - I also was not bowled over by Ina's brownies, although after watching her show I expected them to be amazing. My kids really loved the "Whatever Floats Your Boat" brownies I recently made (from Epicurious or Recipezaar, can't remember) but nothing so far has beaten Hershey's recipes for brownies (from their boxes of baking chocolate, not cocoa).
Most bakeries that I have worked at use a basic foundation mix. This mix if it comes from a good quality vendor is fine. King Arthur Flour in Vermont puts out a wonderful cake mix - and it takes any kind of "doctoring" you give it.
Store bought mixes are good but expensive if you are talking quanitity.
I think what I love about them so much is that they have a very complex taste with many layers of flavors. I love being able to taste the different chocolates and the butter... sooooo good! But, I'll admit, they're not for everyone. I'm one of those nutty chocophiles that will pick 80% cocao dark chocolate over milk chocolate any day! 
She is buying pond cake from the store and adding frosting and selling it.
Honestly Karema if this is true, and I'm not sure how you would know this unless she admitted it to you, and I guess she did I'm not calling you a liar by any means........ this is NOT the person you need to worry about as being your biggest competition.
Is this the same person that was selling at the Flea Market that you wrote about in your other thread?
Is the Flea Market the only place where you sell your baked goods or do you also advertise and have people that place orders?
The reason I ask is this and please don't take this the wrong way, this is just my observation. We have a couple of "Flea Market" type things that are only held on weekends and they're at former dog/horse tracks. I've been once and that was enough, they are FILTHY. I would not ever purchase anything edible at those places. In your other thread you mentioned that the one you sell at is also filthy.
If this is indeed your only connection with the general public and where all of your sales come from this could be your problem. People may just be thinking of you as the "vendor" at the Flea Market that sells cupcakes and cookies. You may want to think about this affiliation. Is this the image that you want your business to portray? Honestly, I don't think many brides will look at the Flea Market for their wedding cakes.
You need to get your name out there in a different more positive way. If you want to be known for "high end" "custom" and "special" cakes, the Flea Market is NOT the place to do it.
I suggest getting a web site up......talk to some Banquet Venues and bring a portfolio with wedding cake designs try to get them to recommend you to their clients. People can't and won't come to you if you don't advertise and sell yourself. Word of mouth advertising is great, but like I said it's not great if your known as the Flea Market Lady that sells cupcakes. You need to bring it to a higher level.
Don't get discouraged, building a business takes a lot of time, patience and VERY hard work.
Good luck!
edit to fix my horrible spelling
I think what I love about them so much is that they have a very complex taste with many layers of flavors. I love being able to taste the different chocolates and the butter... sooooo good! But, I'll admit, they're not for everyone. I'm one of those nutty chocophiles that will pick 80% cocao dark chocolate over milk chocolate any day!
See I like the bitter chocolate too (I loathe milk chocolate), and I thought they were too sweet and the texture wasn't right to me. But taste is so subjective... one person's YES!!!! is another persons OMG GROSS. I wouldn't call them gross, but just not my idea of brownie Nirvana.
The reason I ask is this and please don't take this the wrong way, this is just my observation. We have a couple of "Flea Market" type things that are only held on weekends and they're at former dog/horse tracks. I've been once and that was enough, they are FILTHY. I would not ever purchase anything edible at those places. In your other thread you mentioned that the one you sell at is also filthy.
..... Is this the image that you want your business to portray? Honestly, I don't think many brides will look at the Flea Market for their wedding cakes.
I know there are some high-end, high quality "flea markets" or "farmer's markets" out there, but I've not seen any, so my impression is the same ..... plywood over some saw horses and some questionable baked goods in a baggie. And I've never heard of a bride saying, "Oh I need to order my wedding cake ... let's pop over to the flea market and go wedding cake shopping."
Compare yourself to the company you WANT to keep. If you want to be compared to the high end bakeries ... look around and see if any of THEM have a booth at the flea market.
I think what I love about them so much is that they have a very complex taste with many layers of flavors. I love being able to taste the different chocolates and the butter... sooooo good! But, I'll admit, they're not for everyone. I'm one of those nutty chocophiles that will pick 80% cocao dark chocolate over milk chocolate any day!
See I like the bitter chocolate too (I loathe milk chocolate), and I thought they were too sweet and the texture wasn't right to me. But taste is so subjective... one person's YES!!!! is another persons OMG GROSS.
I wouldn't call them gross, but just not my idea of brownie Nirvana.
That's okay. We can still be friends, right? Potayto / Potahto and all that...
The reason I ask is this and please don't take this the wrong way, this is just my observation. We have a couple of "Flea Market" type things that are only held on weekends and they're at former dog/horse tracks. I've been once and that was enough, they are FILTHY. I would not ever purchase anything edible at those places. In your other thread you mentioned that the one you sell at is also filthy.
