Hi all. I'm kind of new on the cake scene. Ive started doing cakes within the last 6 months and my business is booming. I never dreamed it would take off so fast. Ive been doing cake tastings and using cupcakes. This is beginning to be a pain. Im doing at least one tasting per week and sometimes its been 5, which isnt bad, but when I only have one I have alot of leftovers. Do you have any better ideas for a tasting? What do you think of making a batch of cupcakes and freezing then taking out as needed? I really wanted them to be fresh, but I think this would be easier. What do you all do? Oh, and I do charge 20.00 for a tasting.

O work in a bakery and all of our cakes and cupcakes are made in advanced, wrapped and then frozened ( with the excepetion of our wedding cakes. I dont see why you cant do that with your cupcakes. Just take them out a day a head of time and let them defrost. When we do wedding samples they are usually white or chocolate with different fillings and icings. We cut ours out of 1/4 sheet cakes. The bakery I work for only offers 6 different samples and only charges if they do not book an appt. I dont know how many samples you give to say if 20.00 is a fair price or not.

I actually just froze some cupcakes that were leftover from some cake batter I needed last week. I pulled them out today to thaw and tried one....They were GREAT!!! I just put them in a freezer bag after cooling them a week ago and no problems at all.

I quit doing tasting appointments awhile ago. I have them set once every three months, most brides that have their act together start taking care of business before one of my scheduled dates. Four couples to one or two time slots, depends on how many sign up, takes about 20 minutes, they eat, I explain what the flavors are, it's free, and I send them packing with info and a time to meet again one on one to actually discuss their design and pricing.

I don't charge them, I make everything the night before so it is fresh and tasty, and I don't have to worry about freezing, or halving/thirding/fourthing recipes to make small batches.

Works out great. Plus, my weekends are completely free to actually work on paid orders and/or hang with family. I will not ever go back to individual tastings. Unless it was a really super special exception, and then they will pay for it. If they book, they get it taken off of their balance.

Jamie---GREAT IDEA!!!! I am just starting out and I was wondering how to go about tastings since I have had people starting to ask. Can I ask...how many flavors or which kinds of cake do you usually serve?

Last time, I did red velvet (Sarah's Red Velvet tweaked, recipe in here), classic white (buttermilk white cake recipe in here), and chocolate cake recipe on Epicurious.

I use SMBC, so plain SMBC, lemon, chocolate, mocha, various fruits like raspberry preserve, mango preserve, a lemon curd, a cream cheese SMBC and fondant sample.

Looks neat when you set it all out on cake stands and platters.

Thanks for your input. I think I will try freezing my cupcakes. I offer alot of different cake varieties and filling flavors so I dont think that my tasting price is bad. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks again.