..... Is this the image that you want your business to portray? Honestly, I don't think many brides will look at the Flea Market for their wedding cakes.
I know there are some high-end, high quality "flea markets" or "farmer's markets" out there, but I've not seen any, so my impression is the same ..... plywood over some saw horses and some questionable baked goods in a baggie. And I've never heard of a bride saying, "Oh I need to order my wedding cake ... let's pop over to the flea market and go wedding cake shopping."
Compare yourself to the company you WANT to keep. If you want to be compared to the high end bakeries ... look around and see if any of THEM have a booth at the flea market.
Ditto...ditto...DITTO, double ditto....yea yea yea. Well said, both of you.
Txcupcake.. of course we can!
And now thanks to this thread I am baking some brownies right now. 
So much for the ole' diet.
You know you can buy the books from the cake doctor. It is all box based recipes for cakes. you are simply adding things in the box mix to make it taste more homemade. She has a cupcake book, a chocolate book and I can't remember the other one but I have all three and utilize this book for all my cake recipes. Pound cakes, cupcakes, chocolate, yellow, pineapple, orange cream, anything you can think of it is in one of these books all starting from box cake mixes. There are also icings and fillings in the book as well.
The best way to save a business is to grow it. Find more people to sell to by taking a step out of your comfort zone and market to new people.
And don't get me wrong, I LOVE scratch baked goods, but most people just want a good piece of cake, they don't always care if it's from scratch.
Who needs some crusty ol' diet when there are brownies to be had!?!?
I expect when you find Brownie Nirvana you'll let us all know...
**she says with bated breath and sweaty palms**
Who needs some crusty ol' diet when there are brownies to be had!?!?
I expect when you find Brownie Nirvana you'll let us all know...
**she says with bated breath and sweaty palms**
I like your thinking!!
And you betcha.. when I find the recipe that make my toes curl I'll share.
I think what I love about them so much is that they have a very complex taste with many layers of flavors. I love being able to taste the different chocolates and the butter... sooooo good! But, I'll admit, they're not for everyone. I'm one of those nutty chocophiles that will pick 80% cocao dark chocolate over milk chocolate any day!
See I like the bitter chocolate too (I loathe milk chocolate), and I thought they were too sweet and the texture wasn't right to me. But taste is so subjective... one person's YES!!!! is another persons OMG GROSS.
I wouldn't call them gross, but just not my idea of brownie Nirvana.That's okay. We can still be friends, right? Potayto / Potahto and all that...
Might I make a suggestion? I've made these brownies with regular and Dutch cocoa, both are awesome. Something to try maybe?
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup cocoa
1 cup walnuts (optional. As in, I never do!)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup flour
pinch of salt
Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.
My mom's lemon/orange loaf is always a hit. If you're looking to try a new recipe, here it is:
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
grated rind of 1 lemon or orange
cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk. Add rind. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.
You can take the juice from the fruit and mix it with 1/4 cup of sugar to pour over the hot loaf.
Now I have to go buy some lemons and make this! HTH
Everyone's advice and encouragement has been great! Just to add some advice from Real Life Real Simple, they helped a small bakery that needed a boost in sales. Here are some things they mentioned:
1. Marketing/Advertising - they put the bakery's logo on everything from the boxes, to the business cards, to the t-shirts. Advertise at your gyn's office (give out your business card), offer a discount for referrals, get a blog or twitter site so that you can keep connected with your customers.
2. Scratch someone else's back - start making contacts with other local businesses like the flower shop. Let them know that you will refer business to their shop if they refer business to yours. Also go to local bridal stores, see if you can set up a table or set up a box so that brides can leave their information if they are interested (make sure they can see pictures of your cakes).
3. Do research on making your small business thrive - read books and online articles to get ideas about how you can make your business better.
4. Have cake will travel - if you have a car, how far (in miles) are you willing to go to deliver cakes.
It's just a matter of thinking outside the (cake) box. Best wishes!!
It's just a matter of thinking outside the (cake) box. Best wishes!![/quote] Best wishes!
I just had to add these are my favorite brownies
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Brookes-Best-Bombshell-Brownies/Detail.aspx
They are fantastic!!
Best of luck on your business!
Tracy
I think your biggest asset will be finding your 'niche'.
What are your strengths? Is creativity, whimiscal colors your gig? Play up that strength.
Once you have a few good scratch recipes, purchasing product in larger quantities will help the recipes become more cost effective than a box. Plus, you'll get to add the "baked custom from scratch" to your list of positive aspects to market.
In addition to doing better marketing, don't forget the importance of online advertising and websites.
Make sure your business has a page on the social networking sites (not just for kids anymore!) Create a MySpace, and a Facebook. If you don't have a site yet, get one. (Some hosting places are REALLY cheap-- like $25 a year etc.)
Utilize the online yellow pages, cityseach, yelp. Ask past customers to write reviews.
Offer online coupons and free delivery (within a certain radius).
And don't forget that its all about the cake-- always strive to make it better, richer and moister.
I was going to say the exact same thing!!! I am a 100% scratch baker as well but this sounds to me like a pricing issue. Making a scratch cake is not going to make your pricing cheaper! If people are looking for cheap, they just may not come to you. But if you are doing custom designed cakes, I think sometimes the first thing to grasp is that your pricing is not going to fit into everyones buget! If they want CHEAP, they are gonna go for CHEAP and usually won't care what it tastes like. So in short, I am saying I don't think her TASTE is what's getting folk's attention so don't start changing up all you do! If folk won't pay your pricing then maybe you need to market to people who will?? I would spend my time on that than re-developing my 'system'. Sometimes it takes years to develop techniques and get things perfect! I would hate to see you start over and then end up with the same results. Hope things work out for you.
I am a scratch baker & I don'tthink going scratch is what is going to help you. If I'm reading right, you make cupcakes at home from a box & they buy their cake from a store & then resell it. Is that correct? Cause if that is so, it's doesn't sound like a taste thing, but a price issue. It has to be cheaper to buy a cake at Wal-Mart or something like that, decorate it & then resell it. They are probably going to her for price sake. I would suggest a different marketing strategy. Maybe start stressing the fact that it's CUSTOM cupcakes, made to order, MADE at home.
i think you need to remember that you do have talent and it's just going to take some effort on your part to remind your community that you are a step above that other person-and i also agree with another pp about getting your past customer's feedback-i'm sure it will be valuable hth and i look forward to hearing about your progress
When I started baking, I used boxed cake mix. I was a hit. After a while, I wanted to wow with scratch cake. It was a hit. I used it for a few years. Now, after having my #3 girl and a full hysterectemy a year later, and moving to another town, I don't have as many orders as I would like. So, now my scratch cakes are not what they were. For some reason, I always dry them out-very easy to do. So after a short debate with family, I have decided to go back to mixes. I felt like a failure, but, I realized that you do what you do for your business and you do what it takes to have sucess. Good luck
Thank you all for the advice and here is what I've come up with so far. I'm going to keep my cupcakes from box mix and just play with the flavors to offer something different. I am going to keep baking scratch what I know how to do and I'm going to try a few new recipes because I've offered the same thing for 4 years. I havent really added on much. I'm going to bake some things tonight and plate them up and send my husband out on thursday to some businesses like florist and bridal shops. I'm also going to hand some out to businesses and see if they want to add my desserts to their menu. Then I'm going to bake on friday as usuall and saturday. Whatever I have left over from sunday I will take up to the hospitals to give to the nurse staff. I will also be printing up some cute flyers for valentines day (I'm just thinking of some nice menu items) . I will also do new flyers to hand out to all the business that I go to and ask can I hang them up. I will also go to dance studios and my doctors office. I thank you all for being patient with me. I've been so stressed lately because my husband is out of work and have been for 5 months. We dont have any savings and another baby on the way. Some days I feel like not even getting out of bed. But as long as God continues to give me strength I will fight. Thank you all and I can't wait to try some of these ideas. By the way I saw that someone listed orange creamsicle cake and I was wondering how that is made. Thanks again.
Karema
Hello Karema~
I'm glad you posted this, because some great ideas have been mentioned. Someone probably mentioned this, but I just ordered (except you pay shipping) FREE business cards and brochures through Vistaprint.com. It ends up being cheaper than if I had to use my own computer ink and paper.
I also tried Dutch Cocoa and will never go back to regular... I'm hooked. What's even more exotic (but expensive) is black cocoa... WOW is that stuff incredibly rich. It makes a great specialty item.
Good luck~ If you ever need/want any vegan recipes, just ask!
Hello Karema~
I'm glad you posted this, because some great ideas have been mentioned. Someone probably mentioned this, but I just ordered (except you pay shipping) FREE business cards and brochures through Vistaprint.com. It ends up being cheaper than if I had to use my own computer ink and paper.
I also tried Dutch Cocoa and will never go back to regular... I'm hooked. What's even more exotic (but expensive) is black cocoa... WOW is that stuff incredibly rich. It makes a great specialty item.
Good luck~
If you ever need/want any vegan recipes, just ask!
I have been looking for dutch cocoa, but can't find it at any of the local grocery stores - where do you find it?!
I find organic Dutch cocoa right at our local Health food store. It's actually cheaper (since it's in bulk) than that canned cocoa.
I get about a 1/2 pound for around $2.50 when a can of generic (non-organic) cocoa is $3.50 or more (for 8oz) at our grocery store.
Seriously, the results are incredible.
Hope that helps.
thanks K2, maybe whole foods will have it? Do you use it interchangeabely in place of regular cocoa, or do you alter the amount?
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%